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ROAD MOTORS BRING POTATC

11th August 1939, Page 32
11th August 1939
Page 32
Page 33
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Page 32, 11th August 1939 — ROAD MOTORS BRING POTATC
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

LOM FIELD TO CONSUMER

By H. Scott Hall, M.I.A.E., M.I.T.A.

A Unique Example of the Use of Commercial Vehicles for the Transport of Potatoes. 50 Tons Per Day for a Week, from One Field

A DAY or two ago I motored down

to Spalding to interview Mr.

F. H. Smith, leading potato merchant of that district. Mr. Smith deals in commodities other than potatoes, but he does confine his activities to vegetables. Potatoes, nevertheless, are his main crop. The real object of my visit was to observe a road-transport operation almost unique, but it occurred to me that, if I could find Mr. Smith in a communicative mood, I might, at the same time, learn his views as to the advantages of the use of commercial vehicles for potato transport and embody them, and the description of this particular operation, in one article.

Mr. Smith made it absolutely clear at the outset that he has no personal bias either in favour of road or of rail: true co-ordination of the two methods of transport appears to be the underlying basis of his organization.

" Rail is useful in certain circumstances, road in others," he said, in answer to my opening question. " For example, if a customer 'phones to-day an order for potatoes which he wants to be delivered to him, maybe in London, Birmingham or Manchester, to-morrow morning, then road transport is practically the only method whereby I can fulfil his requirements."

" Are orders of that description frequent, in your experience, Mr. Smith?" I asked.

" Yes, fairly frequently," he replied. " On the other hand, traffic to the markets cannot be coped with by road with any convenience, because there is no T00111 for storage. It is the rule to send potatoes by rail to the nearest rail-. way goods yard and to sell the stock in the market from samples taken from the railway trucks.

" You see," he continued, " the railway companies allow us the use of the trucks for three days before they ASO

charge demurrage. That is very convenient and is an advantage which road transport cannot offer. It is a fact that large quantities of potatoes sold in the markets never actually enter the market. They are sold, as I have said, by sample, and collected by lorry from the railway trucks as they stand in the

" Again, it is sometimes impossible to use road transport. I have a big Iepot at St. Pancras, London, where, )ften enough, I have as much as 700 tons of potatoes in stock, and I am forbidden by the terms of my contract to ead potatoes into that depot by road. 'Road transport, nevertheless, is a great help to the potato dealer in many Nays," he continued. " For one thing, t has eliminated the need for many lepots. Formerly we had to have :hese depots in every principal centre ind keep them well stocked with potatoes delivered by rail, so that we ;mild fulfil customers' urgent orders in Lime. Now an urgent order is delivered Erect. This is a considerable source of xonomy for the merchant. " The retail buyer, too, reaps considerable monetary benefit as the outcome of utilizing road transport, especially in those cases where he has the potatoes delivered direct by road. In the old days and, even now, when he takes potatoes from a depot, he must send his own vehicle to collect and has to pay porterage as well as the cost of the vehicle. That expense is 'saved. Furthermore, it is the rule now that when a retailer has room to store 'potatoes we deliver direct.

" In other ways, too, road transport has altered conditions in the potato and market gardening industry in this country. It has placed growers, in districts like Spalding, on a level with those in the districts surrounding London, in Essex and Kent, because by using commercial motors they can get their produce to the London markets in good time, in a way which was formerly impossible."

"What is the extent of your traffic in potatoes, Mr. Smith?" I asked.

"From 100 to 150 tons per day," he replied. "You will appreciate, from that, that I should require a considerable fleet of vehicles if I sent all my produce by road."

" Well," I answered, " it could be done and, in any case, you could employ haulage contractors for the work. How many vehicles have you?" • " Eleven: four Leylands, one Ford

son and the rest Bedfords. Except during the new potato season, when there is a bigger demand for direct delivery by road, the Bedfords and Fordsons are used for local distribution from my depots at Covent Garden, Borough Market and Somers Town in London and SmithfieldMarket, Birmingham, The Leylands are used for direct delivery from Spalding to London, Birmingham, Manchester,

• ■• Sheffield, Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.'; He broke off, and said: " But if we are going to see this big operation that I invited you to investigate, we had better be moving."

"What is it, exactly, that we are going to see?" I asked.

" It is the collection, by lorries, of new potatoes from the field where the potatoes are actually growing, and we take away 50 tons each day from that field for eight consecutive days. It is

a fact that the potatoes, which are growing in the field at 4 p.m. and sometimes later in the evening, are delivered to the markets in London before six o'clock the next morning."

And we journeyed, from Mr. Smith's headquarters in Spalding, some eight or nine miles out to a huge field situated on land reclaimed from and abutting the Wash. And in this huge field of some 70 acres or so, were seven lorries (six belonging to Mr. Smith, and another one), also a John Deere tractor and trailer, three potato diggers each hauled by three horses, three harrows each hauled by two horses, one gang of women potato pickers and two gangs of men potato pickers, each gang having, its own weighing machine, riddle and stacks of boxes, sacks or tubs for the reception of the potatoes.

As the potato diggers uproot the plants and thrash the potatoes out of them, pickers follow and collect the potatoes in baskets. They take them to the riddles, where potatoes which are under size are removed. They are weighed in 56-lb. lots for boxes, into 7-stone lots for tubs, and into 8-stone lots for bags.

Most of the potatoes go into boxes, for that is the best way to carry them. In tubs, and especially in bags, they are liable to be rubbed in transport. That abrades the skins, so that the potatoes do not look so well and sometimes do not fetch so high a price.

They are weighed into these wooden boxes, covered with haulm to keep them cool and fresh during transit and loaded on to the lorries. The boxes are so made as to pack tightly together.

Mr. Smith had two Leyland Cubs and four Bedford 3-tonners set apart for this job. The Bedfords carry 5 tons gross, which is 4 tons net of potatoes; one of the Cubs carries approximately the same quantity and

the other, a more recent model, carries 6 tons 5 cwt. gross, which is 5 tons net of potatoes. The-teital is thus 25 tons net and each vehicle makes two journeys per day.

The first journey is to the local goods-yard, whence the potatoes go by rail to London. The second journey is direct to the Metropolis so that the whole 50 tons, uprooted from the field that day, are' marketed first thing the next morning.

The John Deere tractor, with its four-wheeled pneumatic-tyred trailer, is used to bring empty boxes to the field and distribute them as and where they are required.

It is rare that such a scene of activity, with so many people employed at once, can be observed in a single field. Mr. Smith is very proud of the way in which the whole scheme is organized and he does admit that commercial vehicles alone make such a feat as this practicable.


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