Answers to Queries.
Page 18
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(..)ar readers will be informed by the Editor on any poinls connected with the construction or use of commercial motors.
Where adirect reply is desired, a stamped and aJtiressed envelope should be enclosed f a request for privacy is not specmlly made, any query and answer may be Published. Some replies, owing to pressure on our space, are held several weeks. Numerous requests reach us/or lists of motorcab and commercial-vehicle owners ; these we never supply. Our advertisement columns are open to those who desire to make announcements to owners for their own hew/it.
Does not Like the Petrol Tax.
[1,917] '' ENGINEER OWNER writes :—" I shall be glad. if you could find space in THE COMAERC/AL MOTOR to bring to the notice of the public and the licensing authorities the way in which commercialmotor vehicles are now taxed. A five-ton petrol lorry, fully employed, covering 50 miles a day for 29u days a year and consuming a gallon of petrol for every five miles, which is 10 gallons per day, will consume ia the year 2,DD0 gallons. The tax at qd. per gallon amounts to ..C18 2s. 6d. A five-ton steam wagon pays nothing ; a 10-ton traction engine pays 210. " My firm are users of motor vehicles. They do not. object to pay taxes, if they have to be paid, for maintaining the roads or the Navy or anything else that. is required, but they cannot see why all should not be taxed equally-, as far as practicable. So far as I can. see, it is to the roadmakers' interest to encourage petrol-driven vehicles for the following reasons : with a five-ton load, the petrol-driven vehicle has a 25 per cent. less axle-weight than a steamer, and when unladen a 40 per cent. less axle-weight. The majority
five-ton, petrol vehicles weigh under four tons linladen with fuel and everything aboard ready for the road. A five-ton steamer under similar conditions weighs in the neighbourhood of seven tons. I would suggest that the petrol tax be abolished, and that all heavy motors be taxed according to their unladen eight.
" So far as we know, nothing is being done. We do not want to see any taxation put on steamers, unless they are not paying their due share. Owners of steam vehicles a-re in direct opposition to us. The high duty on petrol handicaps us. If ever a tax on axle-weights is applied to steamers, it will probably not be high enough to place them on equal terms with petroldriven vehicles. The petrol tax is good, but itis too high. It may be all right for light vehicles, but it will have the effect of prohibiting petrol-driven vehicles for heavy work. We happen to have one that. will carry 74 tons legally. It would carry 10 tons easily, if it were asked to do so. The petrol tax for this vehicle in full work is 2s. 6d. to 3s. a day. Commercial vehicles should be taxed according to how much they wear the roads, and not. on what they are capable of earning. That would retard progress. Petrol vehicles are higher than steam in first cost, up-keep and depreciation."
ANSWER.—The points mentioned by you are well known to us and to older readers of this journal. We think it is a pity unnecessarily to urge taxation of steam vehicles because one happens to be an owner of petrol vehicles. At the same time, we think the day will soon be here when steam-driven vehicles will pay a reasonable tax according to axle-weight, and we may say that the Commercial Motor Users Association expressed its Preparedness to fall in with such a reasonable taxation so far back as February, la09. We are sorry that it is quite ineffective to suggest that the petrol tax should be abolished, as that course certainly will not be followed. The better course is to see. that owners get value and a quid pro quo. We do not think that owners of petrol vehicles have any considerable grounds for grievance in the matter of ta sin lion. The petrol tax gives owners every just; firstion to demand proper treatment, and to "beat the big drum " about the seriousness of this taxation in order to ssfeguard themselves against any inerease. Once the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the spring of 1909, gave an assurance that he would establish the Road Board, and that he would ear-mark the yield from the petrol tax for road improvement, which promise has since been carried out, we felt that, as a matter of commercial expediency, the right course was to accept the tax and to agitate for a quid pro (pH) all the time. We think it is an extremely had course for owners of petrol vehicles to seek to bring about taxation, unless of a nominal and reasonable character, for steam vehicles. Of course, all of us hate taxation, but it is sometimes politic to pay something. There cannot help bathe diverse views on the subject of taxation. One reason why petrol vehicles will probably pay more per annum in all future time than steam vehicles is due to their greater mileage. The class of tire may hereafter be taken into account.
Petrol Wagon Tor East Kent.
{1,9181 "EAST KENT" writes : -"We are considering the advisability of purchasing a three, four, or five-ton petrol wagon for haulage in connection with a brewery, and we shall be glad to know if you can recommend us any particular make and type of car, and whether you can give us any information as to the approximate total cost per ton-mile to run such vehicles. Is the-re any maker in Kent?
ANSIVER..—You cannot do better than put yourselves into immediate communication with J. and E. Hall, Ltd., of Dartford. It is best to look into the cost of a vehicle per mile run, and a four-tonner, provided you can give it plenty of work, should cost. you not more than Eid per mile run, inclusive of all charges and depreciation, but that figure Cannot be realized unless you are able to travel close upon 300 miles a week, as upon a. smaller mileage the incidence of the driver's wages and other fixed charges goes up whrn expressed in terms, of vehicle mileage. Once you get the cost. per vehicle-mile under proper control, it is " up to " your traffic department to keep down the light loading and light running.
Tractors For Urban District Councils.
[1,919] "Eranasi" writes :—" Can you tell me of any urban district, council or municipal authority who have adopted tractors or motor wagons in place of horse teams for ordinary town carting, scavenging, etc. ? I am anxious to get any figures which may be procurable in favour of the tractor. Can you refer me to any such information ? Has any good article thereon been published in THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR? If so, would you kindly let me have a copy thereof ?"
ANswEa.--We do not know of any tractor in use for municipal purposes in a town, but numbers of these machines are in use by county councils. The figures which were published in our " Users' Experiences Issue" of the loth February last included those for a tractor, and we have pleasure in lending our file copy to you for perusal and return. You will find the figures in question on pages 510 and 511. You might, of course, be able to get information of the kind direct from some of the traetor manufacturers, of whom we might mention the following, in addition to Aveling and Porter, Ltd., of Rochester, which company supplied the Kentand other county councils: Chas. Burrell and Sons, Ltd., Thetford.
William Foster and Co., Ltd., Lincoln.
Richard Garrett and Sons, Ltd., Leiston R.S.0,, Suffolk.
Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies, Ltd., Orwell Work's, Ipswich.
William Tanker and Sons, Ltd., Andover.