The Story Behind the
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MILNE REPORT
IN tracing events which have led up to the present proposal to nationalize transport in the Republic of Ireland, I pointed, last week, to the ostrich attitude adopted some years ago by railway administrators towards road competition I explained how, under the 1924 Act, all the railways in the Twenty-six Counties, apart from the G.N.R (I) and other cross-border services were amalgamated, and revealed the internal conflict that took place between road and rail executives in the unified organization.
Next I dealt with the war-time problems of transport in Southern Ireland and the formation of_Coras lompair Eireann, an amalgamation of the Great Southern Railways and Dublin United Tramways, sponsored by the Government. When I exhausted my allocation of space, I was describing the difficulties . that have,beset C.I.E. since the War. .
When the general election of January, 1948, came there was much talk about the C.I.E. and the transport situation generally Although none of the opposition parties had any definite policy on the matter, they were united in their complaints When the fresh Government took office the new Minister for Industry and Commerce, Mr, D. Morrissey, looked on transport as his greatest problem, but for some time took no positive action. He declined the directors' suggestions—made in the knowledge of the certaiwy of a greater loss for the current financial year—that passenger fares should be increased, maintenance cut, unprofitable rail branches closed and staff heavily reduced. At the annual meeting in March, 1948, the loss of over £900,000 was announced.
At an interview with the Minister on March 2, 1948, Mr. Reynolds spoke of the loss in question and of the estimate that 1948 would bring a fresh deficit of £1,250,000 unless drastic action was taken. Mr Morrissey asked for a factual statement showing why C.J.E. was not self-supporting and what measures were considered necessary to remedy the position.
Road Transport Solvent
in his statement Mr. Reynolds pointed out that the organization could secure sufficient revenue at current fares to meet the road passenger transport expenditure, whilst on the road goods transport side sufficient revenue could also be obtained at competitive rates for that department to hold its own. On the rail side, the statement revealed that the fares and rates charged to users of the main-line services were insufficient to meet expenses, whilst the branch lines could never produce enough revenue to meet the, costs of operation.
The difficulty, said Mr. Reynolds, was for the railway to secure traffic at rates high enough to produce sufficient revenue. That it was losing high-grade traffic to road services was borne out by the number of lorries taxed-18,750—compared with 10,400 a decade earlier. Evidence that the railway was being used to transport low-grade traffics was provided by the tonnage carried in 1947, which was as high as that in 1937. If it were necessary for the country to have a railway; properly maintained and operated, he continued, outside assist
c20 ance was necessary and this could be made available by • nationalization, subsidy or restrictions on other forms of transport.
If nationalization is decided upon, the rates and fares charged will not be an important factor, because all the people, as distinct from the users, will then pay through taxation for public transport and the Government will only be concerned to see that the services rendered are efficient and economical," said Mr. Reynolds.
The loss of goods traffic was serious, but competition from licensed'hauliers was less important than that from private traders. Only 12 per cent, of the licensed hauliers operated over the whole country and 80 per cent. of them ran only one vehicle, Mr. Reynolds continued.
This problem could be solved, insisted Mr. Reynolds, by placing a restriction on private traders. This form of outside assistance was to be recommended because it avoided a charge on the people for public transport. If the proposal were adopted the company could increase its charges by, say, a tenth on all rates and fares. , In midsummer, Mr. Morrissey announced the setting up of the Milne Commission to report on transport in Ireland. The report was published on Christmas Eve.
I think I am right in saying that the Commission included only one road transport expert, Mr. W. I. Elliott (Of the Hay's Wharf Cartage group), and, no specific road passenger representative at all. A strong bias in favour of railways being necessary, more or less at any cost, was fairly evident, and the policy suggested presupposed their necessity without giving a justification in clear and sound economic terms.
The Milne Report is a lengthy document, running probably to something like 100,000 words, and provides a critical examination of the transport situation, especially road-rail reactions, in the Twenty-six Counties. Detailed attention is paid to Coras lorripair Eireann, which is described as "of outstanding importance as it carries about 80 per cent. of the total traffic conveyed by public services. It is the backbone.of the present system of public transport and forms the natural foundation for future developments.".
The accompanying tables, extracted from the Report, show the C.J.E. preponderance in bus operation during Among the factors laid down in the report as essential in the provision of " efficient and economical" transport are:—
" 1. Public undertakings should provide cheap, adequate and efficient -services, and should be financially self-supporting. These services should be available to all members of the public at uniform charges throughout the country. The interest of individual traders who desire to use their own vehicles, and of licensed operators providing only a limited service, should be subordinated to the interest of the majority who have to rely on public services.
"2. Traders and the public should, in general, be free to choose the form of transport most suitable to their requirements, including the right to provide and operate, under equitable conditions, their own vehicles. This freedom should act as a stimulus to economy and efficiency in the operation of the public services and as a safeguard against the dangers inherent in large organizations possessing a virtual monopoly."
