"A Crumb from the European Peace Table"
Page 16
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DESPITE repeated appeals in the House of Commons for the release of fuel to enable a partial reinstatement of coach services throughout the country, together with the reinforcement of bus services, the Minister of .Fuel and Power says that it is as much a question of man-power as of petrol and oil supplies.
Assuming that we accept this reply, why is not something done to iniprove the man power position? There must be many thousands of redundant. drivers and mechanics in the Services who are only too eager to get back to a civilian job of work.
Whilst we fully appreciate our present and future commitments in connection with the war in the Far East, and the immense amount of work which has still to be done in Europe, it should be realized that there are people in this country who, after nearly six years of almost intolerable conditions, would appreciate a few small concessions by way of a tribute for what they have withstood and. achieved.
When many thousands of men were imported to the areas which had been subjected. to flyingbomb damage, no difficulty was found in manning many -hundreds of coaches to take these men to and from their work. Where did these drivers suddenly spring from and where have they gone now?
Every day many thousands of man-hours are lost as the result of people having to wait in long queues for transport. We fail to see the economics of such a situation, when it should be possible to secure trained' man-power both from the Services and the factories where, quite obviously, the tempo must now be decreased to a degree which would permit of a drastic dilution.
The campaign at present being conducted by the motor industry is sufficient to show that the a brakes are still hard on, despite the fact that we have safely negotiated the worst portion of the hill and are ready to push our foot down for the level, open stretches. Brakes that are held on too hard and too long have a habit of overheating and causing trouble. Now the warning has been sounded, why not let the industry get away to a good. start?
The general. public may well ask : "How long before we get a. crumb from the European peace table? "