Joint-stock Companies in Respect of Single Wagons.
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Some obiter scripta of ours, published two weeks ago, have accounted for the arrival at this office of several letters marked " not for publication," We regret this reservation. Their general tenour is one of amused inquiry. Do we wish to " defraud " road authorities? Do we think it possible that a carrier would be able to keep his books under such a system ? What if " No. 1 Company" wagon broke down and "No. 2 Company " wagon did its work ? Would Somerset House allow it? Could the profits of each " wagon company " be brought, in the end, into the pockets of a single individual without vitiating the scheme? And so forth.
Our answer need not be long. Let these correspondents go to any shipping port—Liverpool, London, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Hull, Bristol, or elsewhere— and casually drop into any six blocks of offices. They will see, without delay or hindrance, how shipowners act upon the plan indicated, and how columns of small brass plates tell the story of the separately-registered " ship companies " which are all managed from and by one and the same office. The writer does not profess to know all the ins-and-outs of auditors' requirements in such instances. The point is that the system is practicable. We desire, none the less, to repeat our advice that protective measures of this nature should only be adopted, as regards motor-wagon carrying, in extreme cases of unfair restriction and repression. The rare eases of deliberate blackmail and extortion can be met this way.
Our "Overseas Special."
Four weeks from to-day, plus the varying number of days which it takes steamer, train, mail-cart, horseman, sledge, camel, or foot-cartier to complete delivery to the addressees, our latest " missionary issue " will be in the hands of both new and old readers the world over. It is nearly five years—March, 1905—since Tim Comm:cast MOTOR published and circulated the first, " Colonial Special," and its results are too well known to require any words from our side. 011+ ers have spoken and testified to their worth, after they had found the real value of the information given to them, and had made purchases upon our advice, or according to the data given.
To our supporters with trade relations abroad. who know the reliable and authoritative nature of the information which our special issues contain, the date of publication—the 9th December—is one which should be noted for a twofold reason: sales will he large, and copies therefore hard to obtain unless ordered betimes; the Russian supplement fin copies intended for the Russian Empire only) will be a unique departure in keeping with our earlier Japanese, Dutch and Spanish Supplements. Arguments
fin a man's own language " get home' best of all. As the Secretary of a large and influential concern with enormous Russian interests wrote to us a week ago: " So far as any other language goes, it is true that French is very widely known in Russia, hut so are English and German. On the other hand, the Russian language has, of late years more especially, come into greater and greater use, and there are to-day numbers of merchants, and even Government officials, whose knowledge of foreign languages is comparatively nil. The old days, whenpeople learned foreign languages before learning Russian, are over, and there is a strong national movement which must be reckoned with in all attempts to capture Russian trade."
Military Registration.
It is gratifying to us to know that the efforts to secure a material annual subsidy from the War Department are at last bearing fruit. It was the writer's privilege, in the year 1902, to prepare the first scheme for the registration of commercial motors, and to be one of a deputation of three owners to lay it before a special committee over which Lord Stanley (now the Earl of Derby) presided. That first report on this important subject, after its careful presentation by Mr. Max Muspratt, Mr. Arthur Stanley, and the writer, rested in a pigeon-hole at the Horse Guards until the end of 1905, at which date it was drawn forth, dusted, and again studied. The Mechanical Transport Committee thought it a greedy scheme : it asked 20 per annum per wagon as a subsidy, liberal hiring terms during manoeuvres, and settled rates of annual depreciation in the event of purchase. It took until January, 1907, for all the branches of the Service concerned, and the Treasury, to come to a decision, and the mountain then brought forth the mouse—from the standpoint of owners—of £2 per annum for a tractor or a wagon to take at least three tons, and other lesser amounts. The hiring scales, the purchase terms, and the broad provisions of the agreement were otherwise satisfactory, but we did not hide our opinion that the subsidy proposals were ,.% holly insufficient to gain the support of owners generally. That belief is now justified.
Strictly-nominal registration fees do not appeal to, and cannot he made to attract, the average business man. We pointed this out again, for example, on the 14th November. 1907, when it was claimed that satisfactory progress had been made. Considerable progress, it is true, was then and subsequently made—in relation to the supposed needs at such times. Now, however, with horses failing, it is tardily admitted that greater inducements must be offered. This change of attitude, for which, we understand, the retiring Secretary of the Mechanical Transport has personelly worked assiduously, has come none too soon. The Territorial Army is notoriously without transport, and the Regular Army relies far too much upon horse-contractors whose days are numbered. E10 per annum per tractor or rubber-tired lorry is a fair prospect: we expect to see it apnrnved before long, and the sum total, whilst being well and advisedly expended for this country's good, should prove a welcome and continued bonus for owners.
