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change in the Chartered :ute of Transport as John er rightly says (CM, March an update of his May 1977 aisal.
omits to mention that ptance of the Masefield art has already committed -istitute to advising the irnment on transport policy.
It is a pity he could not have spread his stimulating criticism to a still wider audience by saying "trade journals for other modes of transport please copy!"
"The impetus must come from the membership", he says — there's the rub! Only about ten per cent attend meetings but many members promote their Institute in other ways. Even so, it is local section meetings that offer the best opportunity for discussion and for resolutions to be put to the Council.
So it is the quality of what the attenders do that matters. Perhaps the AGM should be more of an occasion for critical self-analysis?
Members contribute to CIT affairs as private persons and are in a very different position to those who represent their companies at trade association meetings. Certainly employers want service from their transport employees first and foremost; they could well, however, regard involvement in consumer complaint as a potential disservice, even a form of heresy!
Criticism of unprofessional conduct by tour operators might be seen by British Rail members as a wagon worth riding., but civil aviation members would be likely to shy away from a complaint by the man in the street who cited Laker as the best thing in transport fares for a decade.
The CIT is no more a monopoly than CM, which regrettably militates against it becoming a power in the land. Directors-general do not preside as the caption to your photograph suggests, though trade press writers sometimes have fun implying that the tail wags the dog.
John Darker is to be commended for raising the vital issues that face every new President. Only by discussion will the best means be found to meet the challenge. On present form the CIT will most easily find a place in the sun in Africa and Asia.
Many UK-based members are likely to give a shudder of distaste at the Darker Side of Transport; but medicine often has a nasty taste and it behoves all members to be provoked into offering constructive alternatives.
M. F. HORTON Ipswich