CONTENTS.
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dirorial — S.M.M.T. AND THE PETROL TAX—THE ROYAL SHOW—PLEASURE-CAR TAXES-L.C.C. AND LONDON TRAFFIC_ : 229-210
Mn. STURMEY ON THE PETROL TAX 231
DIAGNOSIS RY THE STETHOSCOPE illlustrated) _ 232-23.3 THE DENNIS IRRIGATION MOTOR AND TRACTOR (Illustrated) ... 214 236
Motorbus World allastrated)—
CENTRAL LONDON RAILWAY—SUNDAY 13IJS SERVICES IN SCOTLAND—PETROL-ENGINF,D TRAM CARS AT THE WHITE CITY 236
S.M.M.T. and the Petrol Tax.
An all-round penny per gallon is to be the key-note of the deputation from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders to the Chancellor of the Exchequer—unless wiser counsels prevail. The Council of the Society had deserved better of its supporters had it decided to ask that all motor spirit should be exempted, since, in the absence of a universal preparedness of motoring institutions to attack the principle of the petrol tax, it, is futile to hope that Mr. Lloyd-George will sacrifice 2d. per gallon on the huge consumption of spirit for which private cars are responsible. The total is not less than 24 millions of gallons annually at the present rate of use, which fact shows that the Society, whilst it is unable to strengthen the claim by any plea of underlying principle, is applying for a remission of £200,000 per annum in respect of motorcars which are not employed for trade purposes. It is merely about to say—half-heartedly and without conviction : please do not ask motorists to it so much. That form of pleading cannot be effective : it can only be unconvincing. We must admit, however, that a uniform tax has the great administrative merit of simplicity, as the expenses and attendant irritation of the proposed rebate system would be avoided: this feature unquestionably presents the only valid argument in the Society's programme hereanent.
Tt is, none the less, premature to state—as we have heard it asserted during the past few days—that the Society has " thrown over the commercial-vehicle section." That is not yet demonstrated, despite unmistakable indications that the huge preponderance of privatecar makers' influence is by some being shortsightedly fashioned to act that way, and we are not surprised that this appearance of one-sided action has created a spirit of resentment amongst the heavy-vehicle minority of manu
facturers. Nobody likes to see his just claims ignored, and it has not become a case of sauve qui peat: a proper order of procedure remains open to the Council of the Society, and one which shall have relation both to the possible and equitable. The circumstances of the situation demand outspokenness, alike from the standpoint of the owners of commercial motors as from that of the men whose cars are devoted to leisure, touring, recreational, professional and other uses. We must, therefore, point the moral by setting out the effect upon the Treasury.
Mr. Lloyd-George, on Budget night, put the full-year yield of the petrol tax at £375,000, and he has stated— as We reported last week—that he had then reckoned 20,000,000 gallons at 1,d. per gallon, yielding £125,000 of the sum named, to be the quantity which concerned commercial motors. Another 20,000,000 gallons at 3d., for private ears, was estimated to give the other £230,000. This basis of calculation, we repeat, is untenable and wrong: the spirit burnt in the internal-combustion engines of commercial motors throughout the United Kingdom is about 9,300,000 gallons per annum—say, at the limit, one-half of the 20,000,000 gallons from which the Chancellor hoped to get £125,000. This leaves a larger proportion of the whole to produce revenue at the 3d. rate, although, according to the import returns, it looks as if a further error had crept into those Budget calculations, and that the 10,000,000 gallons for which commercial motors are wholly unable to account should be subdivided thus : required for cleaning, dyeing. solvent and other industrial trades, 0,000,000; used in motor boats (including submarines). 2,000,000; and private motorcars (additional) 1,000,0000. We accept the private-ear consumption as 21,000,000 gallons of imported spirit, and add 3,000,000 for home-produced excisable fuels.
The commercial motor, according to the Society's exist. ing plan, is, on the 10,000,000-gallon basis, to be rebated the magnificent sum of £21,000 per annum—i.e., a reduction from 1 to Id. per gallon. A rebate of £200.000 per annum is demanded for private cars. The flaw is this: why suggest that vehicles which are solely engaged in commerce and industry should pay the same as the luxury ears of the private owner ? Alternatively, if one takes the one-ton van in comparison with the touring ear of average power and weight, why penalise the former at least 50 per rent. more per mile than the latter ? That, having regard to the miles run per gallon in the two eases, would be one effect of the Society's proposals, which, in the absence of any backing from the R.A.C. or the Motor Union, will—if ever put forward—fall on deaf ears.
We are entirely against the Society's penny plan, and we should take immediate steps to oppose it if we thought it had as much chance of surviving as, let us say, a snowball has in a furnace. Its chief folly lies in the fact that the prestige of the Society as a body of real influence must suffer if it officially perseveres with a recommendation to which the only answer can be an unequivocal refusal. Why not help the commercial-vehicle side, for which a good case can be made? We should be most happy, of course, to see owners of pleasure ears subjected to a less duty than that of 3d. per gallon, and we observe with undisguised satisfaction that the Chancellor has intimated, through Mr. A. E. W. Mason, M.P.. to the Secretary of the Coventry Chamber of Com m he. eree, that t resolutions of the House represent the maximum beyond which the Finance Bill cannot go, and uot necessarily the provisions of the Finance Bill itself. This hint of possible concession may provide occasion for hopefulness, but we should say that the Chancellor has in mind the annual dutyaccording to horse-power rating, and not the tax upon motor spirit. We have good reason for making the statement that except in respect of its application to trade vehicles, the Chancellor has firmly set his mind upon the retention of the motor-spirit taxes at the figures which he mentioned on the night of the 29th April.
