Parallel Deliveries Should Cease:. . Why Not a Beginning With Petrol . ?
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The co-ordination of-national service demands that parallel deliveries must• cease. • There is too much wasteful overlapping in many branches of. transport. Members of the public at large can see this, and they are growing daily more aridmore restless in respect of the lack of control to which it testifies. Competing brewers deliver-into the area,s-whieh adjoin their rivals' places of production, sometimes by road to a radius of as much as 50 Miles, and frequently by rail at a greater radii's. The same crossing and paralleling take Place in respect of millers. These trades are cited by us because of the-frequency of survival of the peace-time conditions to which we refer: Many other trades are similarly subtracting from the net re
sources of the country at the present time. • The subject of co-operative delivery by motorvan must no 'longer remain in the region of. academic proposal. This should have been obvious to many people for months past, yet little or nothing has so far been done. Our last definite attack of any length upokthe absence of gperal schemes for joint delivery by coin
mercial motor, to meet war conditions, was published in the issue of this journal for the 27th July last. We are convinced, now that the mind of the community is more generally attuned to the call for national service in the highest sense of the word, that the subject is one to which we may very properly return with insistence—and now with hopefulness. . Let us make a beginning at the heart of things. Let ustake the state of affairs as they exist between the several petrol-imparting companies of ,the United Kingdom. . Their old fights and squabbles go on with the greatest bitterness. These will continue unless a strong lead is given okthe initiative of a Government Department, or of such a Department after it has received the necessary hint from somebody. We contend that the petrol-importing Companies are not confronted by the same commercial and practical difficulties as are brewers and millers. Brewers have tied houses, and their customers prefer particular • flavours and Strengths of beer, although the present statutory watering-down of this national beverage has much altered the influence of the latter factors. Millers have to study the idiosyncrasies of bakers, but here, again, the Government specification for flour has altered the case. A general order that every brewery and every flour-mill must only deliver its products within a radius of 7, 10 or -20 miles, or other maximum radius of its place of production, may yet become the rule under war conditions. We should like to see a beginning .made with the petrol-importing companies, because they are dealing in commodities which may colloquially be stated to be drawn from the same source. if " A " petrol were generally sold as "13" petrol, the average consumer would be none the wiser, so long as the cart which delivered it. or the can from which it was poured into the tank of his motor vehicle, bore the accustomed lettering,
Petrol, paraffin, fuel oil and gas oil are commodities derived from overseas, the regular supply and distribution of which are essential to the continued exist
ence 'of this country. Their consumption touches everybody. They are wanted alike for the war, for industry, and for domestic needs. Their co-ordinated distribution, after arrival at one or other Of the several ports where facilities for handling them are found, cannot be allowed, in our judgment, for much longer to-be left in the uncontrolled hands of hostile and selfish contestants.
We consider that a good precedent is available in the co-ordination of London passenger-transpOrt. interests. There were, prior to the 21st December, 1915, five independent and competitive companies concerned in the handling of the passenger traffic of the Metropolis, which companies were at that time brought together through the ptiwerful initiative and capable administration of the Rt. Hon. Sir Albert H. -Stanley, P.C., now President of the Board of Trade. We refer to the City and South London Railway Co.. the Central London Railway Co., the London Elect= Railway Co., the Metropolitan District Railway Co., and the London General Omnibus Co. There are, also, of course, the L.C.C. tramways and the Metropolitan Railway Co., which undertakings still remain outside the co-ordinated scheme. The basis of the agreement was a pooling of resources and receipts on agreed percentage bases. Each company did its own best work, and each company took particular shares, in relation to its previous achievements, the outstanding results being simplification of control, reduction of overlapping, and co-ordinated service to the public.
Why should we not have something arranged, and arranged without further delay, under which importers of petroleum products shall set the example to other great commercial and industrial undertakings in the country '? Why should four or more companies all deliver petrol, each remaining guilty under ,war conditions of conducting its own sales and delivery organizations, this parallelism clearly involving a waste of manpower and of transport'? Why should the same conditions be allowed to continue in respect of burning oils, of lubricating oils, of fuel oils and of gas oils The fact that only a relatively-small number of big concerns participates as principals in the petroleum trades is a good reason for making a beginning on them. Let one of them be made solely responsible for the handling of each of the great classes into which the activities of all are by custom divided. That is the basic suggestion which we have to make, and we make it in the sincere hope that its adoption, which we feel should be enforced, will prove as successful as the pooling of the great interests to which we have already referred in the world of London's passenger transportation, as well as in the belief that a good example may be set to other and more diverse industries and trades. Compulsory pooling, provided it is arranged on an equitable basis, must be as beneficial to the parties themselves as spontaneous pooling. The difficulty is to persuade old-time rivals to take dab lead, but circumstances are such that, if they cannot do so of their own volition, they must be ordered to do it. We consider that the situation is now really urgent.
Agrimotorculture : the Agent' s Test.
The British agent is on his trial at the moment, as well as being on his mettle." The scheme of agrimotorculture—no German literary proclivities are here intended—is shaping somewhat laboriously. Weather conditions, from the national standpoint markedly unfavourable, last week gave the stressed county agent time to breathe.
We last week printed as the top line on the front cover of this journal the words "Farmers in a Mess : Agents to the Rescue." We do, indeed, trust that it will not prove to be a case of "Agents in a Mess" in more than, say, one or tw.o counties, Constant attention to detail will alone save them.
