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Market Problems
Page 87
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by JANUS
This little piggy went to markei; This little piggy stayed at home.
\y ll.1. Britain join the Common Market? Opinions are hardening intO an odd shape, apart from the fact that they cut across party alignments. Hardly anybody is prepared to say that Britain must go in at all costs, whereas there is a much more vocal faction in favour of staying out. By far the larger section is uncommitted, in the sense that it would be prepared to agree to entry, either eagerly or reluctantly, provided certain conditions were fulfilled. In Spite of this somewhat equivocal line-up of opinion, most of the commentators seem to believe that Britain, perhaps because she has no choice. will at the appropriate moment duly become a member of the European Economic Community.
It may be thought that the belief is strengthened by the selection of the two speakers who will debate the question at the Bournemouth conference of the Road Haulage Association next month. Both of them have acquired some fame as performer's on the Common Market theme, but there are few other points of resemblance. Members of the Government, who might be expected on the whole to favour entry, could hardly at the present juncture accept an invitation to a joust of this kind. It is all the more enterprising of the R.H.A. to have found a champion of the calibre of Lord Gladwyn, whose experience at the United Nations and in France must lend weight to his opinions, especially on international affairs.
THIS should not be taken as pre-judging the issue against the other speaker. Mr. Peter Walker, M.P.. has already established something of a reputation, and he is just as likely as Lord Gladwyn to put up a good case. What can scarcely be hidden is that, at a very early stage in his political career, he is one of the leading spokesmen fo: his cause. Although the lack of big guns is not always a handicap, it may prove to be so in this case. where the extreme complexity of the issues involved seems to require the services of the whole apparatus of Government in order to reach the right solution.
In any event, when the subject has been turned this way and that by every organ of publicity for months past, it should not be difficult to forecast what Lord Gladwyn and Mr. Walker will say. More interesting to operators will be the questions and, answers that will follow their set speeches, and particularly the opening _statement, by the Association's Secretary-General, Mr. G. K. Newman, on the implications for road. transport of Britain's entry into the Common Market.
There are good reasons why this session of the conference should be important. According to reports, the creation of a common transport policy may be one of the most difficult to fulfil qf the conditions laid down in the Treaty of Rome, under which the European Economic Community was set up. Few of the countries of Europe, apparently, have discovered the ideal solution to the roadrail problem even within their own borders, and it becomes vastly more difficult when there are at least six countries Irving to act together.
In Britain, the Government have painfully won their way to a new transport deal, under which the system of taxation and control for road operators remains as before, and the
railways are given fully competitive powers to pick and choose from among the work offered to them and to charge the rates they think fit. With Britain inside the Common Market, the whole structure, or SO it seems, would be set aside and the work of the past few years put into reverse. All this would no doubt be done with the best intentions, with the object of ensuring that each country in the Community is scrupulously fair to the others, but the price of equality seems high. A word from British hauliers to this effect might have a salutary effect on the men of Brussels, who may well be secretly worried about the conclusions to which their severely logical procedure is taking them.
TRANSPORT to the Continent must be a cause of anxiety for the Government. The present members of the Community have no problem comparable with the Channel, and they have considerable experience of sending goods to each other by every Means of transport. Many British industries were perhaps not built up with Continental countries in mind as the chief customers. and may find some difficulty in getting their products to the new markets.
• Here is another aspect of the problem on which road operators should not hesitate to express their views. For much of the traffic their services would be cheaper, faster and more direct than that of other forms of transport, provided the problem of the Channel can be overcome. If a link is to be built, and the choice has to be between a bridge and a tunnel, there should be no doubts in the minds of hauliers about which would be better. In their advocacy of a bridge, they would, of course, have the full support of Lord Gladwyn, who has recently suggested that the organizations and individuals who think like him should join forces.
IN the heat of controversy, it is as well not to forget that there are other means of reaching the other side of the Channel. There are ports of all sizes along the South and East coasts, and upon them chiefly export traffic must depend for a tong time to come, even if a decision is taken to build a link that wouldnot require shipping. Road communications to the docks, and facilities for road traffic inside them, must be provided urgently to help deal with the increased flow of goods to the Continent.
A new deal for the portsmust include an examination of new methods of operation. From small beginnings, the ferry services for loaded vehicles and trailers are rapidly expanding, and it cannot be long before they are running. from other ports besides Tilbury and Dover, and perhaps to a number of other destinations an the Continent. Extensions of this kind of facility all help to spread the transport load and to avoid the massive concentrations of traffic that will be found one of the main drawbacks of. both the bridge and the tunnel.
Not enough attention is being paid to the possibilities of the hovercraft. It is said to become rapidly more econo= mical in operation as it increases in size. It can be launched or come to land without the aid of elaborate installations. It travels at considerable speed, and has stood up well to bad weather at sea. All these qualities should be in its favour as a ferry vessel, and justify serious investigation, preferably by the Government.