ROAD TRANSPORT MATTERS IN PARLIAMENT.

27th March 1928, Page 88

27th March 1928

Page 88

Page 89

Page 88, 27th March 1928 — ROAD TRANSPORT MATTERS IN PARLIAMENT.

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The Bridges Bill and a Proposed Special Grant• for Bridges. Farmers' Demand for Lower Duties. The Committee on the Road Transport Bills.

By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent.

OL. WINDSOR-OLIVE'S Bridges Bill, which was presented to the House of Commons on the 14th inst., has been published. It contains 11. clauses, and the principal one permits a highway authority to enter into agreements with the owners of bridges (1) to contribute towards the cost of maintenance, improvement or reconstruction; (2) to transfer to the highway authority on terms that may be agreed the responsibility for the maintenance and improvement of the highway carried by the bridge; or (3) to transfer to the highway authority on terms that may be agreed the property in the bridge and the road carried thereby and the approaches, and all or any rights or obligations attaching to the bridge, road or approaches.

Power is given to the Minister of Transport to make orders as to reconstruction, maintenance, etc., of bridges by the owner or by a highway authority, provided that in the case of a bridge over a railway owned by the railway company the work shall not be carried out otherwise than by the railway company without the railway company's consent. The power to transfer the property in a bridge to the highway authority is subject, in the case of a railway company's bridge, to the consent of the railway company. The right to take tolls is exempted from the transfer of the property in a bridge. There may be reference of certain matters to a single arbitration appointed by the Institute of Civil Engineers unless otherwise agreed by the parties.

Special Grant for Bridges.

REPRESENTATIONS have been made to the Minister of Transport by the Commercial Motor Users Association, Chambers of Commerce and other representative bodies in different parts of the country as to the loss and inconvenience caused to trade and industry by the existence of weak bridges and levelcrossings on many important roads. Col. Ashley states that during the financial year he proposes to set aside a sum of £250,000 to be distributed by way of special grants from the Road Fund towards the cost of reconstruction of weak railway and canal bridges and the construction of bridges to replace level-crossings on important roads. He draws attention to the Bridges Bill introduced by Col. Windsorlelive. The provisions of the Bill, of which he is generally in favour, have for a long time been the subject of negotiation between representatives of the county councils and the statutory undertakings concerned, with the assistance of his department. The Bill supplies a greatly needed machinery for facilitating the reconstruction of weak bridges which are the property of statutory bodies other than highway authorities.

Farmers Demand Lower Duties.

THE National Farmers' Union of Scotland is urging a revision of the licence duties for agricultural vehicles, and Mr. E. More, a member of the central executive of the body, has been at the Treasury and in the Lobby at Westminster sumiorting the point of view of the Scottish farmers. Briefly, the proposal is that the Finance Act should he amended to make the haulage rate apply equally to haulage and conveyance vehicles used for agricultural work. It is suggested that the rate should be :—Not exceeding 5 tons in weight unladen, £6, and exceeding 5 tons, £10. The farmers would regard the concession as of consider. able assistance to the industry. They maintain that it would not place expense upon ratepayers or taxpayers because of the larger number of licences that would be taken oat by farmers, who now cannot afford the

D26 higher scale for lorries and vans, whilst the wear on road surfaces by a 5-ion unladen vehicle with trailer or without trailer is as much as the wear caused by an agricultural lorry or van exceeding 1 ton unladen, which is taxed £21, or £15 more than the 5-ton vehicle.

Horsed Transport Handicapped.

THEY refer to the argument that the trade depression in farming can be improved by farmers selling direct to consumers or marketing on co-operative lines, but, they point out, farmers cannot tap markets with their produce unless they can• overcome transport charges by loading up at the farm and delivering direct to the buyer's premises. The use of the road by such vehicles would be only for a fraction of the year—sale days or times when produce had to be transported or when articles were required. The alternative is the use of a horse and van or a horse and float for animals, but owing to the smooth surfaces of main roads this alternative is ruled out by experience of the danger involved and the damage sustained. It is further suggested that the change ought to be made to date from April 30th, 1928, a rebate being given on all taxes paid for the year 1928.

