EARLY DAYS WITH THE C.M,U.A
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The Extremely Good Work Done by an Association Which Embraces the Leading Users of the Country in the Removal of Obstructions to Development.
By Frederick G. Bristow, F.C.1.S., A.I.A.E., General Secretary The Commercial Motor Users Association (Inc.), 1910-1926, Assistant Secretary 1906-1910.
" IG oaks from little acorns grow," the slogan of a well-known business house, might equally be that of the Commercial Motor Users Association. When it is remembered that at the conclusion of its first year's activities its membership was just over one hundred and the number of vehicles owned by its members was only a few hundred, as compared with over a hundred thousand to-day, the extent of the progress made in little more than 22 years is apparent.
The name of the Association In its early days was, perhaps, not too euphonious. Founded on November 5th, 1903, at a time when the commercial motor industry itself was in its early infancy, under the title of
The Motor Van and Wagon Users Association," its name was changed in 1906 to "The Motor Van, Wagon and Omnibus Users Association," and again in 1907 to the present one of " The Commercial Motor Users Association," now usually contracted to the " C.M.U.A." What is in a name, however?
The real progressive history of the C.M.U.A. may be said to date from 1910, when the Association—which until then was administered by and under the aegis of the Motor Union of Great Britain and Ireland—was established as an independent organization, and I was appointed secretary (after having acted as assistant secretary since 1906), with a staff consisting only of an office boy drawing a princely salary of a few shillings a week, a small furnished office in Piccadilly kindly loaned to us by the Royal Automobile Club, and a very few pounds in the bank. We all took risks, including financial ones, however, in those early days, and with on optimistic, keen and enthusiastic committee and
staff (sic) we steadily persevered, seeing the Association grow from strength to strength, until to-day it is recognized by Government Departments, local authorities, police authorities and national organizations in other great industries as adequately representing the commercial motor movement. To show that our optimism and faith in the industry were fully justified, it is only necessary to compare the number of commercial motor vehicles in the country when ,The Commercial Motor was founded in 1905, viz., under 4,000, with the number in use to-day, which, according to the latest official return of the Ministry of Transport, is no fewer than 316,401.
Parliamentary.
From its very inception, the C.M.U.A. was brought into close touch with the Government on matters concerning commercial motor vehicles, as it has remained ever since, and when the Local Government Board in 1903 appointed a Departmental Committee "to consider the existing conditions of usage and to frame new regulations respecting tare weight, diameter of wheels, width of tyres, etc.," one of the earliest achievements of the new Association was the effecting of considerable improvements in the Heavy Motor Car Order as at first drafted by the Board. In 1905 the Association laid the case for commercial mbtor users before the Royal Commission on Motor Cars, and in 1912 it was suecessful in securing the amendment of the Motor Cars (Use and Construction) Order, 1904,. so as to provide that the engine of a steam wagon should be deemed to be one
or the two independent brakes required by the Order.
The C.M.U.A. has invariably taken a prominent part in negotiations concerning commercial motor taxation, and it may not be without interest to mention that the subject of motor taxation for special road purposes was discussed by the Association so far back as 1905, several years before the matter was seriously considered by Parliament, and on a basis much less onerous and complicated than the scale of taxation now in force. The minute of the Executive Conimittee, at its meeting he'd on November 1st, 1905, read as follows :—
" LreExcE DuTy.. The question of agreeing to a licence duty was considered.. After some considerable discussion as to the advisability or not of fighting against a road tax, the meeting agreed to the principle of a special road tax, subject to its being paid into a central fund to be administered by a central authority and paid only in respect of roads which are of a pre'scribed standard of strength: The sum of 5s. per ton on the combined registered axle weight was suggested as an amount to be proposed. It was felt that users 'ohta.ined 1,ocus stanZi: against persecution by agreeing to the payment of a tax."
A year or two .1 later representations were made to the Government against certain taxes which it was proposed to • levy on cornmercial mot or • vehicles, with the result that they were rn&lifted.` "
In 1906 evidence was given before the Select Committee' on Cabs and .Omnibuses, when it was suggested, inter (ilia, that telephones should be provided at cab ranks, particularly those in side streets, and in 1910. the cost of and the carrying through of the necessary • arrangements for the trial of a telephone alongside a rank with no shelter accommodation (the first to be erected) was defrayed by the C.M.U.A. It is common knowledge that the experiment was entirely successful and that a large number of ranks have since been equipped by the Postmaster-General with similar instruments.
Parades and Examinations.
• From the beginning, the Association took an active part in the encouragement and education of the drivers in the employ of its members. With this object in view,
the in 1907, organized the first of its successful competitive motor parades, which are now held annually. throughout Great Britain, and it may not be uninteresting to record that Colonel R. E. Crompton, Mr. E. S. Shrapnel-Smith and Mr. W. G. Lobjoit, who acted as judges on that occasion, have been judges at every subsequent London parade. The first parade, which was held on the Thames Embankment on December 14th, 1907, resulted in an entry .of 26 vehicles, all of which were steam vehicles on steel tyres, which w a s considered quite a reasonable muster in those days, anti the whole of the prize money was generously contributed by the prop rietors of The Commercial Mater. In midi-. tion to the prizes a small monetary grant was made to each competing driver, and I — can well recall t h e excitement that was occasioned when I walked round the vehicles distributing the money in small envelopes, accompanied by two burly police constables and followed by a crowd of sightseers, who were apparently of the opinion that " livers " were being given away.
