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148 
ransport White Paper t July
Page 57
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9M OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
iE target date for Mrs. Barbara Castle's White Paper on transport rdination has been fixed for July next, tly before MPs rise for their 1966 ner recess. But in spite of the continuaof the current session into the autumn 167, it seems unlikely that major legislawill come before the end of next year. us further reprieve from basic changes e transport licensing set-up has become in the opening days of the new Parlia. The Minister does not appear to have able to push ahead as fast as she would• liked, and the chances of general translegislation remain on the sidelines for ile.
early, however, this assessment of the Lion as it is at present need not apply y until the autumn of next year. A good vith other legislation might lead to major port proposals being hustled up. But Ries plans to alter the 1962 Act are ly not an immediate red-hot priority for resent session.
le 1962 Act, passed under the Contives, dismantled the British Transport Commission and hived off its activities into separate units. Labour's last manifesto pledged new legislation to annul this Act's "evil effects" and this pledge must form the cornerstone of the Labour Transport Bill, when it arrives.
Conservative MPs are worried in case the National Freight Authority, the workings of which will be explained in July's White Paper, will propose lower rates for freight carried by BRS and the railways, as opposed to those arising from private hauliers working with the railways. Mrs. Castle is at present keeping mum.
But she has indicated pretty clearly that the Government is still firmly against the freefor all proposals of the Geddes Report. It looks as if the basic philosophy of this report is going to get nowhere at all for the next four or five years.
The Government's other Bill, which provides for the testing and plating of heavy vehicles, together with other measures to promote road safety, should be republished this session and embarked on its passage into law.