Rail Dispute Caused by Denationalization
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SOC1ALISTS are blaming the denationalization of road haulage for
the recent threatened railway strike. They say that one of the reasons why the British Transport Commission had not the funds with which to increase the wages of railwaymen was that they have been robbed of a profitable road haulage undertaking.
This was the line to be taken by the *Opposition in yesterday's debate in the 'House of Commons on the railway dispute and its settlement.
Another debate on transport will be held shortly, when the B.T.C.'s Bill seeking power to borrow .£1,200m. for the modernization of... the railways comes up. Discussion is also likely on the new railway charges scheme, to be published soon.
Mr. Boyd-Carpenter, Minister of Transport, 'outlined to Conservative back-benchers last week the Government's plans to increase railway efficiency. He was outspoken on the theme that the railways must face economic facts and that the Government had no intention of cushioning them. There would be no State subsidies or grants, and the railways would have to depend on their own efficiency.
Mr. Boyd-Carpenter is meeting Mr. David Renton, chairman of the Conservative Party's transport committee, Mr. Angus Maude, chairman of the party's agricultural committee, and Mr. Rupert Speir, M.P. for Hexham, to discuss the problem of rural transport. Mr. Speir is anxious that railcars should be used on rural branch lines.