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Tragic Hero
Page 70
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ASENSE of humour may have governed the choice of the name United Carriers, Ltd., for the company planned to succeed the Meat Transport Organisation, Ltd., at the beginning of next month. It would be hard to .find operators less united than the meat and livestock carriers who for weeks past have been wrangling with each other, often in public, about the advantages and disadvantages of the proposals made by the M.T.O.L. The operators have envisaged their problem as a choice between the continuation of a monopoly, or something approaching it, and a return to the risks as well as the opportunities of free enterprise.
Their dilemma has no doubt had its counterpart within Kelvin House. According to the ancient Greeks, the classical tragic situation lay in the destruction of an essentially good man by the force of circumstances that expose the one flaw in his character. It may he that the M.T.O.L. will present in collective form the modern counterpart of the tragic hero.
The detailed scheme prepared by the M.T.O.L. had many features likely to cause uneasiness. Operators taking part were expected to enter into agreements for two years, and to have deducted from their payments a commission of 10 per cent. The scope of the organization was to be extended. On the livestock side it would handle the cattle off the farm and the pig traffic that the hauliers have previously carried independently. On the meat side a drive would be made to get other suitable traffic, notably foodstuffs. Although the hauliers were to be represented on the board of directors, the livestock carriers would have no more than one quarter of that representation and could be out-voted whenever a difference arose on a matter of principle.
Role of Middlemen
There was not even the certainty that United Carriers would restrict themselves to the role of middlemen. At some time or another a fleet of over 500 meat-carrying vehicles, at present operated by British Road Services, will come on to the market. There were, and presumably still are, plans for United Carriers to buy them. To most people the process seems merely a transfer from one monopoly to another, well over the heads of the small men who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of disposal.
One would have thought that the M.T.O.L. would have been careful to avoid giving the impression that they wished to set up a monopoly, or even what might look like one. Among the results the Government hope to achieve by taking control off meat is the return of genuine free enterprise. They might very well disapprove of the formation of an even larger organization than the one they are disbanding. Hauliers in general were from the first alarmed at the prospect offered by M.T.O.L. They are notoriously opposed to monopolies and, as was to be expected, they disliked the idea of a systematic attempt to capture traffic that would help to keep the meat-carrying vehicles occupied all the time.
The farmers, it is said, do not like dealing with large and powerful organizations, but are not averse from setting up one of their own. They may have felt that the proposals of the M.T.O.L. were somewhat grandiose when compared with their own more modest endeavours. The new Fatstock Marketing Corporation will handle D8 no more than one-fifth of the country's total supply of fresh meat. Apart from this, the farmers and the butchers will make their own arrangements, and for transport they may prefer to use independent hauliers.
A more cautious approach might have been a better policy for the M.T.O.L. in the long run. On the other hand, it is not easy to say what else they could have done. They wanted to stay in business, but they were helpless without the vehicles that only the meat and livestock operators possessed. Had the hauliers been called in for consultation at the beginning, they would have pressed for a scheme that gave the new organization a commission very much less than 10 per cent., and they would have questioned the need for a two-year agreement. Their preferred organization would have been temporary, lasting only until the situation had become stable, by which time the hauliers might find it better to operate independently.
Conform to a Pattern
As it is, although the Fatstock Marketing Corporation have announced that they expect "to make substantial use of the services of United Carriers, Ltd., for the transport of meat," the transport requirements of the Corporation are to be dealt with on a local or area basis. As United Carriers will have to conform to the pattern set by the customer, they may find it hard to justify any considerable national organization.
The M.T.O.L. may have been surprised that the attitude of the majority of hauliers was so uncompromising. They divided into two camps, one in favour of the proposed organization and the other against it. No effort was made by the critical hauliers to set up another national organization, and they have not put forward suggestions alternative to those of the M.T.O.L. The disagreements have been fundamental, like those of a family feud.
In spite of warnings from the M.T.O.L., the hauliers must at some time or another face the challenge presented to them by the Government's policy of relaxing control. Some of them have chosen to do so at once. It is possible that the remainder will come to the same point before long. Their adherence to United Carriers will be severely tested by the changes that will take place in the pattern of meat distribution. Under the system about to end, the M.T.O.L. have control of the traffic and can allocate it to their own carriers. After the beginning of July the customer will have the last word. He can use his own vehicles if he has them, or he can sponsor applications for licences by independent hauliers. Already applications for B licences have been lodged by one or two importers of meat.
One cannot tell, of course, to what extent the M.T.O.L. are disappointed by what has happened so far. They may deliberately have made their scheme as grandiose as possible without expecting to get everything. They have now stated that the new company will not carry livestock, at least for the time being. The meat carriers in Scotland have decided to go their own way, but in England and Wales the company have secured general support with the exception of a few, of the larger chartered operators.