Transport Wilhelmina
Sir: It was very naughty of Auberon Waugh (Transport Wilhelmina,' 23 February) to say that only sentimental old people still pretend to take economists seriously. In addition, he was wrong in implying that modern socialist thought demands merely the squashing of the private haulier. What about the private car?
The following gems (taken from my forthcoming book The Three Sacred Cows of Economics) ap- peared less than five years ago in the Railway Review, the official organ of the NUR, who are Mrs Castle's main allies and beneficiaries:
'In no field of investment is there such waste as in the private ownership of motor-cars. The majority of cars are driven for only a fraction of the time they are licensed . • . And the conclusion must also be that the private ownership of cars is uneconomic . . . There seems no reason why stocks of cars could not be held—a vast extension of hiring organisation—for use by those who at any time and for any fruitful period need them. . . If a person wished to own a car he would have to convince the authorities that it was absolutely necessary, a very difficult plea if cars were avail- able freely for hire . . . In the ultimate we would like to see cars as common property administered by the authorities just as living accommodation should be, and is by local government. Why not, we would like to know?'
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