What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander'
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NATIONALIZATION of road transport Was not an issue at either Leyton or Nuneaton, but the unexrpeetedly bad performance of the Labour party andidates may ultimately be seen to have played its part i modifying the policy of the Government in many ways.
he further shrinking of an already tiny majority drives orrie the lesson that no Government should disregard the hoice Made between candidates in a constituency during General Election and that it is dangerous to ignore or lienate any section of .the community.
The GoVernMent haveshown thernselVes willing to hange their'opinions and the process is likely to continue
s dogma comes face to face with reality on one sector fter another. To road operators it may be an advantage ! the official decisions on transport are delayed as long
s possible, in spite of the uncertainty that this is bound 3 perpetuate. The longer' time that Mr.Tom Fraser has 3 think about his problems, the more likely (one may ope) is he to forget the old-fashioned approach-and choose Tie common-sense and progressive solutions,
From .the point of vieW of the Opposition, it may be useful exercise to prod the Minister of Transport into nnouncing the Government's policy on the public owner hip of road transport Hainiers and possibly C-licence olders might prefer to be kept in suspense. Last week 4r. Peter Walker. M.P., referring to the " great deal of ncertainty " caused by the Government's failure to make clear statement of policy, asked the Minister if he would quickly pronounce his full views on this subject ".
Mr. Fraser declined the invitation. His full views at the loment, if one only -.knew, might include an extension of
ublic ownership in road transport and once he had xpressed such an opinion he might have difficulty in etracting it. In 12 months! time his full views might be cry different. He would have had the advantage of disussions with many interests, including trade and industry s well as road transport. They have a good case to put orward for limiting State control and they are not without loquence.
)ne Positive Step Eagerness to put the Minister in the wrong deflected his larliamentary critics from commenting on the one positive tep he has so far taken. He repeated what was already nown, that the Transport Holding Company are now free o add to and develop their fleets of vehicles by the 'freely iegotiated acquisition of other undertakings ". By concenrating on this point Mr. Fraser made it appear that the 7onservatives were denying to-State-owned road transport he freedom of expansion enjoyed by their competitors. IC .nything, the Conservatives added to the uncertainty by rot saying whether or not they accepted the Minister's .etion.
Is it of little or no significance? Objections have been !xpressed in the past to the policy of creeping nationalizaion whereby State-owned organizations have spread into uncillary fields and have used public money or public :redit for the purpose. In the present instance British Road Services have been given no authority to go outside their Own line of business and presumably they will have to earn the money for any purchases they wish to make.
There is always the possibility that those Purchases would increase to the stage where B.R.S. had a virtual monopoly in, say, the field of long-distance road haulage. In view of the capital required, this would take a very long time. Presumably it would not conform with the present policy of the Transport Holding Company. They already have a substantial road transport undertaking with a definite shape and purpose which would best be served by occasional acquisitions designed to fill gaps rather than by taking over indigestible and flourishing firms with a national pattern of their own.
Few Objections
This at least is how most independent operators see the situation and it is for this reason that they have made few objections. In private they May welcome Mr. Fraser's statement. The freedom he has given B.R.S. to behave like any other haulier might make it more difficult for him in due course if he wished to give them new privileges. He has said that the nationalized companies should be put on the same footing as their free enterprise competitors. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Conservative M.P.s are not bound to pursue their tactics entirely on behalf of the independent rOad operator. Their purpose in pressing the Minister for a definite statement was at least partly political. They would have found excellent ammunition for an attack on the Government in a statement from Mr. Fraser of a definite intention to renationalize. If they were disappointed at not getting it, they were surely not very surprised.
Of much greater use to operators for the time being is some clue to Mr. Fraser's thought processes. This can better be found in neutral conversation than in party political exchanges. The exclusive interview with the Minister published in The Commercial Motor last week gave several valuable clues even if it revealed no secrets. His complete approval of the co-operation which has already been established between road and rail should mean that he will tolerate no obstacles in the way of its extension and that he would not object if it continues on a voluntary basis. It still remains significant that the study group which he is appointing will be considering the co-ordination of transport services rather than co-operation.
Most disquieting of all is what Mr. Fraser has to say about C licences. He was careful to say that he did not want to pre-judge the issue, but there is no doubt that trade and industry will have a great deal to do to remove from his mind the impression that vehicles under C licence, especially on long-distance work, are often not fully employed " because they usually carry goods in one direction only ". Evidently the last Labour Minister of Transport, Mr. Alfred Barnes, had the same impression when he introduced the first Transport Bill. Ultimately he was persuaded to change his mind and this can happen again.