§ Mr. PENNYasked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that serious difficulty is being experienced by the manufacturers of motor omnibuses, char-a-bancs, and goods vehicles owing to the delay in giving legislative effect to the recommendations made in the year 1922 by the Departmental Committee on the Taxation and Regulation of Road Vehicles in regard to revised weights and speeds of heavy motor cars and to the 2009W recommendations made in May, 1925, by the Departmental Committee on the Licensing and Regulation of Public Service Vehicles in regard to the specification of such vehicles, and that the absence of a compulsory order on the subject encourages the building of unsuitable vehicles and puts at a disadvantage manufacturers, who have already altered the designs of their vehicles voluntarily to conform to the recommendations; and whether he is prepared to make and issue orders giving effect to those recommendations so far as his existing statutory powers will allow?
§ Colonel ASHLEYI am well aware of the difficulty to which my hon. Friend refers, and I hope to remedy it by the introduction of legislation. As regards the last part of the question, I would remind my hon. Friend that the recommendations of the two Departmental Committees are to be regarded as a whole, and I have always been reluctant to try to give effect to isolated recommendations under my existing powers. Should it unfortunately prove impossible to find Parliamentary time during next Session for a comprehensive Road Vehicles Bill, I will carefully consider to what extent I should be prepared, and able, to give effect to those of the Committee's recommendations which do not require legislation.