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The Reform of Our Transport Facilities.

25th July 1918, Page 1
25th July 1918
Page 1
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Page 1, 25th July 1918 — The Reform of Our Transport Facilities.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

N0 FEWER THAN two hundred members of the House of Commons are actively agitating for a complete and thorough reform of the systems of goods transport prevailing in this country. Is that not a pregnant fact ?

What they are asking for constitutes an extensive programme. The two great needs are fewer traffic • delays and better rates. Every one of the suggested reforms comes -under one or the other of those two • heads. Better methods of handling the goods, so that terminal delays are reduced if they cannot he eliminated, are always being advocated or called for, and the silent opposition in influential quarters to clentral clearing house schemes commended by qualified persons has given rise to suspicions that are not easily quelled.

We do not utilize all our traffic facilities, and we make no effort to establish, on a large and practical scale, those schemes which should prevent wasted mileage. The silting up of useful canals is one evidence in support of this statement ; another is the vast number of motor lorries seen to be running their return journeys empty ; yet a third the crowded railway siding occupied by idle wagons. The slogan must be " every journey aload ; every traffic way its transport ; every vehicle a job, and exceptions few."

If we examine closely into the question as to what vested interests (when looked at from a restricted – point of view) are most likely to be affected by the introduction of these reforms, we see at once that it could fairly (but only from that point of view) be said to be the railways. Nor is it Unfair to assume that the safeguarding of these vested interests is most carefully organized both in and out of Parliament.

The creation of the Road Transport Board is a step in the right direction, and, from the inception of the idea, was only regarded as a step. Moreover, the operations of the Board are limited to but one of the traffic ways—the roads. The railways, the waterways and the great airway all require the strong hand of the organizer and the reformer, and, when the situation with regard to each is on the road to a full development of its possibilities, there must come coordination between them all.

The programme, really, is so vast as to appal some men, and the difficulty, so far as the road, the water and the air are concerned, is that none of their advocates is qualified to discuss the great problem of ".traffic" as are the big traffic men who have gained their knowledge and experience on the railways.

And therein lies the danger, for the new Select Committee to inquire into certain matters relating to goods transport, which Mr. Bonar Law in the House of Commons last week promised should, be appointed, will, if the greatest' carebe not taken, be found largely to consist of representatives of railway interests,. who will have been thrust forward in order to Safeguard those interestS. .Who is moving in the matter of securing proper representation of commercial vehicle interests? The question calls for serious 6rnsidera-. tiori and a prompt answer. •

The Post-war A.S.C., M.T.

THERE ARE CERTAIN points in connection with the, future establishment of the A. SO., ' ,M.T., which may perhaps be touched upon briefly in view .of certain questions which were recently asked in the House of Commons. These questions bore upon the proposed erection of a big national factory, apparently intended to be devoted to the repair of military motor vehicles. So far as one can gather, the project as it at present stands is a vefy large one. The acreage ear-marked for the' establishment is iminense,. the total are being net much short of a. square mile. .

Clearly, it cannot be intended to devote the whole of this space to a factory, and one is led to inquire whether the idea is not rather to, establish a permanent Central depot of the A.S.0 , M.T. Novi, the requirements in respect of Any such depot depend very largely on the question of whether the future Policy of the Government is to favour the re-: newal of some scheme of subvention, or whether, on tha other hand, it is to involve the maintena.nee of an immense permanent establishment of vehicles actually owned by the War Office. It is Clear 'that we can never go back to the trifling establishment of pre-war days; The war has -shown us that., in addition to the transport lorry which may be, in no material respect, different from vehicles of, equal carrying-capacity in civilian ,service, we must have large numbers of special Vehicles designed for special military requirements. These special vehicles. have been evolved to meet emergencies. They may be intended for the haulage of heavy loads or for other services, no. exact parallel to which is to be found in civilian life. They may, in fact, be such that it would be highly undesirable to permit them to use the public roads of Great Britain in times of peace. If such vehicles are needed, .as will certainly be the case, special facilities will have to be provided for experimenting with them and training drivers to handle them. .

