Give Road Haulage More Stability .
Page 17
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FOOD traders and caterers discharged from the Services and from other essential work to which they may have been allocated, are to be afforded special facilities to enable them to reopen their businesses. This is promised by the Minister of Food, Colonel J. J. Llewellin. They are also to be helped to meet fairly any competition from traders who have opened up businesses while they have been away. On the other hand, those who sold their businesses before joining up will not be eligible for priority treatment.
Colonel Llewellin's actual words are : " People returning from any of these full-time Services will be enabled to reopen exactly the same type of business he or she left, in exactly the same area."
This is a highly important move in one field., but it should certainly be extended to others—for example, the road-haulage business. So far, the Minister of War Transport has made no definite pronouncement in this direction. Men who have lost haulage licences as the result of conditions not within their control have no real assurance that these will be returned to them when needed.
Since the era of the licensing system imposed under the Road and Rail Traffic Act of 1933, road transport for hire or reward has become practic= . ally a cloSed industry, and not only closed, but one which the authorities, as represented by the Regional Transport Commissioners, have gradually but steadily reduced in strength, so far as the total number of haulage licences is concerned.
Hauliers Need Permanency of Tenure In any case, there was no real "permanency of tenure," as we may term it, in pre-war years. Existing licences had to be renewed at comparatively short intervals, aid were then subject to objections from the railways, rival hauliers and other interests. Apart from this, the R.T.C.s had authority to withdraw licences in cases where, in their discretion, they took the view that the vehicles concerned had not been adequately employed, which meant that in a period of general trade depression there was always the threat to the haulier that he might lose his business, or at least part of it.
Road transport is of such vital importance to the cciuntry, as is now being further emphasized by war conditions, that it should be given a far greater measure of stability. We are fully prepared to admit that some drastic action might be necessary in certain cases where operators do not maintain their vehicles in proper condition despite • warnings, or where they consistently cut haulage rates and thus whilst obtaining sufficient loads for their own vehicles, prove a thorn inthe side of others ,engaged in the business and in that of all competitive means for transport. Such powers, however, should be employed with the utmost discretion, and only after full investigation; they should certainly not be dependent upon the.good will of an individual.
Other Improvements Needed in Licensing Nor should concerns engaged in other means for haulage, just because they are rivals and not for the reason that they can prove their capacity to give better and tnore economic service, be, able legally to dispute the right of a road haulier torenew his licence or make reasonable additions to his fleet. Such a polity does not conduce to the general transport efficiency of the Nation, which must have the most effective, reliable and speedy means at its command, as much in times of peace as in war.
Likewise, haulage licences should not automatically become void on the decease of the holder or because he, as an individual, gives up his business. Many of the smaller concerns engaged in the industry are of a family nature, and it should be within the right of a close relative to continue the business and the licences without any serious question or difficulty. A grocer, for example, would considei it a grave restriction on his rights as a citizen if he were prevented from leaving his business to his son; the son would also have strong grounds for complaint if he were thus debarred. . Yet there is no such assurance to members of the haulage industry; in fact, we have come across cases where sons have been shamefully treated in this respect. In one, which we are now investigating, the holder of six A licences died, and all that his son has been able to obtain are three severely restricted licences.