After Twelve Years.
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Good Prospects for Dockside and Town Use of Commercial Motors in Liverpool.
Will the Master-carter Recognize Constructional Advances ?
An Epitome,—By The Editor.
I have not been in Liverpool more than a dozen times since the summer of the year 1903. Following upon the public motor trials of 1901, when goods and merchandise were for the first time conveyed between Liverpool and Manchester, Manchester and Liverpool, Liverpool and Blackburn, and Blackburn and Liverpool, by road motors, it became necessary—in fulfilment of assurances which had been given to the competitors—to essay regular haulage on a commercial scale. The Rt. Hon. Walter H. Long, M.P., who then held office as President of the Local Government Board, travelled to Liverpool, in October, 1901, and attended the meeting, at the rooms of the Liverpool Incorporated Chamber of Commerce, under the chairmanship of the late Sir Alfred L. Jones, K.C., M.G., on the occasion of the presentation of the judges' report. I here recall three of the principal conclusions to which Sir Boverton Redwood, Mr. S. B. Cottrell, Mr. E. R. Calthrop, Dr. H. S. Hele-Shaw, and Mr. Henry H. West appended their signatures:—
The present tare limit of three tons has again proved to be too low, if loads of above five tons are to be dealt with, even under favourable conditions, upon a single platform. Whilst one of the competing vehicles carried as much as five tons during the trials, with a tare weight of slightly less than thr‘e tons, this load will be excessive for the same vehicle in winter or wet weather, and an average load of four tons is probably the most that can be carried regularly, having due regard to the life of the machine.
This third series of trials has not, therefore, resulted in the bringing to light of any new fact to indicate that the present three-ton limit of tare will meet the requirements of the trade of the country, or that improvements in design will enable builders to comply with it. While ten-ton loads are by no means unusual on the larger horse-drawn lorries, it is clear that, as the demand for slick} loads exists, their haulage by motor wagons should not be prevented by legislation. It is to be noted that no difficulty has arisen in the United Kingdom in respect of the running of individual motor wagons weighing between three and four tons unladen, of which over 100 are working at the present day. At the same time. seeing that these vehicles are employed on sufferance only. the urgency for an increase of the tare limit by the Legislature is even more pressing than before.
It was with a full knowledge of these risks, and in spite of them, that some 70 public-spirited Liverpool men, including the late Earl of Derby. privately subscribed a sum
of £18,000 in order that the necessary steps might be taken to carry out a pioneer experiment. Whilst less than two years of working practically exhausted that syndicate's resources, the granting of the five-ton tare, under regulations which became effective on the 1st March, 1905, is admitted to have been both accelerated and in part secured by the adducement—in evidence before a Select Committee of the House of Commons over which Mr. Hobhouse presided—of this concrete example of failure to survive the three-ton tare and other handicaps of the 1896 Act.
Failure in 1902-1903: Success in 1910.
Liverpool people recollect the failure in question, and Mersey-side teamowners as a class still talk of it with glee. The pro-horse elements had prophesied that delays at the docks and warehouses would add considerably to working costs, and they knew full well that other impediments would be deliberately placed in the way of the motor-wagon owners and drivers who had the temerity to invade their preserves. It has to be confessed that the master-carters of Liverpool, seven and eight years ago, aided as they were by lack of experience on the part of those who were responsible for the control of the Road Carrying Co., and by the inter-effects of work upon waterlogged country roads, claims, and the heavy cost of mechanical repairs to the vehicles, had a full measure of victory for the time being. The progress during intervening years, however, cannot be ignored, and I am able to state, with a degree of emphasis which comes from a more-matured judgment, that they will find the consequences of intended new competition more and more serious each year. The steam wagon, for loads of six tons upon a single platform, is now well able to hold its own against the Liverpool two-horse lorry, so far as concerns a considerable percentage of work which is still regarded as a comfortable monopoly for division among members of the Liverpool Cart-owners Association.
The work upon which Fairrie's five steam wagons are engaged is a case in point. Here, after every conceivable form of petty opposition, the master-carter and his men have had to own themselves beaten. Compared with two loads per day by each two-horse lorry, each motor does five trips. Scores of parallel jobs can be found, and it is on them that horses " simply are not in it." The motor " beats them hollow at their own rates, although the hauls are of the short-distance class, varying from one to three miles, and there is no back load. The usual rate for work of this nature is a " flat" one of is. LW. per ton.
Four Interviews.
Last week, when I spent most of three days in Liverpool, I took the opportunity to call upon seine of the merchants, shipowners and engineers who were associated with the 1896-1901 labours of the Self-Propelled Traffic Association, and upon others who continued their interest by assisting the later practical experiment to which allusion has been made above. For reasons into which I need not enter, I have consented not to quote names, and that accounts for the particular method of treatment—an epitome, as a matter of fact, of four personal interviews. In the case only of Mr. Anthony G. Lyster, M.Inst.C.E., the engineer-in-chief of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, with whom I spent an hour on Thursday morning last, was I not—as will appear later—so bound.
