MORE POWER FOR R.H.A. BRANCHES
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AN effort is being made to give more power to the local committees of the Road Haulage Association. Speaking at a meeting held under the auspices of the RI-LA., at Leeds, last Monday night, Mr. Donaldson Wright, Nottingham, a vice-chairman of the Association, said that he was pressing for a scheme that would give more power and local autonomy to the local committees. At the same time, the strong link between the areas and the National Council in London would have to be preserved.
The rapid growth of the R.H.A., said the speaker, had caused a certain amount of dislocation at headquarters —during the past month alone over 100 new members had been enrolled —and a select committee of six had been set up to examine the administration of the Association.
So far as the R.H.A.'s activities in Yorkshire were concerned, there had been many difficulties owing to the huge size of the al-ea, but he hoped that, at an early date, Yorkshire would have its own representative on -the National Council.
Referring to the announcement by the railway companies, following the recent conference in the Metropolitan Area, that they had agreed not to oppose any application for discretion ary tonnage when it was accompanied by an application for claimed tonnage, Mr. Wright said the railway companies must have had their tongues very much in their cheeks when they published this so-called agreement Such an agreement would take away the right of the road-transport operator to oppose the applications for discretionary tonnage which were bound to be lodged by the railway companies.
For that reason, the R.H.A. had published a denial that it had anything to do with this agreement in the Metropolitan Area. It was also now clear, he declared, that the .agreement did not apply to the rest of the country.
"I am quite convinced," he continued, "that, at any rate for the first 12 months, all genuine applications for discretionary tonnage, provided that they are not seriously opposed, will go through. It is in two years' time that you will need the protection of an association perhaps more than you need it now."
Mr. A. H. Butterwick, chairman of the Leeds and District Committee of the R.H.A., who presided, emphasized the need for a united front among road hauliers, and made outspoken comments about disunity on the passenger side of the industry.