The ordinary transport lorry is a, totally different proposition. We . can hardly imagine that the Treasury will ever feel justified in making grants on the scale that will be necessary ,to maintain permanent]: a Government-owned fleet of lorries sufficient to fill the whole needs of the maximum armies n21 that can be mobilized. On the other hand, if from now onwards our military arrangements are to be such that we can put a really large army into the 'field in a, month or so, instead of taking years to build it up, then it must be equally possible to mobilize the A:S.C., MT., in the same interval with a full establishment of vehicles and men. The simplest. way' of doing this appears to be by means of a subsidy scheme on a big scale. The breed of motor lorry will continue, to improve steadily, and Government-owned vehicles, beyond a reasonable number required for practice and manceuvres, would really stand idle for the greater part of their lives and finally become obsolete long before, they were worn out, We should, therefore, have a constantly recurring problem:connected with the disposal of surplus Government vehicles, all of which would be out of date but serviceable. This would represent a state of affairs very detrimental to the interests of the British motor industry. Evidently far the more -economical course would be to encourage the extensive civilian use of motor lorries and to offer a reasonable subsidy coupled with some arrangements under tvhich drivers shall in emergency be rendered available for military service. In fact, the A.S.G., MT., would consist of a comparatively small active establishment and an immense reserve of vehicles and skilled men able to be drawn upon extensively at short. notice.

The Government ,Factory Scheme.

WE ARE THUS brought to the questidn of whether it would be better for the permanent establishment to haVe one central place of abode, or whether it would he better for it-to be divided into a number of comparatively small depots, each of which would serve as a collecting centre for the local reserve, of vehicles and men. The. central establishnient is in a way the more attractive idea, but probably a system of depots would have many advantages over it.

Reverting to the question of the proposed Government factory, we have no definite information as to' whether this project is intended mainly as a war • measure or mainly with an eye to. after-war conditions. If the former, it seems to us very questionable whether the immense initial expenditure can be justified. We cannot see how the creation of such a factory would serve to secure better or more punctual work than can be done in existing establishments. On the other hand, if the idea is mainly concerned with after-war conditions, then it would certaiely seem that there is no need to create a new factory at all, as there will probably be several available and adequate buildine iii various parts of the country.

Moreuver, we tee that if once a factory is built it —will afford at least a strong temptation towards the adoption of the. principle of the Government building its own vehicles. This system is not consistent with the subvention scheme, and therefore is totally ineon siatent with the most economical method of working. It would, moreover, in effect, compete directly with the motor industry. The establishment provided would-have to be on an immense scale, otherwiseait would only produce a very small proportion of the vehicles required during a great emergency. If on a big enough scale to fill the bill, it would, as already indicated, be faced with the perpetual problem of • disposing of vehicles that became obsolete without being worn out. As such, it would be a perpetual menace ro the motor manufacturing industry and would greatly reduce the ability of that industry to come to the assistance of the country in time of need. While confessing that, up to the present, the information available with regard to the Government proposal is not complete enough to -justify us in forming a_ definite opinion, it seems to us that there are many aspects of the case which should be very carefully considered before the proposal is proceeded with, as it is Probable that a thorough analysis would prove that' the present project does not afford really the best solution of the problem.

Avoiding Cut Rates and Non-paying Loads.

HE VERSATILITY of the motor transport industry is a feature of which those engaged in

• its ranks are justly proud. Just as the eharacteristics which are the 'birthright of ,every Englishman made it possible for him to turn his band to anything and enabled the race to become the greatest Colonists of any age, and to found the world's greatest Empire, so that same verSatility has been the sure foundation upon which the motor transport industry has been built. No work has been too difficult, no job too awkward to tackle.

Fortune has favoured the industry perhaps. Rail-. ways weretramelled from the outset, and further grooves were cut as the iron roads developed. Loads which were bulky disorganised traffic even if they did not block tunnels, and further artificial barriers were placed .in the way of even manageable traffic by foolish preferences, such as varying rates of carriage fixed in an incomprehensible way. The newer meats of transport is seldom affected by insuperable natural obstacles and, .fortunately, fewer artificial harriers are placed in the way of trade. Far distant may be the time when consignments are carried at a nominal figure and the loss wiped off by exorbitant charges upon other goods. The non-paying load has a nasty habit of becoming the only load offered, while fresh channels are found for the goods which are carried at an extra rate. "Cut rates " are the bane of every trade, and the owner or director of vehicles is a wise man who organizes his business in such a manner that he can tell with a minimum of trouble the cost of each transaction, including in the item standing charges and other expenses of the business which only indirectly affect each transaction; but which should be distributed over all as well as the actual running costs.


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