'ROAD TRANSPORT MATTERS IN PARLIAMENT.
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The McKenna Duties and the Motor Industry. Rear Lights for Bicycles. Petrol Tax and Food Distribution. Increased Speedlimits and Accidents. The Protection of Pedestrians.
ONthe safeguarding amendment to the Address Sir L. Worthington-Evans, Secretary for War, spoke for the Government. He pointed to the improvement of enmioyment in industries to which the McKenna and Safeguarding duties were extended. He said the imports, in general, were lower than before the imposition of the duty and, in some instances, exports had steadily increased. The prices of commodities covered by the duties had not been advanced and in some cases they had been reduced.
The motor industry was expanding. Two foreign manufacturers had established factories in this country and others were coming. Six new tyre factories had beenestablished by foreign manufacturers. In the motor industry, in 1927, 230,000 people were employed, being an increase of nearly 30,000 over 1924. In the case of tyres the duty had just been put on and he was unable to give figures, but it must have increased employment, because four American firms and two other foreign firms were setting up factories in this country.
In the same debate, Sir H. Page-Croft pointed out that since the McKenna duties were re-imposed, in 1925, after Mr. Snowden had removed them (in 1924), the prices of motorcars had enormously decreased. The price of a 10 h.p. car had decreased by f29 and that of an 18-25 h.p. car had decreased by £84. The British motor manufacturers were entirely converted to safeguarding, because it gave them a secure home market with the result that production could be increased and favourable conditions created for the export of their goods to the Continent.
Free Trader's View.
H. P. PLARRIS, a Liberal member, contended
that the motor industry would have done better if it had looked for world markets, instead of concentrating mainly on the home market, as a result of protection. The British motor industry largely disregarded world markets for the first ten years of the McKenna duties. It was not until the Labour Governinent removed the McKenna duties that the British motor industry, fearing the loss of monopoly in the home market, looked abroad and set about putting their house in order. They started to compete in Australia and Canada for some of that market in which already the Americans had such an immense advantage, through having first captured it.
The Doomed Ministries.
A/I-11. BALDWIN states that he is not prepared Ji. to add anything to what he has already said with regard to the proposed abolition of the Ministries of Transport, Mines, and Overseas Trade. The matter will not be dealt with in the present Parliament.
No Rule of the Footpath.
ON being asked what action he proposed to take regarding representations from cities and towns urging that the left-hand rile for pedestrians should be made general throughout the country, Colonel Ashley said he regretted that there was no generally recognized rule of the footpath for pedestrians, but the reception of previous attempts to influence the public in the direction of adopting the left-hand rule had not been such as to encourage a re-opening of the question.
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Cost of Police Traffic Control.
THE average annual cost per man of the Metropolitan Police engaged on traffic duty is about £320, including the average cost of pension and all other charges. At present, the number of men so engaged is about 1,300. It was suggested by Captain Brass that permanent men should be on point duty, but the Home Secretary said the Commissioner took the view that it was desirable that all men should take their turn on different classes a duty, although certain picked men were, of course, arranged for duty at very special points. It was essential, certainly in the central parts of London, to have police and not scouts on point duty.
Petrol Tax and Food Distribution.
MR. R. SEXTON, having pointed out that the 1_ Federation of Wholesale Confectioners and other food distributors had complained of the additional heavy burden imposed on them by tha petrol tax of ld. per gallon, suggested that the question of exemption in such cases should be considered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. Churchill said he had received representations of the nature described, but he was afraid he could not depart from the principle which he had repeatedly stated to the House of Commons, namely, that he could not allow the tax to be vitiated by exemptions.
The Speculative Solicitor.
MHE Home Secretary, on being asked by Mr. R.
Morrison to waive the payment of 5s. required from relatives of persons injured in street accidents in London, for examining •the police report, said the charge was made to cover the cost of searching the records for any relevant entries. It had been the practice for some years to reduce or waive it where payment would cause hardship. On the suggestionthat the fee should be reduced to half a crown, the Home Secretary said the cost of everything had gone up, including the police rates. He had a good deal of experience of these cases. They were usually speculative solicitors who asked for those reports.
Increased Speed and Accidents.
ATO additional accidents have been attributed 1.:‘ to the increased maximum speeds, recently authorized for certain classes of heavy motorcars fitted with pneumatic tyres.
The Man in Front.
BRIG_kDIER-GENERAL WRIGHT complained of the requirements that farmers should employ a third man to walk in front of a traction engine and threshing machine when moving from farm to farm. He suggested that in view of the additional hardship to labourers in having thus to walk considerable distances after a hard day's work and the fact that no other mechanically propelled vehicles were penalized by restrictions of this character, the regulation should be waived or legislation introduced to do away with it. Colonel Ashley pointed out that he had no power to waive a statutory requirement which applied to all locomotives other than road rollers, but his proposals for the amendment of the law were contained in the 'draft Road Traffic Bill. Bicycle Rear Lights:
IR P. HALL, having called attention to the 10 large number of cyclists Mx, did not show a rear reflector or lamp, Sir William Joynson-Hicks said that some latitude had been allowed during the summer in the enforcement of the law in this respect, but he was taking steps to call the attention of the police to it again. Captain Brass having pointed out that a large number of reflectors were ineffective, Sir William -mentioned that the number of prosecutions of cyclists in the Metropolitan Police Area since April 22nd, when the lighting regulations came into force, for disregarding those regulations in respect of rear lights was 770.
