What the I.C.C. Did Not Do !
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The Road Transport Meeting of the International Chamber. of Commerce Reduced to a Farce and
Valuable Time Wasted
By jam' Harms Ti6pen IN the course of its interest in modern problems and on the question of contact between the peoples of the world, the International Chamber of Commerce has for long occupied itself with the problems of road transport, and, in fact, instituted a special commission more closely to study them.
It was, therefore, quite understandable that when the body included in its programme suggestions of an effort for some arrangement between the nations on the matter of facilitating communication by road transport, a matter which had been excluded from international agreements, this met with the greatest interest .in road-transport circles, and a transport committee met in Paris last November to discuss the problem. The secretary of this committee, however, took matters very easily. He merely recalled a project which had not been discussed since 1931 and which dated from 1929 or earlier. It was, therefore, not surprising that Lt.-Col. Max Ritter von Henriquez, chairman ol the Austrian C.M.U.A., voiced the surprise felt by all vitally connected with road transport, and offered,' with the help of experts in road transport, to submit a scheme that would, at least, be up to date.
A Discredited Committee.
The result was that a sub-committee was appointed, and this met in Paris on March 12. The fact that Lt.-Col, D. C. McLagan, of the S.M.M. and T., submitted a full report to this body proves the importance attached to the subject in England. The meeting was a complete failure, because there had been invited to it a specialist in canal navigation who appeared to be entirely unacquainted with international transport conditions, and the preparations for the sub-committee meeting were not a credit to the management of the highways transport committee of the I.C.C. The chairman acknowledged this by asking permission to stop, if necessary, the publication of its report.
Some days before the Berlin Congress the International Federation of Commercial Motor Users Associations met in Paris and stated that the proposed resolutions for Berlin were out of date, and appointed two deputies to propose improvements.
During a visit to the secretary of the I.C.C. transport committee these deputies, who were also members, requested him to submit the proposals in the resolutions to be put forward in Berlin, and a day before the meeting the secretary was again asked to discuss the proposals, but he said that he had no time.
Valuable Time Wasted.
The actual meeting was not without its humorous side. When most of the members arrived to participate they found the hall in darkness, and instead of important discussions insisting on the recognition of international road transport, and a resumption of talks on this subject by the Leagne of Nations, there was a lantern lecture with pretty slides, and when the lights went up half the time allocated to all the discussions had passed.
It appeared that the secretary had exercised his right to alter the agenda, placing the important matters at the end, with the result that another 25 minutes of a total of 90 minutes were lost because, American representatives made contributions on traffic safety, which led to so much discussion that the German long-distance-transport delegate requested that this should be referred to the sub-committee. The proposal aroused still further discussion, and the Dutch road-transport delegate said the matter was of such great importance that he did not wish it to be dealt with further that day.
At last the principal problem was arrived at, but the time available was
only 23 minutes, Yet well-known international figures in road transport had made special journeys to Berlin for this discussion, which showed how much importance was attached to it. England was represented by Mr. F. G. Bristow, C.B.E. There was also a representative from that well-known British concern, J. Lyons and Co., Ltd., and the secretary of the Bureau Permanent
des Constructeurs, whilst Italy, Holland, Germany and Austria also sent delegates.
The suggestion of the Austrian representative for a change in the proposals was refused by the secretary on the ground that "no written notice" had been given. Lt.-Col. Ritter von Henriquez protested, saying : " Have we travelled 1,500 kiloms. for this? Now that only 23 minutes are left to discuss the important point of this congress I shall decline to speak," and the Austrian and Dutch representatives left the hall as a protest.
This was followed by a written protest giving vent to the opinion that this manner of organizing and dealing with such an important point as the removal of obstacles in the way of transport crossing frontiers, gives the impression of a definite prejudice against road transport in favour of some other means. The other countries taking part in the congress shared this indignation, as was demonstrated by the fact of important figures in international road transport meeting the next day in"petit comite " for a discussion.
Resolutions Vague.
Adelegate from one of the big European countries stated at the meeting of the International Federation in Paris that "the resolutions of the J.C.C. are so vagueo that they loSe themselves in generalities.." He had proposed to show the necessity of not obstructing road transport by the customs regulations for goods, which were based on conveyance by train and not by road. To provide a customs official for a whole train was feasible, but it was absurd to consider one per lorry. Railway wagons could arrive sealed. Why• should this not apply to lorries? Such matters had been lost sight of in the resolutions of the Chamber. There was also the ridiculous suggestion that the triptych system could be extended to lorries.
The result of the protest as evidence of how the I.C.C. and its transport committee stand officially in respect of modern transport problems—the discussion of which was heralded with such a blast of trumpets—is being eagerly looked forward to by zoad-transport circles in Europe. They would like to know if the organization is becoming railway-minded.