"Big Guns" Attack State-ownership
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" IN my view, the Commission's duty is first to review the existing services and then, after consultation with the local authorities and all other operators, to make changes only if it can be established that the industry, by such changes, would serve the public better than it is doing at present." These remarks were made by Mr. J. S. Wills, M.Inst.T., chairman of B.E.T. Omnibus Services, Ltd., at the company's annual general meeting held last week.
"Those, like myself, who hold the view that the nationalization of passenger road transport would not be in the public interest, include not only the practical men who spend their lives studying and dealing with the industry's problems, but large numbers of the travelling public who, not surprisingly, would prefer to avoid the benefits' which nationalization has brought to the consumer of nationalized coal and electricity," he added. What the public needed, continued Mr. Wills, was cheap and efficient bus transport, and this it is at present getting and will continue to get if the industry be left free from the bureaucracy. and red tape which are inherent in nationalization.
Of Vital Concern
Although from the operation point of view the B.E.T. companies were not directly interested in what was at present happening in the North Eastern Area, the principles involved in any decision reached on the proposed scheme were, however, of vital concern to them. Municipalities in the area were not satisfied with the proposals which had so far been mentioned, and many of them, not unnaturally, were much averse to the idea of having their efficient and flourishing undertakings confiscated for negligthle compensation.
It was good to know. said Mr. Wills, that the public which, in matters of this kind, sometimes tended towards the apathetic, was alive to this very real threat to their interests.
Mr. Wills concluded his address with these words: "The public have nothing to gain but much to lose by the nationalization of passenger road transport, and it is to be hoped that in the North East, and in any other area for which a scheme may be proposed, they will appreciate the issues involved and suitably express their views at the appropriate time."
Another Protagonist "Although the first move was made by the Roaa Transport Executive last November, and many meetings have since been held between them and representatives of local authorities_ and operators, not one valid reason has so far been given why any scheme at all is considered desirable, and the pertinent question--what benefits will there be to the public?—rernains unanswered." Mr. Raymond W. Birch, MI.Mech.E., chairman of the Yorkshire Traction •Co., Ltd., who made this statement at the company's annual general meeting held last week, was referring to the suggested nationalization of passenger transport in the North East of England.
It is understood, Mr. liirch said, that A28 the Executive envisages full-blooded nationalized ownership by the British Transport Commission of all buses. trolleybuses and trams in that area, and it is clear already that their ideas are having anything but a smooth passage. Strong opposition has come, not only from the operators. but from the general public and from many of the local authorities in the area, particularly. those which operate their own transport undertakings. This is hardly surprising, as such a municipality would lose control of its undertaking and would receive only a negligible sum in compensation plus the repayment of any floating debt.
In stating the views of the Yorkshire Traction Co., Ltd., Mr. Birch said that these could be given very simply. We challenge," he said, " the claim that a State-controlled undertaking can give a better or cheaper service than that provided by a publiL company, and we shall take every advantage of the opportunities provided by the Transport Act to bring this home should a scheme be attempted for the rest of Yorkshire, where there is certainly no case whatever for the nationalizers. No area scheme could possibly do more than his company had done," he said "in the way of co-ordination of services for the convenience of the travelling public, but under the dead hand of bureaucracy it could easily do less."
COSTS MUST BE REDUCED NAAXIMUM production per manal hour, payment by results in preference to payment by the hour, maximum mechanization and bigger bonuses for workers, were pointers contained in a statement made by Sir William Rootes on his return to this country after a 26,000-mile tour of 16 countries in the Western Hemisphere. "If we are to succeed," he said, "prices, consistent with high quality, is the dominant factor." British vehicles must become more competitive, added Sir William.
AN EXPORT HANDICAP
WHILST agreeing that the high cost YY of certain motor components was a severe handicap in our export effort. Mr. G. R. Strauss, Minister of Supply, was not at present prepared to refer any further cases to the Commission of Monopolies. The Minister gave this reply in the Commons last Week, to a question relating to the cost of such components as dynamos and starters.