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. . a Labour Government would be free to do whatever it wanted'
Page 90
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ASKED to expound his party's plans for nationalization, the leader of the opposition, Mr. Harold Wilson, referred the Prime Minister to the Socialist publication, "Signposts for the Sixties," and even offered to send him a copy. Mr. Harold Wilson may have thought that in a sense he was answering the question. More pro bably he realized that he was really giving nothing away. Far from being informative the signposts resemble the pamphlets offered by some of the obscurer religious sects, which although written in the appropriate style and language appear on closer examination to have little substance.
With such a publication as official policy a Labour Government would be free to do virtually whatever they wanted. So far from being fixed, the signposts are made to revolve freely so that they can point in any chosen direction. With their help the leaders of the Labour Party can be all things to all men and can vary their message to suit the audience. One or two recent speeches may provide a better, if even more disturbing, guide than the officially, printed signposts.
For the Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers at their conference in Blackpool last week Mr. Anthony Greenwood, M.P., the LabOur Party chairman, provided two main reasons for nationalizing the iron and steel industry. it was a basic industry upon which many other important industries depend, he said; and it was in effect a private monopoly. Whether or not the second point is true, the important fact is that Mr. Greenwood believes it and considers it almost in itself a justification for nationalization. Let the monopolies beware, for they will be taken over.
In another industry, however, very much the same fate is threatened for exactly the opposite reason. What goes down well with the foundry workers is not necessarily appropriate for the Transport Salaried Staffs Association. Mr. Ray Gunter, M.P., shadow Minister of Labour and also president of the Association, told the assembled members that rationalization and co-ordination could not be achieved by mere voluntary negotiations between the rail ways and road operators. What was needed instead he did not make clear. Even the resolution passed unanimously (of course) at the end of the conference did no more than ask for the urgent consideration of a comprehensive plan for transport. It is hard to believe, however, that the plan will not include proposals for some extension of public ownership.
Lack of competition seals the fate of private enterprise in the iron and steel industry. The danger is almost as great in road transport because the competition there, in Mr. Gunter's words, is "ruthless and wasteful ". He leaves it uncertain whether these epithets apply to competition in general or only to those industries which for the moment the Labour Party would be content to take over. It is equally uncertain exactly what Mr. Gunter is censuring in his suggestion that the transport interests wish to be left alone for a "kiss and a cuddle" without the supervision of the "wicked Government ". Is Mr. Gunter objecting DI 6 to kisses and cuddles in general or only in those cases where he has some interest in one or other of the parties? .
Mr. Gunter's is one of those typical eschatological signposts which point you with relish to the various hells you should avoid and are not very forthcoming about the heaven to which you should aspire. In the absence of a precise picture of Mr. Gunter's paradise, one is left free to speculate. He might prefer to substitute for the kiss and cuddle a more patriarchal system, ruled by the sheik who has the sole right to pick and choose from his harem, in which the wives attended by eunuchs have no alternative but to wait on his fancy. Perhaps on second thoughts Mr. Gunter might consider such a system ruthless and wasteful —but at any rate there would be no competition.
Whatever Mr. Gunter may have left unsaid, it seems probable that to him the only conceivable road-rail relationship is one of master and slave. He criticizes the immediate past chairman of the Road Haulage Association, Mr. D. 0. Good, for the suggestion made some months ago that special vehicles could be built to run fast shuttle services on the increasing number of motorways. This was outrageous, said Mr. Gunter. Nearly £100 m. was to be spent on fast long-distance trains to take the hauliers' traffic from them. It was no part of a rational system that they should be stimulated to take measures which might enable them to keep the traffic after ail.
Mr. Gunter paid a tribute to the road haulage industry. It had a " tremendous and growing part to play in the expanding and growing economy ". Like the railways, however, it should do the things for which it is fitted. This may seem a reasonable approach until it is realized, or suspected that Mr. Gunter's classification of traffic for which hauliers were fitted would probably comprise just that traffic which the railways did not wish to handle. If fast motorway lorries can capture work in fair competition the conclusion must be that they are suited for it.
The motorway was conceived as a new and magnificent medium for the ever more demanding requirements of trade and industry. Political discussions about motorways have never questioned the principle and the basic system was laid down during the term of office of a Labour Minister of Transport, Mr. Alfred Barnes. It is too late to recant. Now that the motorways are being built it is inevitable that trade and industry and the public will take full advantage of them. When it comes to the point, it is difficult to imagine even a Labour Government deliberately curtailing developments which their predecessors have helped to make possible.
The Transport Holding Company themselves might well revolt against the master-slave conception. In introducing their first annual report, the chairman, Sir Philip Warter, expressed doubts about the success of the Liner Trains. The nationalized road haulage undertakings, he said, would support the service only if it showed savings in cost and convenience for the full distance, and this might well apply only to the very long haul. From these remarks it would certainly be difficult to deduce which was the master and which the slave.