What the Associations
Page 46
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Are Doing
NOVEL PLANS FOR S.T.R.
DARTFORD LECTURE.
Considerable enterprise and originality are shown in the arrangements which have been made by the Southeastern Area of A.R.O. for a meeting which S.T.R., The Commercial Motor costs expert, is to address on June 1, at the Bull's Head Hotel, Dartford. The event opens at 8 p.m. with a supper ; after this come S.T.R.'s address and a discussion, and the evening is to be rounded off by an entertainment.
Tickets cost Is. 6d. each and may be obtained from Mr. P. S. Woodhouse, area secretary, A.R.O., 95, High Street, Chatham, Kent ; from Mr. H. C. Howard, Dartford Wharfage Co., Dartford, or from any member of Dartford Sub-area committee.
Liverpool Association's Ex-president Honoured.
Mr. Thomas Taylor, who recently retired from the office of president of the Liverpool Cart and Motor Owners Association after serving for se,iell years, was the guest of honour •at the function held last week, when he received presentations. Mr. W. J. Harper, who has succeeded Mr. Taylor, 'presided.
The Association is the senior transport organization of Merseyside. It was founded about 1878 and took the place of the Mersey Company of Carters, which flourished in Liverpool from the .latter part of the 18th century.
Mr. Harper said that the carting business of Liverpool was probably one of the oldest trades surviving in the city.
Mr. W. Edwards (president of the National Federation of Road Transport Associations) declared that Mr. Taylor had piloted the Liverpool Association through a most difficult period and had left it in a more thriving condition than when he found it.
Other speakers were Messrs. J. A. Irving and J. F. Supplies.
C.M.U.A. Exposes Multiplicity of • Regulations.
• A full discussion on the innumerable regulations which govern road transport will be the object of a meeting to be held by the London and Home Counties Division of the C.M.U.A., at 8 p.m., on Monday next, May 24, at the Chequers Hotel, Uxbridge.
The Association points out that there are now 210 Acts and Regulations governing road transport, covering over 600 pages of close print and containing 1,775 sections and 4,518 sub-sections. As each section generally contains one or more regulations, a breach of which is an offence, it is fair to say that there are now approxi • raately 2,000 offences which road users and manufacturers may commit.
At the meeting on Monday, the importance of a thorough understanding of these regulations will be made clear, and their effect on the operator will be dealt with in detail by the speakers. Mr. G. H. T. Rouse will be chairman, B12 and the principal speakers will be Ms. C. Smith, who will deal with the regulations from the point of view of the goods-vehicle operator, and Mr. F. J. Speight, who will put forward the passenger aspect of the problem.
A.R.O. West Midland Office.
A.R.O. West Midland Area office is now open at 17, Dudley Street, Wolverhampton. To serve the needs of the membership in the Potteries, the office at Phcenix Chambers, Hanley, is still being retained.
Bid to Stabilize Manchester Rates, Endeavours are being made by the Amalgamated Horse and Motor Owners Association of Manchester to regularize haulage rates in certain local areas. It has been noted that in several districts transport rates are dangerously low.
From inquiries which have been made by officers of the Association it is evident that if a little confidence can be instilled into carriers, prices would immediately strengthen.
As the Association has district committees in Oldham, Hyde, Rochdale, Bury, Rawtenstall, Wigan and Leigh: each of these will, in due course, consider what can be done to bring rates up to a reasonable economic level.
C.M.U.A. Bid for Trade Sympathy.
The question of freedom of choice of transport for traders has been brought to the notice of every chamber of commerce in England by means of extracts from an address which Mr. W. A. \Vinson, C.M.U.A. president, delivered to • the Port of Hull Road Hauliers Association. In this speech, Mr. Winson stressed the necessity of traders having complete freedom of choice.
Mr. G. H. Brook, secretary of the North eastern Division of the C.M.U.A., has drawn the attention of the chambers of commerce to Mr. Winson's remarks on this point. The numerous replies which he has already received support the principle. QUICK ACTION SECURES CORONATION CONCESSIONS.
Action by the C.M.U.A. has resulted in the granting of facilities for the operation of extra tours of the Coronation decorations in London, this week On Thursday of last week, Mr. F. A. Walker, national passenger secretary of the Association, wrote to Mr. Gleeson E. Robinson, Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner, suggesting that, in view of the absence of buses from the London streets, coach operators should be allowed to run additional tours, and that Mr. Robinson should receive a deputation on the subject. At 11.30 a.m, next day, Messrs. F. J. Speight, F. A. Walker, R. Birch and A. H. Bourne met the Commissioner, who, however, did not appear to be altogether favourable to their requests.
Nevertheless, on Saturday morning (normally a Civil Service holiday) he telephoned his decision to grant the extra facilities required, and the operators concerned were at once notified.
Can Five-year Road Plan be Fulfilled?
"Progress of the Five-year Road Plan is seriously jeopardized," states Mr. R. Gresham Cooke, secretary of the British Road Federation, in a comment upon a question which Sir Reginald Clarry asked in the House of Commons, at the Federation's request. He inquired the total amount paid by way of grants to highways authorities in the first two years of the
£100,000,000 plan. • The Minister of Transport replied that £741,152 had been spent on trunk roads and £5,710,629 on other road schemes, making an aggregate of £6,451,781, Assuming that the total represents, on the average, a 70-percent. grant, £10,000,000 of the promised sum has so far been spent, leaving £90,000,000 to be distribute-f in the next three years.
" At the present rate of progress," the B.R.F. declares, "the plan is impossible of achievement within the allotted time."
Effect of Wages Report on Haulage Rates.
The bearing which the report of the Government committee of inquiry has upon the stabilization of road-haulage rates was referred to by Mr. F. G. Bibbings, secretary of A.R.O. Yorkshire Area, in a speech at Hull.
He said that the published summaries of the committee's findings clearly indicated that wages were to be fixed, and the machinery necessary to enforce the observance of the rates schedules would in due course be created.
This would undoubtedly impose additional financial burdens upon holders of A and B licences, and he suggested that the time was surely opportune for operators to support the efforts which were being made to create a haulagerates structure. which would raise the status of the industry and ensure to hauliers a better return for the services they rendered.