ber ikeceittics for hauliers of the Governnent! gs Aocksiioet to bring ee a Pines ig on an inte grated transport system, Its special correspon=
"Road operstors will have little to fear from the promised White Paper on integration, I forecaste Despite much ministerial flag weaving on this, as a@ reaction to pressures from the unions and Labourts leftewing, Mindstry of Transport investigntors working for Mrs Custle are taking a very long end calm viewe The White Paporseeewill prove something of a paper dragon. There is to be no direction of traffic from road to rail, by edict by taxrtion, by ensing, and no compulsory merging of road . 2 passengers undertskings at an early date. All the emphasis will be on the long term, looking ahead ss far as 30 yearse And a selected method to shape the transport policy of the future is likely to be control by investment. The corresp iondent then outlined the way the Transport Ministry econonists were working: "Their first job is to find which is the cheapest form of transport today on two mains routes of the country. To do this they are to cost out all traffic, passenger and goodSeseeeeThe next stige is to forecast the growth of traffic over the next 30 years, and to assess. the effects of néw techniques for the various means of transport on costse Finally - and this is the object of the exercise = they will collate their facts and figures for the Government to decide where investment should go in order to provide the transport system of the futureesoes "Road transport need not come out badly from these studies, The road versus rail battle is only pertinent on the long runs between towns, and the growth of night trunking by roads since the war puts a lot of weight on the road side of the scales. Such night use of the roads must earn the plaudits of the economists, since it is giving the best return on the dnount expended on the provision of the roads, Side by side with these long-term costing exercises, Ministry men are engaging in extensive sounding of users of transporte They are asking industry what are their preferences in modes of transporteessIt is already clear that Mrse Castle is no more to be ; panicked into rush measures than was her predecessor, Mre Tom Frasere eeoeThe signs are that integration, in the Minister's mind, means some~ thing more closely akin to co-ordination, ieee, dovetailing rather than nergingee" His last point was quite whimisical: "Studies carried out by Lord Hinton will, I gather, play no part in the preparation of the White Papers Mystery still surrounds what he may have advised the Minister and his advice seeng toPS¥Ak without trace,” Editorial continued/ Only when the disastrous measure has been defeated will it become clear to the Government that its present neo-capitalist incomes policy is totally unacceptable, A socialist policy for incomes is completely inseparable from structural - socialist - reforms in the economy and a great expansjon of trade union powers, This involves defiance of the bankers, and stringent anti-capitalist controls. As the unions begin to demand these positive measures, an alternative strategy to the bankrupt drift of Mr. Wilson's adminstration will begin to take shape ,