Still Bat ting TULY has been a vintage month for transport
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statisticians. First, Mr. Ernest Marples surveyed his five-year-long stint at the Ministry, referring in passing to investment of £1,360m., 10 Acts, 5,000 statutory instruments, committees, surveys and reports by the dozen.
Now, for good measure. the London Traffic Survey records lm. vehicle miles every hour amidst a daunting welter of figures, tables and appendices. Then, on Monday this week, Mr. Marples announced a f1,000m., five-year budget for road expenditure and the motor industry predicted that 21m. vehicles would be built this year.
But what of the man at the centre of the trouble spot—the Minister of Transport himself. Already the slogan "Marples must go" seems as tatty as last year's luggage label. Another opinion poll gone wrong, in fact. And, infuriatingly to his critics, he is still batting.
Why has he outlasted Cabinet colleagues, ministerial predecessors and critics alike? First, by the proved policy of steadily building up an unimpeachable team of experts and advisers around him, whilst his own engineering and accountancy background has brought to the Ministry a flair for vetting things on the move—time-wise and costwise.
But above all, continuity in office has been a major factor during this crucial period in transport history when national policies are being remoulded for the remainder of the century.
In the past there have been too many Ministers of Transport-22 in 45 years, in fact. Whatever Government and whatever Minister is in office in October, continuity of office must henceforth remain. The Ministry of Transport must not revert to its former role of being a stepping stone for personal political ambition.