-d's Eye View
Page 73
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Short Memory By The
Hawk
RITING to The 'Financial Times, Mr. Bernard Braine, the last Tory M.P. for South East Essex, decries the carriage of nmal indivisible loads by road, and says they, should be a either by rail or coastal steamer. He appears to have .)tten that one of his constituents is Mr. R. B. Brittain, of x Carriers, Ltd., who is adept at handling difficult jobs with ninimum of inconvenience to anyone.
rbaps he also forgets that not long ago he formally opened Carriers' new office block at South Benfleet. This, I est, is a slight rase of biting the hand that feeds you.
Tte Holiday
driving 7,113 miles from London to Calcutta in a Standard Vanguard estate car in 11 days 12 hr. 55 min., Mr. Paddy ow-Fisher, of Garrow-Fisher Tours (Kingston), Ltd., has en the record for the journey set up in 1956 by Gerry tt and Colin Wardle in a Studebaker. A glutton for shment, he promptly returned home, driving more than )0 miles in 25 days. It was his idea of a holiday.
Holiday
R.. B. FRANCIS CAUNT, managing director of Atkinson, has again blossomed out as a humorous writer with a flair understatement. Shareholders have once more been fened by an illustrated account of his travels and trials this in search of exports. His experience ranged from the Fait desert to Polynesian dancers in Honolulu.
In. the cause of exports In the year 1959," he says, "I have [ pressurized, air-conditioned, refrigerated, defrosted and rdrated, and I hope returned more or less equal to new. ornetirfleS feel my digestive arrangements need a 'first ice,' but so far not decarbonizing."
ply to Russia
a small paragraph in one of the papers the other day out the Russians sending a missile to the moon: Never a aal to scorn a challenge, The Commercial Motor is replyny sending its Moon to Russia. 'ere is a difference. I cannot believe that the arrival of our on will be followed by utter silence.
body's Friend
view of his unpopularity not only in the Federal Republic, t in other Continental countries, it is perhaps not rising that Western Germany's Minister of Transport, Dr. H.Ch. Seebohm, does not attend the Frankfurt Show. He ars to be doing his best to make it impossible for German iers to earn a living, and, if he has his way, a large proporof the existing road haulage vehicles t neighbouring countries will be ented from running through nany.
it British visitors, at least, may find uragement in their first sight when arrive at Frankfurt Airport---a [endent Foden reftteller of Air-B.P.
rd Surmise
2.E. you, like me, fascinated by the dramatic newspaper headline? the cup of coffee and the cigarette constitute my breakfast, only the est and blackest type at the top of page makes any impression, to be ed over wonderingly on the way re treadmill.
hat can be the full story behind ris Blamed for Drop in Passen? " Has a tanker, full of the stuff, t in the High Street? Are they ng knee-deep in their struggle ,rds the request stop? Or has an tasecl intake of raspberry conserve
given the customers so much energy that they now walk? "Bus Wheels Turn Full Circle," I read in The Guardian. And why not, pray? Things may well have come to a pretty pass with public transport, but I am not one to complain because some of the wheels go round some of the time. Things would be far worse if bus wheels were to turn only half circles. Even pneumatic suspension could hardly cope with that.
These are grave matters and I suppose I shall never know the answers until I learn to get up earlier. If then.
False Idol
AS Germany is so often held up as a model of far-sightedness in road-building, I was pleased to hear a complaint by Dr. Koeneeke, managing director of Daimler-Benz, that new roads were urgently needed to keep pace with the growth of traffic. Long stretches of the much-vaunted Hanover-CologneFrankfurt autobahn have broken up and are under repair, restricting traffic to a single lane. Britain's detractors, please note.
It is understood that Western Germany. is to spend £500m. on repairs and new construction next year.
Man on the Spot
THE gallant and enlightened Maj. Ole Oil, technical advisor to the director, Council for the Liberalization of Operational Transits, is already at the storm centre of affairs in Kaos, that tedious People's Republic. In a dispatch to CLOT headquarters, the major comments on the difficulties of implementing the new Highways and Hedges Act in a country which, at present, has no metalled roads and in the rainy season (February 4-January 20) is largely under water.
He has, however, succeeded in selling a fleet of 27 DUKWs to the Kaotic Government. These amphibians had been proving something of an embarrassment to the Council, the
manufacturers having supplied them without engines. It is understood that the natives of Kaos are fine oarsmen.
Filing by Memory
ALWAYS admire people who know where everything is. For instance, there was the lorry driver who, when asked by a vehicle examiner why no band brake was visible, promptly produced it from behind the seat. Not to be outdone, another driver immediately conjured up the horn button from under the seat.