"Customer was Always Wrong"—Mr. Watkinson
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"ONE of the great defects in nationalization was that the customer was nearly always wrong," said Mr, Harold Watkinson, Minister of Transport, when he addressed the Ladies' Carlton Club in London last week.
" After a great deal of hard work on the part of my Conservative predecessors in this office, we can claim to have moved much nearer towards the concept that nationally owned transport should provide an efficient service and eventually a profitable service," he claimed.
The new plan for the railways was a great step forward and a landmark in transport history. Debates in the House of Commons on the measure tide the British Transport Commission over the next few-years financially were factual and reasonably non-partisan, he contended.
" I hope this is a sign that this great industry may now concentrate on making itself efficient and prosperous," said Mr, Watkinson. "It has certainly had too much of politics in the last few years."
The great road plan of the Socialists was never implemented, but over the past few years the Government had launched more modest proposals and these were being put through.
Speaking at Cambridge last week, Mr. Watkinson said that railway modernization would get rid of the crippling losses of recent years. The motor industry, which had had a " wonderful' export year," could look forward to much more progress as its plans for expansion were carried Pout.