"VVe Must Have . . ."
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" W/E Want' or 'May We
W Have? ' " the title of an editorial in The Commercial Motor, provided Mr. J. A. M. Bright, chairman of A.R.O. Yorkshire Area, with what he termed a text from which to speak, when he urged the need for all operators to join an association.
Speaking at a hot-pot supper held underthe auspices of the newly formed Leeds and district haulage section of A.R.O., Mr. Bright stressed the point made in the editorial, that every operator should join an association, in order that, in putting forward its claims for consideration, the industry may be in a position to say "We want," rather than "May we have? "
The _ heading of The Commercial Motor editorial, said Mr. Bright, ought to sink into the minds of all operators.
Publication of the Baillie and T.A.C. Reports bad given ground for hoping that the industry was at last on the verge of getting at least something of what it wanted, but, whilst Mr. Bright thought he was right in describing the T.A.C. Report as a charter for the road-transport industry. there was danger in the situation.
It must not be forgotten that, although the Report of the Royal Commission on Transport, published in 1931, gave the road-transport industry hope that it was going to obtain many of the things it wanted, that Report was followed by the Salter Report, as a result a which the industry was suffering from a good many things that it did not want.
Mr. A. H. Butterwick, chairman of the new Leeds and district haulage committee of the Association, pointed out that during the past 12 months there had been issued throughout the country 18 new A licences, 1,500 new B licences, and 26,000 new C licences. Those figures were highly significant of a tendency.
Groups of hauliers were getting together and companies were being formed. Furthermore. he knew that from one large industry, which he preferred not to specify, approaches were being made to hauliers with a view to buying their businesses.
Touching on the subject of coal haulage, he said it had transpired that a sales organization representative of various Yorkshire collieries had come to an agreement with coal distributors with reference to road-haulage rates, without consulting the hauliers. Since this had become known in the road-transport industry, certain steps had been taken, and negotiations in which hauliers' representatives were taking part were now in progress.