Better Use of the Streets. •
The slow pace of horses means the wasteful use of the streets. The London police agree that, motorbuses, motorcabs, motorcars and motorvans have lessened congestion; the admission, too, is in spite of marked increases in the total volumes of traffic passing. This, of course, is a mere repetition Of railway experience-, that the proper method is to get the traffic over the road, and not to impede it by needless halts or restrictions. It may take another five years, or even as many as ten, but the present 2 m.p.hr. rate cannot be allowed to go on. It must be doubled, at least, and Liverpool's terminal efficiency with it. Further, there may well be a halving of the space occupied by each 10 tons of goods. Now, a two-horse team and its lorry measure 44 ft. from end to end ; a motor wagon and its trailer measure 40 ft.; a special type of motor wagon, for use in Liverpool only, just. as Liverpool's enormous lorries are special to the port, might be only 22 ft. over all. The local by-laws allow a vehicle to be '7 ft. ti in. in width, and the load to overhang 9 in. on each side. It is desirable to be rid of trailers.
Necessary Earnings.
A leading master-carter in Liverpool once told me that he reckoned not to lose money if a team (two horse-lorry) earned 15.s. a day—let us say two loads of eight tons at Is. per ton. I can state, from my knowledge of the improved results obtainable to-day, that a steam wagon, which can take 10 tons of useful load on its own plat-Form and that of its trailer, can now make a return to the owners on a daily earning of 10s. less than was needed seven years ago ; yet, notwithstanding that reduction in outgo, no contracting owner, even with his vehicle engaged in low-speed, small-radius work upon the comparatively-level and well-paved streets of Liverpool. can expect to make much of a profit on the year unless he sees his way to secure fully twice the horse-iorry revenue as a mininumi—say, 32s. It will, therefore, be amply evident that the steam wagon cannot undertake all classes of Liverpool haulage, and that demurrage (delays at docks and warehouses) will still " kill " it, in some instances, owing to the higher working cost per hour compared with that of the two-horse lorry.
Where Motors Pay.
The peculiarity and special feature of Liverpool's horsedrawn traffic may be noted, at any hour of the day, on the lino of ‘;oeks. A visitor may get a. good impression by taking a trip per the Overhead Railway. It will be observed that the horses are used tandem-wise, i.e., a shaft horse and a chain horse, and not as pairs. Tho road is a level one, and the traffic moves at an average speed which does not exceed 2 m.p.hr. Horse-drawn lorries, when required to leave the line of docks and when gradients must be climbed, have to take loads of from 25 to 50 per cent. less than the maxima. The "pull" up Chapel Street, which has a maximum slope of I in '20, for example, is a bar to the fully-loaded team, and long detours are made to avoid such hills. This is one of the factors which will undoubtedly help the motor wagon to obtain much-greater earnings than the horsed wagon, as such a vehicle makes light of the steepest gradient in Liverpool. This was proved so far back as 1901, when the 1 in 9 slope of Everton Brow was negotiated, both up and down, with precision and safety.
Official Attitude.
I have taken steps to aseertain the attitude of the City Council and the Doek Board. As in the earliest days of heavy motor traffic. so it is after more than 12 years of steady, if gradual, progress—equal treatment with horse traffic. More cannot be expected in Liverpool. There is all neeessary access to the quays, sheds and warehouses, and there is scarcely a weak bridge in Liverpool. I went carefully through the strengths of the dock-estate bridges, last week, with Mr. Lyster.-and I am satisfied that the few old-type and structurally-insufficient bridges present no difficidties. Three are marked down for early reconstruction ; all can be avoided, by heavy motors, at no real inconvenience, as alternative routes are open. Anybody who talked about an extraordinary-traffic claim in Liverpool, in the city of huge loads and splendid paving, would be laughed to scorn.
Town or Country?
Town haulage is a simple proposition. The long-distance trip means frequent uncertainties: there are had roads, no lighting, and variations innumerable, whilst fuel and water consumption and repairs go up enormously. The running and maintenance of a wagon cost anything from '25 per cent. to 50 per cent, less on setts than on macadam, provided spreds above 5 m.p.hr. are not (211°u-ill. It was the weak and water-logged limestone roads which ran up the expenditure of the Road Carrying Co. ; haulage under such conditions becomes a constant strain and drag on both machines and men, whilst consumptions leap up by more than 100 per cent. There are none of these drawbacks in a paved city : a. five-Lon wagon can do a day's work on 2 cwt. of coke, and other economies are in proportion.
Will Teamowners Buy Motors ?
The consensus of opinion, in the circles where I have made inquiry, is that Liverpool tearnowners will not move. It is thought that they will prefer to hold so much of the cartage and haulage orders as may prove to continue to be the better discharged by animal draught. There is a feeling akin to horror amongst these traders, when one hints that motor wagons will replace their magnificent horses, and one can well understand it. The motor wagon, to them, is a nightmare of complexity ; they understand horses, but they know nothing of motors. I was only able, upon the closest inquiry, to discover a single Liver-. pool master-carter who will admit that there is an immediate opening for motor wagons in the city and who confesses to a belief in their wide adoption during the next few years. I do not give his name: he is already branded as a sort of traitor to his brother contractors. The answer to the above question. Lam sorry to have to state, is practieally a universal negative. Furniture-removal contractors provide the only general exception at the moment. Conversion may he forced upon the others, whose policy of laisser faire invites new competition. Concrete proposals for the establishment of motor-contracting businesses are afoot, and they will not " go the wrong way " again.