Road Transport for the Cotton Trade
Page 33
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NA ANY points of considerable interest Mare contained in a paper, " The Development of Road Transport for the Cotton Trade," read on October 24, by Mr. Victor Lamb, transport department manager, Lancashire Cotton Corporation, before the! Oldham Cotton Mill Managers' Association. He points out that Lancashire is the largest roadvehicle-owning county outside London.. In 1938 it had over 48,006 goods vehicles, a large percentage carrying cotton, yarn, cloth and Waste.
In the early 'days the pack horse and the cart were the chief .means for transport for the cotton tra.de; 'then came the steam wagon with trailer, covering long distances in a long time, with men jumping off at hills'to fling cotton tare under the steel-tyred wheels to prevent them from spinning.
The rates Were below those of the railways, but, apparently, paid the hauliers well, as amongst the present contractors are many of the same pioneer concerns—a tribute to their tenacity.
Benefit Derived From Legislation Alongside the steam wagon came the heavy petrol vehicle. After the war of 1914-18, existing hauliers replenished their fleets and new operators came into being. Then came the slump. Rates dropped and vehicles literally fell to pieces, and that was the state of affairs which the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, set out to rectify. Although not welcomed, the results have been to the benefit of the industry generally.
The present war has made it impossible to be too rigid regarding the conditions required by this and other Acts, although they still apply, with certain modifications.
The question of spares is one of the greatest problems of the present time, but the legitireate haulier is not:taking advantage of this and placing unsafe vehicles on the road; the veterans in
use have been thoroughly overhauled, whilst • the Road Haulage Wages Act, 1938, sees to proper payment for the men. •
The selection of sub,district managers and group organizers in connection with the" Organization of Road Transport (Goods Vehicles) for Defence Emergency" was, to the author's mind, the biggest compliment paid by the authorities o the road operators. No country but a democratic one would have done it. ICnowing from inside the peculiar transport requirements of their.: sub-districts, these'men had the unique experience of helping the heavier requirements of industry with a ctutailed transport system.
The haulier who had often been bamboozled into doing jobs of uneconomic value through fear bf offending elients, at last had the power .to refuse ridiculous jobs usually required to cover up inefficiency in a client's business.
Hauliers have been one of the worst organized bodies in the country. Their organizations aim at securing some uniformity of action, but promises are 'often forgotten. Waywardness has been pronounced in the matter of rates. A ratebwar has disastrous results and should be dliScouraged. The unscrupulous trader who cannot depend upon the quality of his own goods usually searches for some method of cheapening his pioduct to keep the market. The haulier is generally called in and told that his rates must come down, and so the vicious circle continues. Transport serves the community, but
to keep good servants they must be fairly treated.
Transport pools have been formed to cope with blocks of traffic, 'and these and other new systems will not die out after the war, but will be fostered by hauliers', who will never again submit to the exploiter.
It is a fine sight to see, a well-equipped vehicle with a well-stacked4load travelling with the ease of a private car, but the finest moment is when the same vehicle is ready for' its next load; the lorry, however, may have waited in a queue for many hours to load, and May have to again to discharge its contents, Vehicles are being loaded under prehistoric conditions; this is where the trader can be of great assistance. Thousands of gallons of fuel are wasted in jockeying for position.
The bogey of any haulier is to drive into a mill yard and find his lorry the next in' turn to another vehicle which has just put on the first bag of waste.
Building for Rapid Turnround
We have to-day an enormous opportunity of rdereating our commercial side and rebuilding its premises. The marvellous deVelopment in. design and carrying capacity is neutralized by the inability of merchant traders to provide equipment suitable for anything faster than horsed transport.
Warehouses should be Milt along wide roadsgunhampered by fixed-track vehicles, side' roads should give ample room for large vehicles turning out of loading ways. Raw materials should be stored as near the manufacturing base as possible. House property should. not be allowed within a large radius of canal warehouses.
Collaboration between the different branches of transport (land, air and water) must became-an actual accomplishment and take the place of the previous struggle for first position; the old rail v. -road complex must go.