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TRANSPORT CHAOS. | I

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TRANSPORT CHAOS. | I Official Report of Premiel sReply II Cause of Congestion. As will be remembered, last week u deputation. representing South Wales 1 tuaders waited upon Mr. LloytJ George to urge that fomething be done to re- jaove the traffic congestion in South Wales, wnieh has attained menacing proportions. "ø published a summary of the Pre- miorlt-reply at the time, but we are now able to give, fropi the official report, some portions of the Prime Minister's reply previously nnpublished. The Prime Minister pointed out that Mr. Gibbins, in his statement rather im- plied that the Government were respon- sible for the cbaos in tra nsport of South "W ales; but he could assure them there was less ground for this than for almost Any complaint. The Government had not interfered in the least except iu .assisting with locomotives and wagons. TJie Ministry of Transport neyer came into existence till September 23rd, and Sir Evic Geddes took charge on that date, a day or two before the strike. He vns engaged on that very troublesome j busineRs, and did not begin the opera- "'tions of' the Ministry until well on in October, while he understood the con- -gestion bad been a very crying evil for some months. LOCOS. AND WAGONS. Regarding the real causes of the con- j gestion. the Prime Minister said toe Great Western Railway Company con- structed four years before the war 10.000 •wagons. They were able to construct during the war only 1,500. In addi- tion, they were quite unable to keep up rcpatrp. In the case of locomotives they were down in numbers. They had sent locomotive* tn France, and many of them were worn out; many of them knocked out. THE EIGWT-H0UR DAY. j There was another unfortunate cir- cumstance which undoubtedly had d- laved things—the moulders' strike, in consequence of which they were actually j stripping locomotives of parts in order t to be able to repair others. The 1; day "had been responsible for a \tOod dr nll cf the delay. If the r?i?aynx'n Cf?:]d work overtime during the present strain, I in order to get over the difficulties, he Sloped they would do so in order to relieve the pressure. The eight-hour day involved 30 per cent:. wore locomotive men alone on the rail- ways- They could not get them, but if they did it took some time to train them. There had never been an order from the railway companies that they were not fO be paid overtime in the type of case quoted Sometimes, although five minutes would enable them to complete the ionrnov, he was told that they had. de- clined to do it. He trusted there would flé a little mor espirit of cooperation ard j helpfulness ip a case of that kind, until were able to settle down into some- iiiing like normal condiÜo]1s. The cause of dlnv also was the di-tcn- j tion of wagons, which was 50 per cent, j Jnore than last year; 73 per cent, (f the demurrage had been in the South Wales arpa. SEVERN TUNNEL BOTTLE NECK. The most important, and most serious element of all was the diversion of traffic .from sea to i-ail. PPfoiie the frar 61 per (cent. 6f tholantbrac,,ite was carried about. *«n .average of 23 miles by rail. Now 61 v carried an average of 20M v Ynll8. and to a certain extent that ap- plied alv. to tinplotea That had involved an increase in the Severn Tunnel from 16,600 freight trains during 'the first 11 months of 1913 to 22,000 freight trains in the first 11 months of this year, an increase of 31 per cent. That was very jw/ious hecauso, owing to the construction of the Severn Tunnel, it took about twenty minutes' block to gel: their train through. They could not run them for reason* safety more expeditiously. The management were under the impression efol' the war that they reached almost the maximum capacity of the tunnel. They had now had to stretch it np to this point, but they could not go beyond, and they were running traffic through a bottle neck and trains up to I/mdon with com- modities, with material, which formerly went by sea. SWANSEA'S MILEAGE. 0 In SONSWJUENCE. the mileage increase <> the G.W.R. during the first half of the present year, compared with the pre-war period; was 1,200.000 miles. lh Swansea district alone the mileage hod. increased by H per cent. during the hist M months He had no doubt that that was due tc the fact that the #ea freights had increased enormously, whereas lnnd traffic wns on I)tP-Irar rates. They could nOt possibly keep them At pre-war rate* and one (I" the fimt steps which would have to lie taken,by the Ministry of Transport would "be to bring in a new scale of charges for land traffic. LABOUR CONDITIONS. There were causes stick as those ferred to by Mr. Wignall which were I verv dangerous to refer to in the inflam- mable conditions which prevailed, where there was a congestion at the ports due 1 to a re-arrangement of the hours bf labour. There he was trusting to leaders like Mr. Tillett and Mr. Wignall to see I whether oroeth in eouId not he done. The Minister of Shipping told him 11 at undoubtedly something could be done in that direction, because the increase in freights was due very largply to the fact that ships were kept idle ior a very long time, Mtd therefore in order to cover the c harges they had to.put up th<? ire?ht?. tJnless something ?as done in that d)re<? 11 less -otn,th in rr ??-a,? kionc,, in tliit not cope with the increased traHic. They wore (!cahng with heavier traf&c n.nd a long-distance tratSc. The raUwav sys- tern of South Wale? was not a.dapt?d tc that demand. RESTORE SHORT SEA TRADE? He was going to have a meeting im- ed, t 1 f [ 1 '-C .mg IIn- mediately of all the Departments con- c??ed. He wanted them to meet, again and appoint a cOP1miHee rcprea?nt.?tn'c of the great trades and industries of South "Wales to meet representatives of the railway companies—if necessary there would be representatives of the various Government Departments which were directly concerned—to see whether something Conld not be done to make ar- rangements in South Wales for once more resorting the short sea trade. It did involve an apportionment somehow or other of the loss amongst themselves -of the difference between the freight- rkge by sea aDd frerehMRe V Uind. It arWred for thd moment as if they were adnantage by tlit, ?ettrng CM, sort or advantage by the loer rates, re,,illy ? o:?l.nc. they -re really ?in, more by ?hat was ? apparent <iJ.anta? I than the? were gaining. Gradually things would re'U' "aI. hut if the? were able to mat ke fann ^n^ment^y for 12 months, by which | b«t sea trade could be r%toted. it ¡ teeant a 4i1frèn('e. .'?'r?..? mil- Eon* of trn?, tort, of hundreds of tho..?d. of ton? in "the- pressure upon I ? ra?-a?of ?u?' Wales and it "«<ant ?t ?. far more important, H?t. th? normal run of railway management was Te-tored. He fuegpsted that they h(1)1d consi.d.er J *lso the 'uuestion of getting rid of the i —— trucks a little more quickly than thej j were doing. APPEAL TO LABOUR. Hf suggested La your thould be repie- j Sented on this Committee because he knew they were prepared to do tiieir best to assist. He made a special appeal wr Labour to see whether they could not make an effort, without j n the least com- promising the advantages they had nad Ii in the concessions which had been mode, during the next 12 months to relieve the I congestion.

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