Perhaps the outstanding feature of these parades was the
,C.o.ronation Parade 'of 1911, headed . by his Majesty's motorluggage van,
when, following, the judging, a Coronation dinner waS given by
the "C:M.U.A. to the drivers and their matesat the Earl's-Court Exhibition, after which they were entertained at all the various side-show in the exhibition. I km afraid that the driters were not the only participants in this unique hospitality, for I came across more than one judge and marshal enjoying the amusements. The marking took so long on that occasion, owing to the large nuitiber of entries, that, in order to get out the .official resifts in time, General It. Bagnall-Wild (Captain BagnallWild as he was then) and J had to be content with an alfresco luncheon sitting on the pavement struggling with the marking cards, while the other judges and
officials were attending the official luncheon in the Welcome Club. Our parades reached their zenith, so far as numbers are concerned, in 1914, when over fivehundred vehicles paraded early on Whit Monday, and the drivers and mates were afterwards entertained to a special matinee performance at the Victoria Palace, the prizes, certificates and badges being presented to the winners on the stage by Colonel Crompton. It waS the first (and last) occasion on which I appeared on the music-hall stage.
'The drivers, at the earlier parades, presented themselves for an oral examination, in order that their mechanical knowledge might be tested, and some most interesting evenings were spent, not only by the judges, but also by the drivers, on these occasions. I am certain that the intimate association between the employers and the men which was a natural result of these examinations, and from the drivers' lectures which were given from time to time, did much to bring about a better understanding on both sides. Personally, I am sorry that the number • of the entries in later parades necessitated the discontinuance of this feature of the Association's activities, but I feel confident that the excellent Work a c c omPlished in this direction at that time has been of the utmost value. The Association has alavays taken a very keen interest in trials of commercial motor vehicles, and in the early days of the movement actively co-operated-with the R.A.C. in organizing such trials. In conjunction with the Club, it was responsible for drawing up the regulations for the Commercial Vehicle Trials of 1907, and, in-addition to being represented on the judges' committees, it offered a silver cup for award to the vehicle which showed the best performance Ivith regard to the absence of oil and grease droppings. These important and much talkedof trials, which form a conspicuous milestone in. the history of the motor industry and which resulted in tended over five weeks in September and October, 1907, the vindication of the commercial motor vehicle, ex and 56 vehicles of all Powers, types and sizes took part in a circular tour of the country, starting from London and visiting, amongst other places, Bedford, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester., Liverpool, Stafford, Birmingham, Gloucester, Bristol and Reading.
Everybody connected with the trials was asked to observe (a) punctuality, (b) forbearance and (c) good humour, and, on the whole, the request was strictly observed, although observers occasionally were late in the morning, vehicles sometimes did get lost and sometimes did break down. By no means the least interesting and amusing part of the trials, although an worncial part, was the smoking concert held onthe last night under the chairmanship of Mr. Shrapnell-Smith, at which the engineer to the C.M.IT.A., Mr. G. W. Watson, who in those days was on the editorial staff of The Commercial 1Votor, showed that he could sing a good song. The fashionable masculine headgear at the trials was either a hard straw boater or a closefitting cloth gap; soft Trilhys were not "then popular. In 1905 the C.M.U.A. was invited by the War Office
to confer with the Mechanical Transport Committee of that Department in connection with the first subsidy scheme, and frequent conferences were held under the chairmanship of General Sir Henry Capel Haden (Colonel Holden, as he was then) to draw up regulations to govern the registration.. of commercial motor vehicles for military purposes in times of peace and war, one result of which was that, at the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, considerable numbers of motor vehicles were immediately available for transporting soldiers and war materials to France. The War Office has invariably consulted the Association in connection with subsequent schemes.
The year 1907 witnessed the taking of a very important and progressive step by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, with which body • the C.IVI.U.A. has always acted in close co-operation, for it was in that year that the first International Commercial Motor Exhibition was held at Olympia, previous to which year commercial motors were exhibited as a section of the private Motor Car Show. .
When the C.M.U...k. was established, the dictum, and a truism, that roads should be made for tfaffic was not gener
ally accepted, • and the tendency was to restrict traffic by• not providing _ suitable roads for the -A, new form of transport. 1)river4 of heavy motor vehicles had, in consequence, to be very careful that they did not venture too near to the edges of the' roads on which they were travelling,otherwise mishaps, involving de-. lays, bad tempers and even worse things, were often the result. Weak railway and canal bridges, too, were common throughout the country, and this, coupled with the bad state of the roads, would have effectively prevented any chance of development of the new industry • if active steps had not been taken by the Association, in conjunction with other organizations, to bring pressure to bear upon the‘powers that be to effect a rapid improvement. The C.M.U.A., from its very inception, , has had in the forefront of its, programme of work to be accomplished the necessity of agitating for good and strong roads and bridges.
Conclusion.
The foregoing is a very brief, and, I am afraid, a very incomplete, outline of some of the activities of the C.M.U.A. during its early years up to tbe outbreak of the Great War in 1914, when the Association placed the whole of its organization at the disposal of the Government for war services.
It would be even more incomplete, however, if I did not place on record the deep debt of . gratitude the commercial motor industry owes to the pioneers who voluntarily assisted the Association in its early days, particularly to those members of the present National Council who were also active members of the earlier Executive Committees :—Col. R. E. Crompton (elected 1903); E. S. Shrapnell-Smith (1.903), George Monro (1903), W. 0. Lobjoit (1904), Arthur Paterson (1906), L. 0. Oldfield (1906), Charles Wheeler (1907), H. W. Wigan (1908) and E. W. Rudd (1909).