VICTORY OUT OF THE RED!
Page 45
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By Our Legal Adviser Uniform Procedure THE high spot of the week occurred, as it were; in parentheses. The C-licence question should not have been before the Standing Committee of the House of Commons until Clause 56 was reached in sitting 22; but during a debate on Clause 40, in sitting 18, the Minister -announced the most momentous withdrawal on the Government -side-so far, namely, the decision not to proceed " for the time being" with the clauses dealing with C licences.
A Warning
The . Minister underlined and reunderlined the words " for the time being. ' The Government is afraid that C licensees will secretly convey goods for others for hire or reward, thus undermining the Transport Commission. If that should happen —if "a small minority takes advantage of certain facilities and freedom granted by Parliament "—C licensees as a whole must accept the consequences. .
Still, for the moment, the sentence is suspended, for which relief much thanks. One highly controversial issue is removed from the Bill.
Three points developed on Clause 40. The first amendment was to remove B licensees from the fate of nationalization. On the face of it, if a man owns a vehicle for his own business, but uses it for carrying someone else's goods now and then as a sideline, he is placed in a perilous position if his vehicle be taken from him.
A Difficult Case
It may be that the carrying of his own goods is over long distances, and it is this circumstance that qualifies the use of the vehicle as "ordinary long-distance carriage "; the carrying for hire or reward may be only occasional or purely short-distance work. [The difficulty of securing another vehicle, whether new or second-hand, so as to start again with a C licence, was stressed.]
The Parliamentary Secretary refused to be softened. Two thousand out of 58,000 vehicles on B licences are estimated to qualify for nationalization. It would be unfair to A licensees if B licensees doing virtually the same work were not taken over, said the Parliamentary Secretary.
In any case, Clause 46 enabled the Commission to leave with an undertaker any specified property used in connection with activities other than 11 licence working, and thus the operator might keep his vehicle and
have it authorized under a C licence.
Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe pointed out that the choice here lies with the Commission, and the undertaker has no redress if it decides to take his vehicle. Clause 46 will be examined further Nevertheless, it had to pass without further discussion because of the guillotine.
Next, the Opposition assailed the 40-mile qualifying limit on ordinary long-distance carriage," and, coupled with it, the 25 miles from " home." The Minister agreed that the actual figure would work arbitrarily, that there would always be some operators just above and some just below, but • that would apply whatever figure were inserted.
The actual figure was, however, chosen carefully, There were, he said, about 90,000 A-class vehicles, and fixing the division between shortand long-distance work at 40 miles meant that simile 20.000 vehicles would be in the bag "; in addition, some 2,000 B-licence vehicles would be taken over.
In reply to the many cases raised in which the limit will inevitably work against hauliers in particular localities — Cornwall, t h e South Coast, Hull and North Scotland were all quoted as examples—the Minister relied on the necessity of a uniform test. In doing so, he indicated that he thought that such places as the North' of Scotland would find the advantage of a co-ordinated national scheme. ,
With regard to the war-time precedent for 60 miles, the Minister argued that that was fixed for entirely different considerations, and was, therefore, irrelevant to the present discussion.
The third debate was on a series of amendmentsto add to the narrow list of traffics exempted from nationalization. A number of items Was on the paper; carriage of furniture (in addition to ordinary removals already exempted), horticultural work, tanning of leather. ready-mixed cement, fairs and circuses, bricks and newsprint. Various reasons were brought forward in support..
Personal Service In some cases, -special vehicles are necessary, in others the driver has to be far more than a driver, for speed in delivery is an essential part of the transaction. To all (except the circuses) the Minister said, No." If special vehicles were needed for any type of goods, the Commission must have them. Drivers must be trained to be more than drivers; and if it should prove desirable that one customer should have his own vehicles assigned to him, doubtless they would be, with the customer's namedisplayed on the sides.
• It may be added that many of the vehicles used for jobs of these classes are, in fact, operated under C licences, or, if they be not now, they can be in future—so long as their use is not abused! •
Consideration of Clauses 41, 42 and 43 was pOstPoned until the next sitting, so-as to .allow of further consideration, now that the debate on Clicence vehicles has been avoided.