The Royal Show.
Gloucester will be a busy centre of interest four weeks
from to-day: the " Royal Show will be in progress. After three easterly displays (Derby, Lincoln and Newcastle) since the load of Park Royal was shed, the country towards the west is to have a turn. Gloucester is well situated for access from Bristol, Cardiff, Newport, . Swansea. Merthyr, and the wealthy coal-producing area of South Wales; it has good communication with Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Worcester and the Midlands generally : Leicester, Derby and the towns Irian which railways centre to them are able to contribute their quota of manufacturing interests; and, last but not least, the Metropolis, by the aid of the Great Western Railway, can take its .share in the proceedings. It has been our practice to devote no inconsiderable space to reports upon the motor branches of the implement sections at successive Royals," and this year will be no exception. We anticipate at least the same justification for special effort as was experienced at Neweastle-on-Tyne, where " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR" report was on sale within 30 hours of the opening. With the inducement of fresh territory and new models before us, we feel that we shall not be doing what is expected of us by our readers if we do not again undertake a detailed and fully-illustrated report. This will be ready—so far as Gloucester is coecerned—" betimes," but it will not be in the bands of subscribers before the Thursday—our usual publishing day—of Show week, the 24th June.
L.C.C. and Motor Traffic.
The Public Control Committee of the L.C.C. submitted, on Tuesday last. to the full Council, a report which it had prepared on the subject of motor traffic. We are chiefly concerned with the first of the conclusions, which reads:—
" It is necessary that the streets in which heavy locomotives and heavy motorcars (motor omnibuses, etc.) should be allowed habitually to be used should be definitely prescribed, and, pending the Government introducing a bill into Parliament to deal with locomotive and motorcar traffic as a whole, the question as regards London should be, as far as possible, dealt with by the Commissioner of Police."
Those people, of whom the writer counts himself one, who have occasion to watch the effects and likely effects of the various Acts and Regulations under which heavy motor traffic is possible, will be aware that the L.C.C. can only proceed, in the absence of fresh legislation, under the provisions of section 6 (2) of the Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896. It so happens that we have occasion to quote this on page 245. We should say that the Council has no alternative but to follow the course there indicated, and that it cannot, in the absence of any effort to comply with the procedure so laid down, expect any time to be given by the House to consideration of its proposals for something else. The solution, as students of London traffic have realised for many years, can only be found in the establishment of a Central Traffic Board, and we are quite sure that the Commissioner of Police will not go back upon his previous decision in regard to the suggestion that he should prescribe routes. The responsibility is too great for him to accept it unnecessarily. We are glad to note the view of the Committee that, whereas " in former years many complaints were received from tradesmen, property owners and others, as to the annoyance and injury caused by vibration, noise, and smoke, chiefly from motorbuses and lorries, improvements have largely mitigated these evils, and complaints are now cornpunitively few.''
Pleasure-Car Taxes.
It is not out of place, in view of the uncertainty which evidently exists in some quarters, to state once more that the sliding-scale taxes on motorcars do not apply to commercial motors. Doctors' cars, we may incidentally mention, are, according to the terms of Mr. LloydGeorge's speech on the 29th ultimo, to be charged only half the undermentioned rates, and we are surprised, therefore, to note the non-inclusion of a clause to that effect in the extract which follows. We shall look for it in the Finance Bill.
The resolution of the House of COITIMIORS (in Committee) on the 20th instant, was:—
That, in lien of any Excise duties now payable for motorcars, there shall be charged, both in Great Britain and Ireland, in each year, for every motor-bicycle or motor-tricycle a duty of £1, and for every other motorcar a duty at the following rates, calculated in accordance with horse-power:— Ender 64 horse-power, a duty of two guineas ; 6i but under 12 horse-power, three guineas; 12 but under 16 horse-power, four guineas; 16 but under 26 horse-power, six guineas ; 26 but under 33 horse-power, eight guineas ; 3,3 but under 40 horsepower, 10 guineas; 40 but under 60 horse-power, 20 guineas; 60 and over, 40 guineas. That the duty under this resolution shall not extend to motorcars which are charged with duties as haeltiley carriages under the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1889. or to motorcars which are not carriages within the meaning of that Act, and that the unit of horse-power for the purpose of the duty shall he calculated in accordance with regulations made by the Treasury for the purpose."
The exemptions are of importance to every reader of this journal. Section 4 (3) of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1888 (51 Viet. cap. 8). thus defines vehicles whieh are and are not carriages within the meaning of that net:
" Carriage ' means and includes any carriage (except a hackney carriage) drawn by a horse or mule, or drawn or propelled upon a road or tramway or elsewhere than upon a railway by steam or electricity, or any other mechanical power, but shall not include a wagon, cart, or other such vehicle which is constructed or adapted for use and is used solely for the conveyance of any goods or burden in the course of trade or husbandry, and whereon the Christian name and surname and place of abode or place of business of the person, or the name or style and principal or only place of business of the company or firm keeping the same shall be visibly and legibly painted in letters of not less than one inch in length."
The same sub-section thus defines hackney carriages:— " Hackney Carriage ' means any carriage standing or plying for hire, and includes any carriage let for hire by a coachmaker or other person whose trade or business is to sell carriages or to let carriages for hire, provided that such carriage is not let for a period amounting to three months or more."