Compulsory Third-party Insurance.

COL. WARDLAND MILNE gave notice that on the 27th inst. (to-day) he would introduce a Bill to make it compulsory for owners of motor vehicles to be insured against third-party risks. It may be recalled that Lord Russell was the first to introduce such a Bill in the House of Lords, when there was considerable criticism of the practicability of the proposals. The Bill was afterwards withdrawn at the request of the Government, when it was stated that an experimental system of compulsory insurance would be applied to public-service vehicles under the Government's Road Traffic Bill. That Bill being stilt in the air, many Members of Parliament are a little impatient, and the feeling is growing in favour of steps being taken immediately to secure payment of compensation in cases of damage or injury caused by uninsured small owners of cars and motorcycles who have no private means to meet claims.

Large Omnibuses and Drivers' Strain.

SIR ROBERT THOMAS raised an interesting question—whether, in view of the introduction of sixwheeled motor omnibuses with increased length, weight and passenger-carrying capacity, inquiry should be instituted to ascertain whether the additional Physical strain imposed on the drivers was likely to result in danger to themselves and the public. Col. Ashley said he was advised that there was no reason why vehicles of the kind, if properly designed and constructed, should impose any incfeased strain upon the persons who drove them. No complaints. had, so far as he was aware, been made to his department that vehicles of this type actually in use had proved difficult to handle, and he had, therefore, not thought it necessary to institute any general inquiries into the matter.

Cars Without Lights.

A TTENTION having been called to a recent case Ilein Croydon Police Court with reference to a car left at night in a secluded place with the lights turned off, the Home Secretary stated that the question whether the police had adequate powers under the existing law to deal with cases of the kind was being investigated. . . Traffic Regulation by Road Scouts.

?TIRE Home Secretary stated that under the, arrange

ment whereby police or other authorities utilized the services of road scouts of automobile organizations in substitution for those t local police in directing traffic the Royal Automobile Club provided uniformed men to direct traffic within specified hours, and were paid by the police authority at a fixed rate, which he thought was £150 per annum for each man. Where the arrangement had been approved this payment ranked as police expenditure for purposes of the Exchequer grant. He did not review the conditions of service of the men so employed. As he understood it, a sum of money was paid to the club itself. The men were not under police jurisdiction, but under the jurisdiction of the club. This had been done in a very few cases as an experiment, which was being very carefully watched.

Committee on Road Transport Bills.

THE following Members of Parliament have been selected to serve on the Joint Committee of both Houses to which the Railway Road Transport Bills have been committed :--Sir H. Cantley, Lieut.-Col, Thom, Capt. Nuttall, Sir Wm. Edge and Mr. Sidney Webb. The• inquiry will commence on April 26th and will continue on five days a week until concluded. e Although there are now technicallly seven Bills before Parliament, two of these deal with the powers sought by the L.M.S. and the L.N.E. companies in respect of Scotland, and the committee will have power to consolidate them with the companies' two similar English Bills. Under the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act of 1899 all private Bills affecting Scotland must originate with applications to the Secretary for Scotland for Provisional Orders. Hence the duplication. When a proposed Provisional Order contains provisions affecting general public policy, the chairmen of committees rule that the Order should proceed as a Bill at Westminster instead of being the subject of a local inquiry in Scotland. The petitions against the Order are treated as petitions against the Bill.

The House of Lords has appointed as its representatives on the Joint Committee the following peers :—Fari, Russell, Viscount Chelmsford, Lord Loch, Lord Ruthven of Gowrie and Lord Darling. The Committee will appoint its own chairman, and it is expected that Lord Darling will be chosen because of his great judicial experience in handling masses of evidence. It has been decided that the Committee should meet in the Grand Committee Room, Westminster Hall, on Thursday, April 26th, at 11 o'clock.

Foreign Road Stone.

