:ROAD - AND RAIL [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In
common with other members of the travelling public / find thi-ust upon my attention in the dining saloons of trains, in hotets, and elsevihere, a tract distributed by the railway interests Which, in view of the coming Conference on Rail and Rotid Transport, it Seems to me it would now be a graceful act to withdraw from eirculatio'n. I have no wish to write anything which might tend to increase the exasperation of those who have broadcast their plea for " fairplay,". bet it is surely a fantastic twist of logic to say that because the railways have to pay for the upkeep of their own tracks therefore the owners of motor vehicles should pay " the full current expenditure on roads " belonging not to them but to the community ; and anyhow motor users are already paying, including the Petrol Tax, £50,000,000 a year for the privilege of being what they are.
Nobody blames the railways for failing to foresee that there would come a day when their rigid tracks would fail to pay. These tracks remain a necessary feature of our national life, but it is absurd to say that they must be made solvent by bleeding their more mobile rival. And that certainly will not be a solution which will appeal to the approaching Conference. If the railways seek fairplay they must give it ; and the first step in that direction is to recall this unfortunate pamphlet.—
I am, Sir, &c., SELBY, 8 Queen Street, Mayfair, W.1.
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