Motorcab Profits.
The problem of maintaining motorcab profits on the right side is one of increasing difficulty for some London companies. The halcyon days of 1907 and 1908 are gone for ever, as regards average takings per day, but this does not by any means indicate the necessary disappearance of profits. Parallels with the experiences of steamwagon companies prior to the coming into force of the Heavy Motor Car Order, and with those of motorbus proprietors in the lever-pitch days of 1906, are sure to be found : indications are not wanting at the moineut. It is largely a question of suitability of chassis, attractiveness and quality of coachwork, and absence of excessive capital. These vill be the determining factors, and one more, as we hinted a week ago, should be added—the effect of profits on the contracting or manufacturing side in respect of the pneumatic tires employed.
Let us consider the case of some of the newcumers into the motoreah trade of London. We find that the lesson of festina lente has been learnt, exactly as it was in the two preceding branches of road transport which ee have cited. 'Whereas, under the incalculable disadvantages of opposition and lack of experience, early wagon, omnibus and cab proprietors had to create their personnel in the stressful times of rapid chassis arrivals, trained drivers, to the discomfiture of some of the older companies, flock away to the yards where the new four-cylinder cabs are to be had. This difficulty with the inen, however, is only
on of several. The choice of the public is nuother highly-important factor, and instructions to the ranks, which now go out per hall-porters and page-boys in Clubla.nd, are essentially different from those which were the vogue two years ago. Not only is this selective action by habitu6s of the West End telling its tale, but the general public is rapidly developing an appreciation for mechanical niceties of travel. Confronted by these circumstances, it is clear that careful management, both in the engineering and the traffic departments, can alone bring additional dividend-earning years to those companies which own early-type models, and the strain upon whose finances may not have allowed the fullest provision for depreciation.
We consider that the brightest outlook lies before the smaller owners, say, the men who have fleets not exceeding 50 or 60 cabs. Beyond that, we venture to bring in our estimate of the bearing of a connection with the -tire trade. With a charge of only four per cent. per annum on the capital, with excellent four-cylinder cabs, With attractive and well-fitted bodies, and with a mainteottnee contract fur the first twelve months included in its purchase arrangement, one London company, which we tio not propose further to identify, appeals to us as being the one that will forge ahead on large and Ferro:telling lines. The patronage extended to its cabs has been so general, that it looks as if their first cost would be extinguished out of takings in about eighteen months. s1hould that prove to be true, look what the proposition and position become. Should competition necessitate it, the backers of this splendid enterprise, with no dead (harges on their backs, can face the motorcab world in the Metropolis when only 12c1. is received in exchange for one shilling, and can be content with the trading margins upon .the pneumatic tires, although we have no doubt they eould much prefer to see margins from both quarters. In the absence of any such " working in a circle," our belief in the future lies with the small owner. So far as the individual is concerned, it is possible to run a modern four-cylinder cab in London, inclusive of repairs and all charges, as we explained in our issue of the 26th August last, at practically 4d. per mile, beyond which rate of earning profits would go to the driver-owner.
While on the subject of motoreab profits, we may here deal with the results for the first year's trading of the Provincial Motor Cab Co., Ltd. This concern offered 260,000 ordinary shares of £1 each for subscription in February, 1908, the authorized capital of £1303,000 being made up by additional ordinary and deferred shares. The balance-sheet at the 31st March last, which has now been issued, shows that £197,480 had then been paid up, and that there was a -balance from trading account of £26,164. The prospectus estimate was £72,617, but that was for a full year, and various unforeseen difficulties have prevented operations on as extensive a scale as was contemplated at the time of flotation. Services of the company's cabs have been successfully started in the following cities and towns ;--Aldershot ; Bath; Birmingham ; Bournemouth; Bradford ; Bristol ; Cambridge ; Eastbourne ; Edinburgh ; Folkestone ; Glasgow; Harrogate; Leeds; Liverpool; Manchester ; Oxford ; Sheffield. It is stated that all necessary provision has been made for depreciation of plant, machinery, cab fittings, etc., and the net amount carried to the balance-sheet is £22,057. which the directors propose to appropriate thus: rolling-stock reserve, £13,475; reduction of preliminary expenses (which will then remain at £27,013), £3,000; carried forward, £5,582. As to the ensuing year, an interim dividend at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum is to be declared, for the six months ended the 30th September, and we are in a position to say that this satisfactory state of :Affairs is, as we forecasted when dealing with the promotion in our issue of the 20th February, 1908, due to private hiring and jobbing rather than to pure cab-work in the old significance of the term. Taken all round, Mr. Godfrey Isaacs is to be congratulated.