1.0.T,A. Hears from Industry NAEET1NG for their autumn confer/VI ence
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in Stoke-on-Trent last weekend. members of the Institute of Traffic Administration heard a series of addresses on tyre manufacture. harbours, and the pottery industry, particularly in relation to transport. Nearly 100 members and friends, someof them from places as far diStant as Portsmouth and Glasgow, attended the conference dinner at Btoslem, when the principal speaker was Mr. John H. Wedgwood (director, Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Ltd.).
, Planned and Free Economy
One of the most important controversies of the day, said Mr. Wedgwood, was between planned economy and free economy. In the past, transport had been subjected to an overall national plan, and whatever government was in power in the future, it was likely that transport would be run as part of a national scheme. If the Nation wished to redistribute the population in accordance with the latest ideas on town and country planning, operators had to be prepared to run the necessary transport at a loss.
Mr. R. P. Bowyer, national chair a30
man, related how a meeting at Stokeon-Trent four years ago gave birth to the 1.0.T.A. Other speakers were Mrs. Christine Taylor, Mr. E. C. Breen. Mrs. K. Beresford and Mr. G. Drake.
Achievement of the tyre industry in time of war was one of the topics dealt with at the Friday session by Mr. J. L. Johnson, B.Sc.(Eng.), A.C.G.I., A.M.I.Mech.E., of the Michelin TyreCo., Ltd. During that period, he said, 80,000,000 tyres were produced by 18 manufacturers in this country for road vehicles, bicycles and aircraft.
The Michelin metallic-sheathed tyre was in production, but at present the company was limited to two sizes, with the possibility of a third within a month, efforts in this direction being limited by the fact that special plants were required for production of this type. In his opinion. said Mr. Johnson, it was only a matter of time—perhaps 10 years—before steel would be the only substance that buyers would consider for commercial tyres.
Delays experienced by road transport at Liverpool and Birkenhead had received wide publicity, said Mr. Gordon McFarlane (Mersey Docks and Harbour Board), but in fact there had
been faults on both sides; one check had revealed that only a third of the loads reaching the port were arriving on the correct days.
Since before the war the type of consignment brought in by road had altered greatly. A decade ago the driver and mate of a lorry could usually unload their own goods, but consignments had changed in weight and type, thus necessitating the increased employment of the port handling facilities. In addition to those owned by the stevedores, the Board had recently purchased a further two dozen mobile cranes
More Lift Trucks at Ducks
The Board was engaged in a constant search for means for reducing ships* time in port and was alive to the need for increasing the use of fork-lift trucks, electric trucks, mobile cranes and similar equipment. In this task it was hampered by delays in delivery as well as by the labour factor, for, despite mechanization, the trades unions would not reduce the number of men in the gangs which was fixed 25 years ago. Sometimes long-standing "customs of the port" reduced the possibility of value being derived from mechanization.