Halfway House
Page 54
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ONCE Christopher Columbus was well on his way across the Atlantic, a snap vote among' his crew would probably have been in favour of compromising with a week-end at Blackpool; and warnings to stop while the going was good were no doubt given in plenty to the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo. The Government's plan to return road haulage to free enterprise is now being put into practice, and the favourite accompaniment is a lament that the legislation has gone too far. The one or two eccentrics who have maintained all along that it would be sufficient merely to lift the 25-mile limit and to license the vehicles of the British Transport Commission now find their opinions upheld on every side.
There are good reasons for the popularity of the idea. It has the appearance, and therefore the appeal, of a genuine compromise. Hauliers believe it would suit them very well, and of all concessions it is the one the Commission would least mind making. It promises to preserve the good features of British Road Services, such as the organization for collection and delivery between the main centres of population, while introducing competition at the bustling pace of free enter prise. • The customer may be pardoned for supposing that he would get the best of both worlds. It may make him hesitate when he realises that he would be supporting Socialism in its most up-to-date form. The Socialists have come to appreciate, although grudgingly, that there is something to be said for free enterprise. Instead of swallowing an industry at one gulp, they propose to take over merely a section of it, or to set up their own State-owned undertaking in opposition. Competition on equal terms between hauliers and B.R.S. would have the complete approval of Mr. Morrison and Mr. Callaghan, were they not already committed to a policy of renationalization.
Whisky and Gin The mixing of incompatibles is normally undertaken with some caution. If we are exhilarated by whisky and depressed by gin, Ike are nevertheless unlikely to undertake more than once an experiment to acquire an equable temperament by a judicious mixture of the two.
It is a tribute to the hearts rather than to the heads of the Socialists that they are prepared to stand by their theory that a hybrid of public and private enterprise • would bring out the virtues of both, and the stability of one would benefit from the dynamism of the other. A celebrated actress once suggested to Bernard Shaw that they should benefit the world by having children with her face and his brain. "Suppose," he replied, "they were to have my face and your brain." There seems just as much danger that competition would encourage B.R.S. to indulge in a rash and untimely rates war. When that failed there would be a gradual return of restrictions on free enterprise.
Relaxation of the 25-mile limit and the licensing of the British Transport Commission's vehicles were included in the amending Bill associated with the name of Mr. Bevins. The main criticism by the Labour Government at that time was that the Transport Act, 1947, had arranged for the purchase of a monopoly, which the Bill proposed to abandon. This reply : have seemed naïve, but it was no more than the tr The 1947 Act was designed as a whole. In its orig form it provided for an integrated service involving railways, the canals, London Transport and long-disn road haulage. The Commission's vehicles would no licensed, hauliers would be restricted to the 25-i limit, and the C-licence holder would have to nu journeys exceeding 40 miles.
Many Socialists blame most of the troubles of B. on the dropping of the C-licence clause, and it is that B.R.S. have lost a good deal of traffic because trader, deprived of the services of an independent hau has preferred to use his own vehicles. Not every trr has been in a position to act upon this preference, the monopoly of B.R.S. has held good over a wide fi Once it is removed, the justification for B.R.S. has gi There would be many thousands of long-dista hauliers, and B.R.S. would be by far the largest--m too large and cumbersome to compete successfully. ' fantasy of integration would disappear, and the r of the B.R.S. would have to• fall in line with what customer was paying elsewhere.
Tangible Assets
There would be always the danger of B.R.S. fal to pieces when deprived of the monopoly that ha far shielded their structure. No Government cc afford to stand aside and watch this happen. The mo paid to the dispossessed hauliers was guaranteed by State. It now amounts to perhaps £70m., on vvl interest has to be paid, and. there are hopes that in course of time the capital will be redeemed. One r argue whether or not the money bought a monop but certainly this and the tangible assets are almost that B.R.S. have to sell. The lifting of the 25-mile fi destroys the monopoly and whatever value it may hi The transport levy, although it has few friends. least makes sure that any loss on the disposal of 13.1 does not fall upon the taxpayer, or upon the Comr sion's other sections, which in any case seem hard to it to meet their own expenses. The opportunity dispose of B.R.S. on reasonably favourable terms come only once. If the Government had not deci to take the opportunity now, they would have b justly criticized for losing money on the sale of B.I at a later date.
On the horns of a dilemma, the Conservative Govt ment of the future might well have decided that se form of artificial respiration for B.R.S. was the c solution. The usual technique is to give the patient and this would best be done by hemming in the er petitors. After everything the Conservatives have about it, the reimposition of the 25-mile limit might too crude a measure, but some device could no do be thought up to have the same effect.
A Labour Government would not think twice. it is, renationalization will set them a task they n hesitate to tackle. If it were not necessary, they we find no difficulty in putting the 25-mile limit ha Should the amending Act seem too simple, they mi throw in a few restrictions on the C-licence holder makeweight.