Sir H. Maybury's Honorary Post.
COLONEL ASHLEY, replying to the discussion, stated that he intended to appoint Sir Henry Maybury to the Traffic Advisory Committee, and he thought he was exceedingly fortunate in inducing Sir Henry to take up that work, which was unpaid and purely honorary. Having acknowledged the services of the Advisory Committee, the Minister said there were many desirable reforms, but they could not do everything they would like to do at once. They had to consider money and the difficulty of finding time for new legislation.
It would be improper to express any opinion upon the proposals of the L.C.C. and the Combine until the private Bills were before Parliament, but he would vote for any step whether in the form of a private Bill or a Government Bill which would afford some prospect of tubes and other facilities being given to the deplorably congested areas in the East and North-east of London. It should not be forgotten that vast projects were being carried through or were in the air.
The Victoria Dock Road project, which was to cost £2,500,009, would soon become a reality. Very active negotiations were going on with regard to Waterloo Bridge, which was bound up with the Charing Cross scheme. This might cost 03,000,000 to £14,000,000. Lambeth Bridge was being proceeded with, and the Kensington High Street improvement, costing £42.5,000. These matters alone showed that the Advisory Committee had done a good deal of work during the three or four years it had been in existence.
After further discussion the debate was adjourned.
Critieism of Traffic Administration.
IN Committee, on the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill, which carries on the operation of the London Traffic Act, 1924, for a further period of three yevs, Mr. Scurr moved to omit the Act. He declared that many iniprovements in the working of this temporary Act had been tabled, but the Government were not carrying them out, and it appeared that the Ministry of Transport had been a hindrance to the work of the London Traffic Ad• visory Committee, and had ignored its recommendations.
He alluded particularly to the recommendations for the relief of the traffic problem in North and North-eastern London and East London, regarding which nothing had been done. Then there was the proposal for the co-ordination of London passenger traffic under a public Bill, to be promoted by the Government, implementing the agreement. The Government, however, refused, and the position was that a private limited liability corporation and the London County Council were each proceeding to promote private Bills for the purpose of some unspecified agreement which the parties might choose to make.
He also referred to the action of the Minister in declining to submit the report of the Advisory Corn mittee regarding railway road powers to the joint Committee on the Railway Bill and .afterwards accepting an amendment on the report stage by Sir Henry Jackson. Alluding to Sir Henry Maybury's resignation, he said that if it were true that Sir Henry was to be appointed to a position on the Advisory Committee while also engaged in private practice as a consulting engineer such an appointment would be improper.
Mr, P. Harris considered that there were only two ways of solving the London traffic problem, One was by putting control in the hands of a publicly elected body. like the County Connell. The other was to follow the American method of selling the privilege under definite conditions and restrictions. The present system was neither one nor the other, but had the faults of both.
Compulsory Third Party Insurance.
TWO Bills are now before Parliament providing 1 for compulsory insurance against third party risks. Lord Cecil, in his comprehensive Road Vehicles Regulation Bill, the second reading of which has been put dowat for December 12th, has a clause dealing with the subject, and last week Mr. Wardlaw Milne re-introduced his Bill for the sole purpose of making such insurance compulsory. II: may be recalled that the Government's draft Road Traffic Bill proposed an experimental application of tale compulsory principle to public-service vehicles, but that measure is definitely suspended until the next Parliament.
Mr. Wardlaw Milne realizes that his Bill cannot be passed this session, but he is anxious to get it advanced to the Standing Committee where the subject can be 'threshed out in detail. It is just possible that he may obtain a formal setond reading seeing that there was no opposition to the first reading. In his introductory speech he declared that the question was too urgent to await the passage of the Government's future Bill. The constant damage that was being done by motor vehicles without the possibility of the injured receiving any compensation ought to be dealt with without delay. A large number of public bodies
supported the measure. The County Councils' Association, the National Farmers' Union, the Association of Chambers of Commerce, and the Association of Municipal ,Corporations through one of its committees, had reported in favour of it. Many hospitals urged that a measure of the kind should be passed. There were two alterations as 'compared with his Bill of last year. One was that the insurance company's form of policy should be approved by the Minister of Transport instead of by the Licensing Authority, and the other was that the third party should have the right to be paid by the insurance company instead of having only a claim at common law. The Bill is backed by members of all three parties.
Waterloo Bridge Reconstruction.
A SKED when the work of reconstructing Water..ritoo Bridge was likely to be 'commenced, Colonel Ashley stated that the question of reconstruction was dependent upon, whatever decision might finally be reached in the matter of the proposed Charing Cross Bridge.
For the Protection of Pedestrians.
riONSIDERATION has been given by the '1 Minister of Transport to the desirability of placing prominent notices bearing the words " Oneway " on the lamp standards on refuges in oneway streets es well as continuing the present practice of marking the words "look left" or "look right," asthe case may be, on the carriageway adjacent to such refuges. Arrangements will shortlybe made to conduct experiments on these lines in Central London.