COMMERCIAL MOTOR I
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Recognized in Business and Military Circles as the Leading Journal.
The Authority on all forms of Motor Transport. Largest Circulation.
Conducted by EDMUND DANGERFIELD.
Editor: EDWARD S. SHRAPNELL-SMITH.
Royal Naval Aircraft Service.
There are indications that all is not as it might be in I he organization of the motor-vehicle equipment of the Royal Naval Air Service. This Service has most of its activities centred between the coast of Norfolk and the coast of Hampshire, and its operations are such as to involve demands of a most-divergent character as regards transport. Railing stock of all kinds has apparently been accumulated without that degree of co-ordination which the efficiency of so important a branch of the national defence merits. There are, no doubt, good and sufficient reasons for some of the deficiencies of which we hear, and possibly also for some of the extravagances. Be that as it. may, one underlying fact is becoming increasingly ob% ious, and it is that scope for the introduction of more system exists. The personnel is a numerous one, and the motor vehicles at its disposal are certainly in -generous proportion. We hope that the director of the Service may shortly be able to turn his active mind towards this subject..
Points for Next"Year'S Heavy 'Motor Car Order.
The proof of the writer's evidence, which evidence will have been taken by the Departmental Committee of the Local Government Board before this issue is published, will be found on the next three pages. The writer desires to acknowledge assistance and suggestions which have reached him from numbers of users and from various members of the industry, apart from similar assistance which has been forthcoming by reason of the " private and confidential " circulation of his proof on the instructions of the Commercial Motor Users Association. He also wishes to record, in order that the position may be fully understood, that he conferred on several occasions, as to the contents of his proof, with Mr. Edward Powell, president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and with Mr. Frank Churchill, chairman of the C.V. Committee.
The proof of evidence largely speaks for itself, but it represents, none the less, about one-fourth of the total evidence as it will in fact have been laid before the Committee. A proof of the kind_ must necessarily be kept a.s short as possible ; the supplementary points are elicited by question and answer.
We made the announcement, in our last issue, that it is advisable to look forward to the issue of a new Heavy Motor Car Order early next year. That anticipation has been confirmed as to its correctness by the results of additional inquiries which we have been able to make. Certain changes will be made in regard to units of axle-weight, in relation to wheel widths and wheel diameters; these will particularly apply to steel-tired lorries and wagons, but the changes will not be of such a character as to result in more than a practicable modification of existing typos. We expect full exemption for present ownits.
The steam lorry as a type will not be varied to the point of disappearance, and the suggestion that nothing will be allowed of less diameter than a wheel which must of necessity be of the boxed-in type can be scouted as ridiculous. We are not entitled to give publicity to all that we know, bet we are in a very secure position to follow up thepublication of this proof of evidence with a series of references to probabilities. That shall be done.
Users at large may rest content that their commercial requirements will not be prejudieed. The user who habitually abuses his rights will find it .much harder to do so with impunity, and that state of affairs will only be in accordance with the desires of the great majority of users who do not act unreasonably. it will be found that the continuous 'ilStr of the highway, without undue local interference or control, will be preserved to the utmost extent that is compatible with the best economic interests of the country, for we are well satisfied that the. L.G.B. Committee has appreciated the folly of attempting to save a few million pounds a year, in respect of road construction and maintenance, at the cost of an actual out-of-pocket additional expenditure to the community at large of three times as much. Commercial-motor traffic is known to be a national adjunct and service of the utmost value, but it is none the less felt that it is a development which calls for appropriate contemporary variation in matters which concern construction and use.
There is one important point of ,view to recall in conclusion. The evidence may appear to some parties to be drastic in certain particxdars. There are, for example, objectors and objections to the idea of any reduction of the unit of axle •weight. Let those critics .bear in mind that they have rot seen the evidence of the County Council Association and other bodies, nor that of surveyors. All of these road interests urge the adoptinn of ii cwt., in place of 71cwt., on the basis of a 3 ft. wheel. Users and makers of steel-tired vehicles cannot give way more than, as a maximum, half the difference, but the fight in detail, before the L.G.B. Committee, will be a stern one.