It is inevitable that more success will be achieved in one county than another. The conditions in no two counties are strictly comparable let alone the same. Topographical conditions will in some cases cause as great difficulties as the general lay and 'direction of the roads in others. The location of the chief mechanical organizer in one corner of the county in several instances may lead to minor complications. Again, the apparent unsuitability of a few of the appointed county organizers has already been the cause of certain representations to us, but we consider that they should be given the chance to "make good," if we anay be excused for adopting an American expression in regard to their chances. We fear that the extent of the possible financial responsibility is not at the moment clearly apprea +ended, although it is probable that. each and every county agent will, with the authority of the Board of Agriculture behind him, be able to make the necesaa,ry temporary arrangements with his bankers, in .order that he may discharge all his trade obligations, as well as acting as county paymaster, until the whole .machinery of the scheme is in smooth running order, -to the end that disbursements are quickly made good to him as the responsible local official.
We hope that the expert mechanical organizers will pay due heed to the difficulties of getting part-time helpers to and from the working points in the requisite numbers per shift, three times in each 21 hours. Happy, indeed, is the county agent whose sub-agents do not have unforeseen difficulties in'the matter of obtaining a high proportion of what we may term straightforward "help—the men or women who will work seven shifts a week. The fittingtogether of numbers of two-shift and three-shift helpers becomes a problem of increasing complexity in ratio to the number of agrimotors for which complete rosters of drivers in those categories have to be schemed and scheduled. We know, from some little , experience of our own in the matter of making arrangements, where reliance had to be placed upon the services of part-time helpers, that the problem of reliefs, to fill the blanks due to deficiencies, temporary illness and like difficulties. becomes one of real importance. It will be a good thing if each county agent holds in reserve a few keen men and women Who, are prepamed to endure the extra strain of apread-over time and double shifts.
• The undertaking which has been thrust upon the agents of the country at the Government's invitation is a very much larger one than it may appear at first sight to be. They are virtually asked to set aside the conduct of their usual business, and to concentrate upon the organization and supply of the a.grimotorculture work for a period of approximately five weeks. That they will give of their best in their effort to avoid, disappointment we know full well, but many of them at the finish will be glad of the respite to which they will honourably become entitled. They may not themselves at, the moment fully realize the 020
full extent and consequences of their •obligations7 although we think that the voluminous character of their correspondence, since the first announcements were made a little more than. a week ago, has already given them a definite insight. The reward of the hard-worked agents and subagents lies in the future, It was made amply clear, when agents were invited to take part in the scheme for agrimotorculture for1917, that the proceedings this coming spring were to be viewed as a huge experiment. We agree with that view of the facts, as was indicated in our earlier references a week ago. The county and sub-agents alike are merely laying the foundation of a plan of campaign for the betterment of British agrirnotorculture, the fruits of which labours cannot in. any sense be reaped until later years—not, in 1917.
The Channel Tunnel.
We direct attention of readers to the article by our contributor "The Inspector." It appears on
page 56. His comments on the Channel-tunnel
scheme, written as they are in somewhat lightsome vein, carry nevertheless more than a grain of real
warning. The question of -delay in passage through
the tunnel, assuming the necessity for proceeding at the pace of the slowest-moving vehicle, is one that has already been raised elsewhere ; its importance is such that it will easily bear repetition. It must be borne, in mind that the cost of a tunnel sufficiently wide to accommodate two lines of traffic will be high : that ef one capable of sheltering two streams in eithEr direction, four in all, might be prohibitiye. . That tourist will wittingly face an eight-hour journey in the vitiated atmosphere of such a tunnel, with the possibility, continuously before him, of prolonged de lay by reason of some slight accident to another tunnel-farer, is unthinkable. The solution' of this difficulty may prove to be an endless travelling band or series of bands, graduated in regard to speed, each strong enough to onvey a maximum unit of weight such as a heavy steam wagon and five-ton . load. It seems hardly feasible now, but that solution may easily be a sound one by the time the plans are actually under disaussion. The other point which is raised, that by the time the venture becomes a reality the need for its exist ence may have been eliminated, is also surely worth more than a passing thought. We still live in progressive times. The present generation can remem ber the time when the motorcar seemed impossible:
the aeroplane and the airship were only believed to be fit subjectsfor imaginative novels ; they fought
with the submarine for first place in point of impossibility. Who is to say what transport means will be available in another score of years, means no more vulnerable, perhaps less so, than this projected underseabed connection: Have those who are so strongly in. favour of the . scheme come to the conclusion that our island safety is so far threatened that we should be better if no longer insular ? If that is the position, if that the hypothesis on which this tunnel theorem is based, then let those same individuals be prepared—as we ourselves are—to accept the decision of the Empire's competent naval and military authorities in due course. They, alone, can deal with the aspect of national safety, any sacrifice of which, either actual or potential, must nullify the commercial utility of the tunnel to us.' Who can settle, but the highest experts, to what extent such a tunnel be vulnerable to submarine and diver? We might rely on it, but find it gone !
Finally, we suggest that this is a question which may safely be shelved until after the war, unless it is to be finished in time fcir the last push ! It is, surely,
not one of those ideas or suggestions from which we need expect a germ of something which will "help to win. Rumour, that lying jade, did, we know, set in motion the story that the Germans wanted Calais becauseatheu already had the tunnel four-fifths. for more) excavated. We leave it at that