Tory Promise to Road Transport: R.H.A. Silent on "Denat."
Page 30
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
DUBLICLY owned rail and road 1 transport will be reorganized into regional groups of workable size. Private road hauliers will be given the chance to return to business and private lorries will no longer be crippled by the 23-mile limit." ' This promise is made by the Conservative Party in its General Election manifesto, published last Saturday. The party's plan appears to envisage the continuation of the Road Haulage Executive in some form. It makes no reference to the return to their former owners, or to the purchase by others, of bus companieS which have been sold to the British Transport Commission.
The party also states that all industries remaining nationalized will come within the purview of the Monopolies' Commission and there will be strict Parliamentary review of their activities. The Socialist Party's manifesto makes' no reference to transport. It declares that dividends will be limited by law. Monopolies and combines which restrict production and keep 'prices and profits too high will be attacked, Development councils will be established, by compulsion where necessary, wherever industrial efficiency will be aided by this step.
[The Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions has suggested that a development council should be set up to cover the motor industry outside the A.C.V. group, which should be nationalized.] The Road Haulage Association's plan for the denationalization of transport will not be made known until after the General Election. Members will thus
be unable to discuss it at the Association's annual conference at Torquay from October 16-19, although they may be expected to air their views on the subject in general.
The national council last week accepted the executive committee's recommended policy for denationalization.
It is understood that the Association's policy continues to require the complete denationalization of road haulage, and the abolition of the R.H.E.
The R.H.A. has received counsel's opinion on the conduct of the denationalization campaign during the three weeks preceding the General Election. The Association is advising its officers that, during this period, meetings should be restricted to members and ex-members, although the Press may be admitted. Any material may be supplied to candidates and their agents.
Open meetings, advertisements in the Press, banners and other devices displayed in support of particular candidates might be construed as a breach of the Representation of the People Act, 1949, but there is no objection to members and Association officials writing to the Press to promote the interests of candidates.
It is recommended that at functions such as area dinners, which may be attended largely by local electors, arranged speeches should be confined to matters of general interest to the Association, including denationalization, rather than to purely political questions. Apparently, denationalization is not regarded as " politicaL"