Big Operator Stresses Value of Small Hauliers
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°THE new President of the Institute I of Transport, Mr. J. S. Nicholl, C.B.E., delivered his address to the Institute last Monday. He said that public carriers of goods by road are the modern development of an ancient industry, mostly individually small operating units, of comparatively young growth, full of initiative and energy, but lacking, perhaps, some of that stability which long years impart.
The older units in all forms of transport have, over the years, progressed through several stages of evolution. In the first, the dominant factor was the interest of the proprietor, then came the realization that the customer must remain satisfied if the undertaking was to thrive; next followed the recognition that there must be fair and intelligent treatment of the workpeople, and that good health, contentment and lack of anxiety were not only right but commercially sound. Finally, came the stage when it was realized that a business had not merely an obligation to its proprietor, customers and workpeople, but also, in a wider sense, to the community.
Born of the past war, the majority of carriers was intensely independent, which has been responsible for the progressiveness and resiliency which have been such marked features of this i ml us try.
This hustling process in evolution has resulted in a spate of legislation, and busin4ss as a goods operator in road transport makes one subject to a greater number of legal regulations than exist in respect of any other form of industry. Not only the operation, but the existence of a carrier's business is subject to a network of rules. Much of it relates to vehicles and, as a whole, the author did not think that we should deem the regulations on such matters undesirable. Their main fault lies in time-lag and reluctance to modify the rulings to keep step with deVelopments. The spirit of the Red Flag Act" lingered for years after it should have been exorcised, and the spirit of the solid tyre still haunts some of our motor laws. We must, however, give full credit to the hard workers who, in recent years, have done so much to consolidate the mass of regulations, Carrying Industries' Partnership
Battles in the Traffic Courts added fresh fuel to the fire of 10 years of strained feeling between 'road carriers and the railways, and could not be held to advance the hopes 'expressed by the Minister of Transport who sponsored the 1933 Act, that the problem of the roost scientific allocation of traffic could best be left to the carrying industries themselves to solve "in -the spirit of 'partners."
However, some of this spirit has been brought about by the Transport
Advisory Council, the progress being marked by the setting up of the Road and Rail Conference, but, as yet, it has not been possible for the two -industries to progress other than in relatively minor matters, Another section of legislation materially affecting the carrier has been the Road Haulage Wages Act, control being effected through the National Wages Board supported by Area Wages Boards. Many, however, regret that it has proved impossible to secure that degree of support for the findings of the National Joint Conciliation Board, a voluntary body, to enable them to become legally enforceable under the fair wages clause of the Road and Rail Traffic Act.
The work of the road carrier during the war has been an epic of individual effort and resourcefulness.
He also referred—somewhat humorously—to the number of committees appointed by various Ministers of Transport, and the 'fact that, for his sins, he has been a member of every one of them; therefore, as he is still serving upon the latest, he must triad delicately. He expressed the view, however, that road transport remains to-day esbentially an industry of small operators, but it has an efficiency in operation and a power of quick adjustment to circumstances which might he found wanting in many more highly organized industries.