AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Peace Value of Research in War

1st October 1943, Page 17
1st October 1943
Page 17
Page 18
Page 17, 1st October 1943 — Peace Value of Research in War
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

UNDER the stimulus of war, research in all branches of scientific and productive activity receives a marked impetus. Mainly because the cost of experimental work is secondary to that of satisfying urgent demands, advances in manufacturing methods and finished products are often made in weeks or months, whereas under peace-time conditions similar progress would take considerably longer, if it were attained at all. Radical departures from normal practice are not viewed with disfavour by designing staffs and works executives, so that there is a surge of advancement in ,design, materials Used, and production methods.

What is more, ingenuity often has to be exercised when it is • necessary to circumvent the problem of basic materials in short supply. The war provides a number of such instances 1 notably in the aircraft field.

After the 1914-18 war, many. new materials became available to industry, which, also, benefited from improvements to old materials, the result being that consumer goods, in a variety, of directions, were advantageously affected. In fact, it is true to say that some of the most prosperous industries of to-day owe their strong position to " scientific discoveries " of the first world war.

At the end of the present conflict the same factors will be present, in, perhaps, a Much greater degree, because of the magnitude of the struggle, and, without a doubt, the commercial-vehicle maker will be quick to embrace some of those ideas which the war has produced and which have firoved their worth under exacting Service conditions.

Higher Pay-load and Lower Taxation With a better understanding of the fabrication and use of light metals, we may reasonably anticipate the post-war chassis to be of lower weight and greater strength, conconiitants of which will be a higher pay-load and a lower taxation rate. Much of the experience gained in increasing the power-to-weight ratio in aircraft may have an applicability in the commercial-vehicle field, and one may witness the introduction of engines of much-reduced size and weight, giving a considerably greater b.h.p. output. In this direction, too, we may find that supercharging can be used to good purpose. New and wider uses will have to be found, in particular, for aluminium and magnesium, as well as for certain alloy steels, because their increased war-time .production is not likely, for political reasons, to be steppe back, whilst a new • era in synthetics may well be foreshadowed by the War-developed substitute-rubber. , Some of these changes in post-war design and construction may make slow headway, but if the competitive element prevails-lt is nbt unlikely that we shall see sorhe highly Unorthodox, but not freakish, products available to operators, once the regular flow, of raw materials and specialized equip,ement be assured. Certain it is that the maker will have tc.■ take the operator into his confidence, as is made clear by the views of leading transport executives which we are publishing in connection with a critical investigation we are conducting with the object of getting the maker and user to work in closer harness.

Build the Vehicle for the Job Where special conditions of working have to be met, the vehicle will have to be right for the job. For example, a vehicle built for main-road work will hardly be suitable for use in quarries or gravel pits.; it may be that a type largely developed during the war—the half-track machine—will meet the latter and similar conditions. In this type 'a track unit displaces the rear wheels and it affords a degree of traction which enables the roughest and stickiest surfaces to be negotiated with ease. New uses, too, may be found for the Jeep—or a • 'commercial • modification of it — the versatile behaviour of which has captured the imagination of many motor-minded men.

One of the most important directions in which war-time research has materially aided the national effort is in connection with agriculture. As that industry may prove to be a cornerstone of the country's future internaleconomy, the value of such research work may be even more pronounced in the post-war period', more particularly if proper encouragement be given to agricultural education. It is, however, imperative 'that some • soundly established channel be used for passing on the results to those who are best able to benefit from its findings.

In a world in which values are all topsy-turvy, it is ironic, and a travesty on human endeavour, to think that civilization owes, it would seem, much of its progress, at cyclical intervals, to the scourge called war. It makes you think!

Agents' Association Condemns Taxation of Transport

THE representative organization of the dis-, tribution.side of the industry—in other words, the Motor Agents! ,Association—has declared a pOliey which, it is hoped by that body, will be accepted by the 'entire motor trade. , It. is to the effect that, in View of the paramount need for' the complete implementation of a postwar policy of full employment, and because of • the great contribution which the motor industry, if unrestricted by taxation, could make to it, not• only by its own capacity to employ but its ability to stinaulate labour in all other industries, also in view of the influence of low transport costs upon the welfare of the community, all possible Steps should be taken to secure the abolition of the purchase tax, the Patrol tax and other burdens of this nature (whether based on horse-power, seating capacity or weight) upon all road vehicles, as a matter of post-war fiscal policy.

This is an interesting development of an idea which was put forward in this journal about nine months ago by Lieut.-Colonel Mervyn O'Gorman. He referred to it under the "explosive" initials, T.N.T., or, in full, "Tax No Transport." He, as does the M.A.A., referred to the motor vehicle as the tool of every indtistry in the country. Our associated journ6.1,'" The Motor," has also made strong comments, at various times, upon the incidence of taxation upon motor vehicles and on the manifest injustice of heavily taxing one particular section of the community for the benefit of the whole.

The old and well-worn claim that the penalizing taxation on road transport is required to pay for the roads which it uses cannot be upheld, for the reason that the total amount of such taxation is vastly in excess of that required for this particular purpose, and was, some years ago, merged into the general receipts of the Exchequer, from which comparatively small sums are unwillingly doled .out to those authorities concerned With the 'construction and Maintenance of roads.

-As the President of the M.A.A. stated in a letter recently published in "The Times," the tax on road vehicle, if it remains at the present level per vehicle, will constitute an addition of over £124,000,000. to the' production' and distribution costs of the community's necessities of life, that it is a tax upon the industry's export capacity, and the greatest handicap facing its technicians in their attempts to design for the world's markets.

The effort is certainly a bold one, even if it be • not original, and whilst we are afraid that any Chancellor of the Exchequer will take a very poor vie* of losing in its entirety suCh a lucrative field for his demands, the totalitarian character of the proposal may at least prove something in the nature of a salutary shock, and, possibly, help towards starting on the downward grade this form of 'taxation.


comments powered by Disqus