MODERN MAJOR-GENERAL
Mr. Jim Campbell, the general secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen, has no inhibitions about kicking an opponent who is down. Flushed with victory, he boots out at boards of management selected by the wretched Transport Commission as 'an insult to the average railway worker.' His objection, apparently, is to the 'private enterprise minds' of the generals, lieutenant governors, and trade union 'officials that comprise the boards. Why generals, lieutenant governors and trade union officials should have private enterprise minds; he does not say. Our objection to generals, lieutenants gover- nors, and trade union officials, which is probably just as strong as Mr. Campbell's, is that they do not have private enterprise minds. The Transport Commission failed to run the railways as a business : it failed even to give the impression that it was trying to run the railways as a business. The Government's decision to give way to the railwaymen (who have won hands down the campaign they began in 1953 for a 15 per cent. increase) suggests that all pretence that the railways are a commercial enterprise is now to be abandoned. Mr. Campbell's idea of getting railwaymen to manage the railways might be seductive on the assumption that poachers always make the best gamekeepers. But the risk that they would simply increase the poaching facilities is too great.
Previous page
