MINISTERS AT THE C.M.0 A LUNCHEON.
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Non-committal but Encouraging Speeches from the Home Secretary and the Minister of Transport.
THE annual luncheon of the Commercial Motor Users Association was held at the Savoy Hotel, London, on Tuesday of last week, the president, Mr. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith, C.B.E., being in the chair. He was supported by Sir William Joynson-Hicks, P.C., M.P. (Home Secretary), and the Hon. Wilfrid Ashley, P.C., M.P. (Minister of Transport), on his immediate right and left, and amongst those present were Viscount Curzon, C.B.E., M.P. (a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury), Lord Fermoy, M.P. (Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Transport), Capt. Douglas H. Hacking, 0.B.E., M.P. (Parliamentary Secretary, Department of Overseas Trade), Herbert G. Williams, M.Sc., M.P. (Parliamentary Secretary, Board of Trade), F. George Penny, M.P. (a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury), Sir David Milne Watson, LL.D., D.L. (chairman National Benzole Association), F. A. Macquisten, K.C., M.P., F. E. Powell (chairman, American Chamber of Commerce), Sir William G. Lobjoit, 0.B.E., J.P. (vice-president, C.M.U.A.), Cyril W. Hurcomb, C.B.E. (Permanent Secretary, Ministry• of Transport), and Colonel R. E. Crompton, C.B. (past president,
C.M.U.A.). • There was a very large attendance of the members of the Association, the National Council being very fully represented by its leading members.
Standing up for the Small Man.
The president, in his speech, said that he did not wish to take advantage of the presence of so many of His Majesty's Ministers by raising controversial points *out the question of the roads versus railways, but he did wish to emphasize four points. The Association had always contended that the decisive factor in the present situation must be public interest, and he said that the Association was not opposed to the co-ordination of the roads with the railways, and welcomed an inquiry into the whole question of transport. He said that he had recently been through the register of the Association and found that there were over a thousand
men who had served in the war who owned but two or•four vehicles. This type of man stands for individual
effort, and every consideration should be given to him and to his interests in the forthcoming discussion in Parliament. He mentioned, as his fourth point, the need for the provision of adequate safeguards for road transport.
Dealing with the work of the Ministry, he particularly stressed the value of the efforts of the London and Home Counties Advisory Committee. In public passenger transport great service had been given by bringing it under a scheme of regularization. This scheme had first been founded on the existence of great congestion in the streets, but other considerations have since collie in and, without doubt, the experience that had been gained would be applied in other places in the provinces. He drew the attention of the Home Secretary and the Minister of Transport to the growth in the use of pneumatic tyres. The Home Secretary should welcome this development, because it makes for uniformity of vehicle speed, whilst the Ministry of Transport should welcome it because of the reduction in the wear and tear of the roads.
Sir William Joynson-Hicks, as is his wont, replied with considerable subtlety, wit and humour. He found that he had made a note during Mr. Shrapnell-Smith's speech on "noble ministers," but he had since remembered that the president had really used the word " nobble" when he had said that the Association had not invited the Ministers of the Crown as guests with the intention to nobble them. Sir William Joynsonn22 Hicks is a teetotaler, and he expressed his fear that on the Evian water which he had been drinking he might be led into making injudicious remarks which might afterwards be brought up against him in Parliament.
What Strube and Low have Made Him!
With quaint humour, he said that all the regulations that annoy and irritate the motoring community came from the Ministry of Transport, whilst all the care and affection lavished by the police in their application came from himself He and Col. Ashley could be looked upon as the twin brothers of transport, but, said he, " When I look at him I feel very, very envious. He is one of the most handsome men in Parliament, whereas I am what Strube and Low have made me."
He said, dealing with the forthcoming Road Traffic Bill, that, in his opinion, the solution of the speed-limit problem was the extension of that courtesy which is rapidly growing on the road and the different spirit amongst road users, with which probably the Safety First Association has had much to do. Motor drivers recognize that, whilst they have their rights on the road, so have the pedestrians equal rights, and the motorist was teaching the pedestrian that the motor vehicle was the promoter of a great revolution in transport and roads.
The Minister of Transport proposed the toast of "The Association" and said that the Ministry was really in a difficult position in the matter of the railways question, because it had to hold the balance between the two interests. He had already put forward the view of the Government that it would be unfair to prevent the railways from having more powers, provided that adequate safeguards were given to existing road-transport operators. He said that road transport had gone ahead, not in leaps and bounds, but in orderly progression.
With regard to weak bridges, he regarded these as obstructions, involving a loss of time and money that it was impossible to assess. Railways could not fairly be asked to shoulder the task of strengthening the bridges to carry the traffic of the present day, but, despite that fact, these impedimenta in the traffic could not be allowed much longer to exist. He thought that Col. Windsor-Clive's Bill now before the House should help to dispose of the difficulty, and, so far as his Department was concerned, it was prepared to assist to the extent of f250,000 in the next year's Budget„ making grants for strengthening bridges and abolishing level crossings. He hoped that it would be possible in the life of the present Parliament to proceed with the Road Traffic Bill, so that it could become the law of the land before the end of next year.
Sir William Lobjoit, replying to the toast, said that whilst they all wished to help the railways, what they wished was to be able to help the railways to be better railways. Already they had more powers than those possessed by road transport and they should put their powers to better use than they did. His second point concerned the roads, and he said that if the Ministry of Transport would see that the roads were made safe for traffic, manufacturers and users would continue unabated their efforts to make traffic safe on the roads.
Sir David Milne Watson proposed the healtli. of the chairman, who suitably replied and, in his turn, proposed a toast to Mr. Bristow, the general secretary of the Association. This was very cordially received and Mr. Bristow's reply was typical of him and his modesty. and of the appreciation in which he holds the whole of his staff. '