M.P. and
Page 48
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Recompense for Lost Licences
7 •
REFERRING to a recent case at South Shields, when two operators were forced out of business as a result of their licences not being renewed, Mr. Alec Beecham, M.P., said that to withdraw a licence after a number of years was grotesquely unfair.
Mr. Beecham, who was the guest of honour at the annual dinner of the Penzance Sub-area of A.R.O., held on Saturday last, said that it seemed to him that when a person had established a means for livelihood in good faith and for good purpose, that if he be compelled to give it up he should be recompensed. He would make it his business, he said, to look into the case and, perhaps, it could be raised by the Road Group of the House of Commons.
Referring to quarterly payment of licences, it appeared clear that the charges made by the State were excessive. In the case of A.R.O. members, he said, the matter was not of much moment, as payments were made through a Society, but be would point out that in the one case five per cent. was charged and in the other 171 per cent. This clearly showed that the Government's charges were grossly excessive.
Mr. Charles Hodson, chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Area finance committee, replying to the toast of 'The Association," said that the last thing the Government appeared -to want to do was to improve the roads. In time of war, he said, big roads were necessary, and Falmouth would be an important place for the landing of food supplies in the West of England. "What sort of roads were they," he asked, " which connected the port with the rest of the country? Awful."