Transport Bill: New Version
The new Transport Bill, introduced and published on Wed- nesday, is in one respect at any rate a definite improvement on the old. Of the proposed £4 million levy on road transport that part which was to compensate the railways for loss of traffic to the roads has disappeared, the railways getting in compensation, what may in the end pay them better, free- dom from the obligation to abide by fixed and uniform rates, securing instead liberty to attract traffic by offering special quotations in given cases. This discrimination will need full discussion and careful watching if it is approved. It estab- lishes an unusual relationship between a State-owned system and private industry, but it is more than time to free the railways from the strait-waistcoat in which they have been confined by Acts going back in some cases something like a century. They will be under no obligation to publish their charges, other than maximum charges, and will therefore be free to make what arrangement they like with traders whose patronage it may be convenient and advantageous to attract. This elasticity will put the railways in a new position and should fully compensate them for the loss of the expected subsidy from the road haulage levy. The levy itself is not a desirable intrusion into the general settlement, and with the railways put in a better position than they were before to compete with road hauliers the latter may feel that it is now their turn to complain. The duration of the levy depends on the-prices realised by the resale of the nationalised lines to private owners. Whether the inevitable deficit remaining when all the lorries have been disposed of should be wiped off by a single act will be for Parliament in its wisdom to decide in the future.
Previous page