The C.I.E. road passenger services were regarded by the Commission as well operated, but the comment was made that a large proportion of the goods vehicles consisted of old machines, unsuitable for the type of work on which they were engaged. The road mileage in Ireland is more than four times as great per 100,000 population as in England and, as construction and maintenance costs are not covered by motor-vehicle licences, any large growth of commercial traffic would be reflected in charges against the public authorities. For this reason the Commission regarded it as in the national interest that as much traffic as possible should be moved by rail and canal.
Regular long-distance road services should not be run in competition with the railways, said the Commission. They should .be provided only as supplementary services over routes where additional carrying capacity is needed to augment rail services.
So far as the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) is concerned, the Northern Ireland Government has powers to enable the Ulster Transport Authority to acquire such parts of this and other railways which lie north of the border, whilst C.I.E. has powers of five years' standing to take over the southern part of the systems.
Preparing the Way Great Northern buses and goods vehicles working in Northern Ireland were, of course, taken over many years ago by the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board, but recent figures show an annual bus mileage in Eire of 2,750,000 and a goods mileage of 1,750,000. Perhaps it is not without significance that Mr. George B. Howden, for 10 years general manager of G.N.R. (I.), took up duty with C.I.E. in an advisory capacity during March, having been released by the G.N.R., at the C.I.E. board's request, until legislation for nationalization comes into force.
In connection with co-ordination, the suggestion is made in the Milne Report that independent operators, restricted to specified areas, should be encouraged to provide services to meet local requirements and that the public transport undertaking should contract with them for the provision of local services where they could dr so with efficiency and economy.
The Irish Lorry Owners' Association, of Dublin, claims over 600 members, in addition to which large numbers are attached to the Southern Lorry Owners' Association, of Cork, and the United Lorry Owners' Association, of Tuam. Whilst some of these operators have substantial businesses, I was told that fuel allowances severely restrict many of the smaller men. I heard of instances where one-man businesses, after paying hire-purchase charges, were left with no more than 10s. a day as proprietors' remuneration.
Shareholders' Interests Ignored In discussing the transport situation in the Twenty-six Counties, little regard seems to have been paid to the interests of shareholders. The Irish Transport Stockholders' Association has pointed out that the 10,500 common stockholders have no desire or capacity to subsidize public transport, although, in fact, they have been doing so for many years against their will. The common stockholders, the Association says, have been deprived of the substance of ownership and the fruits of enterprise, although fully exposed to all the risks!
When, in February last, Mr. Reynolds came to communicate with the Minister in reply to the Milne Report, he pointed out that the regular long-distance road services could not be said to run in competition with the railways. The railways could not be made to serve the large areas of country which now enjoyed bus facilities. (In this connection, it may be observed that many of the so-called long-distance routes appear to be rather in the nature of linkages of shorter routes, enabling one vehicle to be used and saving turn-round wastages.)
Mr. Reynolds commented that actually there were no scheduled long-distance bus services running parallel with the railways, and the number of towns served on any particular route by both forms of transport was extremely limited. The abandonment of the bus services mentioned, he said, would not be tolerated by the public and the needs of the people could not be satisfied by buses radiating from rail heads. The maintenance cost of buses, which had been criticized, could. not fall as low as the average English figure, because of the level of Irish wages.
The first move made by the Government was to announce nationalization, although this solution was • vetoed in the report. Reform of the administration began with the replacement of Mr. Reynolds by Mr. T. C. Courtney, whose experience (although, in his early years. including a year or two with a small Irish railway) is mainly in road transport.
• Mr. Courtney's appointment was for one year only, and reliable sources are of the opinion that he will not be a more or less permanent chairman of C.I.E. The belief is rather that the proposal of Sir James Milne for a Central Highways Authority will be adopted and that Mr. Courtney will be its chairman, that body being responsible for what may be called the strategic planning and administration of public transport, taking the term "highways" to mean alike road, railway and canal. In effect, the Government would thus be enabled to pass the settlement of most, if not ail, of its road-rail problems on to this new body.
In the meantime it is expected that two Bills will be prepared. The first, which is expected soon, is thought likely to cover State acquisition of the railway system and canals, with compensation for the stockholders. The second will probably be a much more comprehensive Transport Act, repealing the Act of 1944, replacing it with provisions that may give the public undertaking more freedom, although speculation is to the effect that such a Bill is unlikely to propose the direct restriction of private hauliels.
On the one hand the powers-that-be have to placate 21,000 rail and bus employees, an important section of the electorate, but they also have to remember the independent operators, as well as the larger number of businessmen and employees, who run vehicles for carrying their own goods. There is much to be said. therefore, for believing that the vexed problem of restricting private operators will be left over by the Coalition Government—with only a small majority and in constant danger from disunity within—for this new Highways Authority to solve over a period of years.