The S.D.H.A.'s Encouraging Meeting
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ON November 10th a promising public meeting was held at Olympia under the auspices of the Short Distance Hauliers Alliance. About 60 people were present, of whom approximately one-third were already members of the Alliance: Mr. F. F. Fowler, the chairman of this body, took the chair on this occasion and explained the uphill task which the organizers had had since the Alliance was formed about six months ago.
He said that until the membership had become so big that the small number of non-members was not in any way to be feared, and until a general meeting had been held at which a predominating vote was passed in support of an effort to fix haulage rates no attempt at fixing rates would be made. The reply to the criticism that the Alliance might possibly fail to stabilize rates was, he said, that if no such body made an effort then the continuance of unsatisfactory rates would be a certainty.
Mr. Fowler spoke of the arrangement that has lseen made to give members the benefit of cheap insurances explaining that the vehicles of all the members together are, by this arrangement, treated as one fleet. It may be noted that the rate per annum for all heavy vehicles is £16 for country service, £18 for service in towns away from London, and £20 for service in London.
In the course of the discussion that followed several offers were made by hat-diem not only to join the Alliance ttionselves, but to help in the organization in their individual districts, and the idea of local committees to meet frequently and talk over rates and other problems of haulage in their areas seemed to appeal to all.
Mr. Bertram Tee, assistant to the superintendent of road transport of the Great Western Railway Co., was present and was asked to speak. He said that The Commercka Motor was to be complimented for the Tables of Operating Costs which it regularly published, and the use of which it persistently advocated. Only upon such a system as that outlined in the Tables could economical rates be arrived at, and he explained that the G.W.R. road services were coated in this way. He suggested that the Alliance members should work upon a basic cost per day with an additional cost per mile,
Mr. Janes, the vice-chairman of the Alliance, strongly supported Mr. Tee's suggestion of a basic cost per day for the hire of a vehicle. Mr. Fowler, in thanking the Press for its support, seconded a motion by Mr. Saunders (a committee member) asking for a vote of confidence in the Alliance, and this vote was unanimously accorded. Many new members were enrolled after the meeting.