(10L. SIR ARTHUR HOLBROOK called the atten tion of the Minister of Transport to nip fact that during the past four years 956,420 tons of road stone and 653,545 tons of setts and kerbing stone had been imported from Belgium and Norway, £2,772,678 having gone abroad in payment, whilst there were British quarries equipped with the latest machinery and capable of supplying all possible demands, and 2,000 men in the industry were now unemployed. He suggested that it should be a condition of payments from the Road Fund that stone from British quarries should be used exclusively.

Col. Ashley said the figures quoted represented with substantial accuracy the amount and value of broken granite imported from foreign countries during the past four years, but he was not in a position to state how high a proportion of it was actually used as road stone, nor was he aware of the number of men at present unemployed in the British road-stone industry as distinguished from the stone-quarrying and mining group. As showing, however, the relative importance of the figures of imported broken granite, which Sir Arthur Holbrook estimated at nearly 1,000,000 tons in four years, it sh,ould be observed that the total tonnage of road stone conveyed over the railways of Great Britain during the past four years amounted to up

wards of 47,000,000 tons. To this must be added

materials conveyed by other means of transport, With regard to the suggestion that the exclusive use of British materials should be made .a condition of grants from the Road Fund, he pointed out that only a portion of the work of highway authorities came under his review. Although the use of British materials was made a condition of grants towards works expedited for the relief of unemployment, he was not yet prepared to apply this condition to the whole of the work of highway authorities throughout the country. As he had already explained, circulars had been issued urging upon local authorities the desirability of using British materials and plant.

Street Obstruction Regulations.

REPRESENTA.TIONS have been . made by the Deptford Borough Council regarding the proposed draft -regulations dealing with obstructions in streets, and Mr. Bowerman has asked whether, as the regulalations will constitute a serious interference with the statutory powers and duties of the metropolitan borough councils in relation to highways, consideration will he given to the council's representations prior to the regulations becoming operative. Col. Ashley said that, while he did not admit the suggestion made by Mr. Bowerman, the representations made by the Deptford Borough Council would be most carefully considered after consultation with the London Traffic Advisory Committee before regulations were made.

Tests at Illumination Demonstration.

A T the road transport illumination demonstration to ..tibe held at Richmond Park on March 29th under the auspices of the Royal. Automobile 'Club the Ministry of Transport will be represented.

Road Fund Accounts for 1926-27.

rpiTE Revenue Account of the Road Fund for the _L year ended Ma.).'eh 31st, 1927, shows that the issues. from the Consolidated Fund in respect of motor

etc., duties amounted to £17,373,190, and interest on investments and loans to £608,928. Among the items of expenditure are :—Administration, £120,858; London Traffic Committee, £20,015, of which 116,800 is for salaries; tax collection costs, 4370,527.; experimental work, £6,839; surveys, 16,419; compensation to local authorities, £42,750; grants towards local authorities' surveyors' salaries, etc., 1170,074; road • census charges, £10,675; grants for general purposes, £2,451,452; 'grants, for maintenance of unclassified roads in rural areas, £469,467; special programme in unemployment areas, 14,863,041; grants to loan charges fortnerly made by Unemployment Grants Committee, 1867,558; grants for maintenance and improvement of Class 1 and Class 2 roads and bridges, £8,142,962; payment to the Exchequer under Section 43 of the Finance Act, 1926, £7,000,000. The balance of the Road Fund at March 31st, 1926, was £19,512,122, from which fell to be deducted the excess of payments over receipts during 1926 amounting to £6,559,899, leaving a balance of 112,952,223 at Marel31st, 1927. Against this balance liabilities to the extent of £27,187,000 existed at March 31st, 1927, on account of commitments oh road works.

Petroleum Bill Through Committee.

THE Government's Petroleum Bill, which is designed to amend the law in a number of particulars preparatory to a consolidating Bill being introduced at a later, date, was passed by the Standing Committee last Tuesday, a number. .of amendments having been made. The clause enabling the Home Secretary to make regulations relating to dangerous spirit was agreed to. This will enable' any action that may be necessary to be taken without delaY after the receipt of the report by tbe Committee of Inquiry which has been appointed as the result of recent discussions upon the use of lead tetraethyl..