ROAD TRANSPORT MATTERS IN PARLIAMENT.
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Legislation of the Session. The Road Fund Rumours and a Possible Plan of Action. The Independent Bus Owners and the London Traffic Advisory Committee.
By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent.
THE session of Parliament just ended, though barren of first-rate measures affecting the motor manufacturing industry and road users, was productive of some miscellaneous provisions scattered throughout a number of diverse statutes. Perhaps the most important from the manufacturers' point of view, apart from the reimposition of the M'Kenna duties, was the derating of machinery used in processes of manufacture and the uniform system of rating and valuation set up by the Ratifig and Valuation Act. The Roads Improvement Act gave county councils and highway authorities power to prescribe the building line, to cut away corners and plant trees, whilst the Ministry of Transport's future activities in experimental road construction were legalized.
• The Public Health Act dealt with obstruction of the view of drivers and the cutting away of obstructions to light from public lamps. The +Criminal Justice Act introduced drastic penalties for being drunk in charge of a motor vehicle, whilst the Mersey Tunnel Act gave authorization to a great f_5,000,00C) traffic facility scheme. The Petroleum Bill, dealing with the carriage of petroleum spirit, passed through the House of Lords, but was dropped after second reading in the other House through lack of time. The Weights and Measures Bill, which was designed, among other things, to bring petrol pumps under inspection and supervision, was not carried beyond a first reading in the Commons. These two Bills will be proceeded with early in the next session.
Road Fund Rumours.
ON the day after the prorogation of Parliament a story gained wide currency to the effect that the Government had decided its policy with regard to the Road Fund and that any surplus over £15,000,000 would in future be devoted to general purposes. It was also reported that the Chancellor of the Exchequer contemplated the necessity of making his " raid " for the purpose of paying off the coal subsidy. There is no real basis for tither story. Whatever Mr. Churchill has in his mind, the Economy Committee of the Cabinet has not yet finished its review of national expenditure, and the Cabinet itself is not likely to deal with the problem piecemeal. The question of Road Fund expenditure will probably not be settled until February or March. Further, it may be stated that the Road Fund revenue has not been thought of as a set-off to the coal subsidy, which will be provided for in an entirely different way, and there is no reason to anticipate that the Budget will show a deficit. One of the funniest things we have read was the definite statement in a daily paper that the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Treasury officials would spend the Christmas holidays in working out the details of the scheme rendered possible by the " decision " to appropriate the revenue of the Road Fund in excess of £15,000,000 annually.
Incidence of Taxation.
ASpreviously stated in these columns, a policy of future limitation of road expenditure, i.e., a check upon automatic expansion, is almost inevitable, but nobody can yet say at what figure the Road Fund contribution will be fixed or what plans may be matured for an overhaul of the present incidence of motor taxation. It would be a simple matter, for instance, to surmount the obstacle of Mr. Lloyd George's promise to devote the whole proceeds of the motor tax
to roads, by reducing the present rate of tax and then adding another tax, equivalent to the amount of reduction, for general revenue purposes. There has been talk of such a plan, but at the moment it is more or less in the region of speculation. The local huthorities have yet to put their case before the Chancellor, and they are not to be heard until seine date when the Budget is within sight or, at any rate, in preparation.
Extent of Commitments.
THE rumours of Cabinet decisions may perhaps be partly traceable to the curiosity shown by members tovvards,the end of the session as to whether the Treasury had given the Ministry of Transport instructions or suggestions to curtail promises of further grants in respect of new proposals for improvement works and road construction to be carried out in 1926 or subsequently. The reply by Mr. Ronald McNeill, Secretary to the Treasury, was a little ambiguous in terms. It contained no reference to instructions or comings and goings between the Treasury and the Ministry of Transport, and only stated that money available from the Road Fund during the current financial year (ending March 31St next) was allocated some time ago, that local authorities had in several instances been informed that no further moneys were ht presenb available, and that a very large range of new works and improvements remained to be executed. on programmes of road expenditure already approved. This answer, by omission, provided material for certain inferences.
Sir Henry Maybury's Forecast.
IT is opportune to recall what Sir H. Maybury said only six months ago, when giving evidence before .the Royal Commission on Local Government. He was reported as having stated that existing commitments would absorb the whole of the present balance and the revenues of the Road Fund up to 1930-31, after allowing for a steady increase of annual revenue from the present figure of £17,000,000 to E20,000,000 in three or four years' time. It is almost inconceivable that such commitments should be overturned or seriously interfered with. At the same time it is significant that the Ministry of Transport, in its recently issued report for 1924-25, was reticent as to the extent or duration of those commitments which Sir Henry Maybury must have had in mind when he niade his statement.
Motorcab Licences.
A °CORDING to official figures, the number of new rimotorcabs licensed by the Commissioner of Police from January 1st to November 30th, 1925, was 631. The number of new applicants for inotorcab drivers' licences was 1,737, the number of licences issued being 630. The number of motorcabs licensed in the same period was 7,556 and the number of motorcab drivers licensed 9,476.
Appointments to Advisory Committee.
OLONEL ASHLEY stated that the resignation of a
member, of the London Traffic Advisory Committee was received on April 23rd last, and as the member in question, whose name had originally been put forward by the Association of London Omnibus Proprietors, ceased to attend the meetings of the Committee, the resignation became effective from that date. The members originally appointed went out of office on December 1st last, and the new members, who, save for casual
vacancies, would remain in office for the next three years, had all been appointed, with the exception of one of the "additional members." This last appointment he had not yet made, as he was anxious to give the Association the fullest opportunity to submit a name for consideration, a course which he had twice requested them to adopt.
Maining of Roads.
d'IN the suggestion by Lieut.-Commander Cooper IL/Rawson, member for Brighton, that any county road in England and Wales that has not been designated a main road, but has been declared a Class I road, should, ipso facto, become a main road, Colonel Ashley regarded the proposal as one that needed consideration in relation to other aspects of local government, and he did not think it would be desirable to legislate on it separately. It was open to any highway authority to apply to the county council for an order under Section 13 of the Highways and Locomotives Amendment Act, 1878, declaring any suitable highway within their district to be a main road. Under this provision considerable lengths of roads which have been included in Class I have already been declared to be main roads and proposals for similar action in further eases are under consideration.
Road Experiments.
THE total cost of tests on road-surfacing materials carried out by the National Physical Laboratory during the past year amounted to approximately ENG, and this is covered by the fees charged. No experiments on concrete-surfaced roads have been carried out by the laboratory. Road users would like to know to what extent the Ministry of Transport have used their new powers under the new Roads Act to undertake extensive experiments in road surfacing, about which so much was heard during the passage of the Bill.
Dangerous Condition of High Road, Tottenham.
UPON Mr. R. Morrison calling attention to the dangerous condition of High Road, Tottenham, the Minister of Transport stated that he was aware of the desirability of improving the condition of the carriageway. The road authorities, however, considered it =advisable to begin the work until arrangements could be made for the tramway track to be reconstructed at the same time. They were in negotiation with the tramway company on this point.
L.C.C. and Waterloo Bridge.
THE First Commissioner of Works is unable to take any action in regard to the decision of the London County Council to build a new bridge in substitution for the existing Waterloo Bridge. The matter is entirely one for the County Council.
Alternative to Future Congestion.
LONDON housing in relation to transport bids fair to become in the not far distant future an immensely more difficult problem than it is even to-day. It stands apart from the immediate business of overtaking arrears in house building and providing for the normal increase of population. Indeed, the fulfilment of the demand for houses may, to some extent, intensify the problem. This matter was pressed upon the attention of the House of Commons the other day by Colonel Fremantle, the Conservative member for St. Albans. Present traffic troubles in London are partly due to our civic governors of the past being content to drift along without attempting to envisage future traffic needs. It was nobody's business until quite recently to observe the rapid expansion and to look beyond immediate necessities. The stage-coach mentality persisted even to our own times. For instance, it is only within the last few months that county councils have been given general powers to settle the building line on highways. So, if the next few decades are allowed to pass without some deliberate policy to
stem the growth of dense accumulations of the day population of London by transferring a part at least of its industrial activity to the country, the traffic position must become infinitely worse. We have seen only a small beginning in the planting of new factories and works alongside the main railway lines running out from London, but in many cases there is little or no provision for the local housing of the workers, who perforce travel long distances daily to and fro. The expenditure of two hours a day on travel is unsound economically and otherwise ; besides, there is no resulting alleviation of traffic congestion, but rather an aggravation. Central London, according to Colonel Fremantle, will always be an enclosed area, with bottlenecks leading out of it, and however much these bottlenecks or channels of traffic are enlarged within practicable limits, they will ultimately be taxed to the full physical capacity. He therefore insists on the urgency of the Government enlisting the aid of local authorities and others in an effort to ease the daily traffic load as well as the housing position by consistently trying to attract factories and similar undertakings to new or existing garden cities. From the housing point of view there appears to be only one alternative to this policy, and that is the multiplication of tenement dwellings within the London area and the gradual disappearance of cottage property. This, obviously, would not render the street traffic problem less acute. Fortunately, extension of industrial life, in rural districts even far from railways,. is no longer subject to railway transport considerations, and the growth, cheapness and efficiency of motor road transport makes such a path of development much easier and more desirable than it was only a few years ago.
Lead-poisoning Among Accumulator-plate Makers.
STATISTICS having been requested as to the incidence of lead-poisoning among pasters engaged in the manufacture or repair of electric accumulators, the Home Secretary stated that five cases were reported in 1921, 11 in 1922, 44 in 1923 and 42 in 1924. Since March 1st last there had been only 119 cases. -The new regulations which came into force on March 1st last are not expected to have their full effect for a considerable time, but in the official view they appear already to have caused a considerable reduction in the number of cases of lead-poisoning.
Driving Tests Before Licensing.
ONthe question of driving tests for licences, Col. Ashley has again expressed concurrence with the view of the Departmental Committee on the Taxation and Regulation of Road Vehicles that any advantages that might appear at first sight likely to result from the institution of tests would be outweighed by the expense difficulties and disadvantages inseparable from any such system.
London Traffic Points.
SOME time ago the magistrate at Wood Green Police 1.3Court recommended to the Commissioner of Police that a police point should be made where the North circular arterial road crosses the Green Lanes main road on the PInfield-Lontion Road. The Rome Secretary states that, after careful consideration and examination of traffic conditions at the point in question, the Commissioner of Police came to the conclusion that the volume of traffic was not such as to justify the permanent employment of a constable for traffic control. Arrangements, however, have been made for white lines and the word " Slow " to be painted on the roadway, whilst it is understood that certain property which at present obstructs the road at this corner will be demolished in the near future.
Proposals have been made by the London Traffic Advisory Committee regarding the traffic difficulties at High Street, Aldgate, but no statement can be made at present as to the intentions of the Ministry of Transport.