The Advertisement of Olympia: What Date tor the Press Luncheon?
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It is a little more than five years since there was a Commercial Vehicle Show at Olympia. The Exhibibition of 1908 was not well attended. It was probably advertised insufficiently, whilst there are many who consider that it was advertised badly. It is a, mistake to think that methods which prove satisfactory in regard to a private-car Show are necessarily applicable to a, commercial-motor Show.
Our own programme to work up interest in this great exhibition does not require to be recapitulated. It is well known to members of the industry, and its effects are already apparent. That portion of the plans which concerns the Overseas Colonies and Dominions was put into operation several months ago : our Overseas Annual., of which Mr. John E. Thornycroft wrote (under date the 24th February) "It is very much ahead of anything else that has been done by you or any other paper," was the first missionary. effort to that end ; our circulation of large numbers of the Overseas Section booklet for the Royal Show at Bristol was the second ; our undertaking, now some months old, to make a. special exhibit in the Overseas Produce Section of the Royal Show, during the first week in July, was the third. At home, we arc carefully working through a concerted programme of what we term our new " Trades Campaign " numbers. The elima-x will be the Olympia Show Buyers' Guide Issue and Olympia Show Report Issue. So far, from the offices of the Society or Motor Manufacturers and Traders, we have heard no information as to its intentions or arrangements. Some really-good scheme may have been adopted, and we hope it has. The growth of the movement, which is testified by our own considerable expansions of circulation, will insure distinct and welcome additions to the attendance, but that will concern people who have become interested. Too much cannot be done to attract new people of the right class, and grave doubts have been expressed to us, by important members of the industry, during the past few weeks, as to the appropriateness and thoroughness of the Society's advertisement propaganda. Perhaps, seeing that it is in the hands of a small Committee, these fears are groundless. That cannot be judged now. If the July Show is to be advertised only on the same lines as the pleasure-car shows, we think that such expense will be unwarranted, and that the results will be woefully disappointing. It is the likely buyer who must he drawn, and direct communication is a desirable method of appeal, amongst others. The fully-occupied business man seldom has his attention riveted by the ordinary display of posters on stationary hoardings. An effective campaign direct to tens of thousands of picked likely users is one satisfactory outlet for activity, and it is here that we are doing a large share of the " spade work" ourselves.
Following the precedent of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, we would suggest to the Commercial Vehicle Committee of the Society. a change in the ordinary method of interesting the Press. An
invitation luncheon on the day before the opening, or while the Show is open, is too late for the purpose in view. Any such Press function should be arranged several weeks before the opening date, as there is then plenty of time for the busy commercial man to become impressed with the claims which the Show properly has upon him, and to make the necessary provisions in his time-table and his engagement-list. We are strongly in favour of a Press function, which would, of course, require to be intelligently run, not later than the 30th June, and we shall be glad to assist with ideas in that connection. The International Road Congress will be over and out of the way by then. If any members of the Commercial Vehicle Committee or of the Management Committee of the S.M.M.T. have any doubt on the matter, we suggest that they might refer to our issue of the 20th June last, and to the files of the daily newspapers on the previous Monday, If they take the trouble to do that, they will find that their own advertisement methods might with great advantage be remodelled on the R.A.S.E. basis. The " Royal " Press luncheon was held 17 days before the Show at Doncaster opened, and that length of interval is the beneficial rule. There is no time to be lost. Very great expense is imposed upon members of the industry, in respect of charges for space, the special provision for Show staff and exhibits, and in other ways. The outlay by the Society, in these circumstances of even so much as Zo00, several weeks before the Show, would therefore be a. matter of no importance to it as a body, from the standpoint of financial outgo, whilst of the utmost importance to its individual members. We have taken the opportunity to see Mr. Sidney Straker on the subject, so strongly do we feel about it. It is largely a waste of money, not to say of time and opportunity as well, to wait until the Show is upon everybody concerned.
To Brewers, Distillers, Bottlers and Mineral Water Manufacturers.
Several thousand copies of this issue will specifically reach the hands of members of the industries which are connected with the satisfaction of the normal thirst of human beings. We are not weather prophets, so we cannot venture to fix the exact degree of pressure that will be put upon delivery departments this year, but we do know that the lesson of 1911, when horse transport again proved inadequate to meet the sustained and unexpected stress due to the continued hot weather, was not sufficiently taken to heart. We make that inference from our knowledge of the fact that very many stables have not yet been reorganized to the consequential extent that one would have expected.
The claims of motor transport are best appreciated when the limits of animal power are most demonstrated. Those who are engaged in the brewing and allied industries must not, however, rest content with the idea that they can find relief at short notice. The demands upon motor manufacturers and motorhaulage contractors have grown enormously since the remarkable spell of hot weather in 1911 caused such .extreme activity in the trades to which we particularly refer. lipalway and labour troubles also fanned that demand in the year 1911, and various disputes, similar in nature if not so extensive, brought. additional buyers of commercial motors into the market by the hundred in the year 1812. To-day, as we write these lines, every section of industrial activity in this ,country is directly concerned with the notified increases of railway charges. That average of four per cent. may well prove the turning point with many an employer of haulage. We are already advised that it will lead to the complete motorization of numerous stables in which horses at present are in the ascendant.
We devote a considerable portion of this issue to a statement of the case for commercial motors, in both general terms and particular detail, so far as it deserves to appeal to the above-mentioned productive industries. A great exhibition of commercial motor vehicles, tractors, and the numerous accessories and supplies for such machines, will take place at Olympia some eight weeks hence, beginning on the sstli July. We wish to direct the special attention of each new recipient of THE COMMERCIAL Moron to that exhibition, and to urge upon each the wisdom of his noting the dates in his diary. The best collection of vans, lorries, wagons, tractors, etc., which the world has ever seen will remain on view until the :-:6th July. It inasseem to infer a lack of appreciation on our part, that we should recommend men who are concerned with busy summer trades to go to a show in the middle of their high-pressure season. There is. we would add, in spite of that possibility. no lack of appreciation on our part. Let those who are short of transport facilities make inquiry forthwith_ as to the delivery which they can obtain of up-to-date and approved types of vehicles. It will then transpire, we know, that most of them will be glad enough to go to Olympia, to make their choice., and to place orders for delivery in time for the new plant to be available to cope with, let us say, their Christmas trade. Mineral-water manufacturers, of course. will not be directly interested in that proposition. but they will be certain to find what they want for the 1914 season, and to do so without fear of their being "let down ' in regard to delivery dates for vehicles to be used in that season for the first time.
The broad and outstanding fact is this: few of our manufacturers have been able to reserve a proportion of their output to enable them to meet short-date orders. Commercial motors cannot be bought, when a panic seizes or other sudden decision is taken by a board of directors, like penny buns, over the counter. 'We should assess the number of vehicles, covering the whole range from pareelears to five-ton lorries, which can be purchased in Great Britain for delivery before the Olympia Show, at a maximum of 150, and there will be no end of a scramble for those machines,
Private-hire London Chars-a-bancs.
It is seldom that a resident in the Metropolis finds himself in a position inferior to that of a resident iii the Provinces, yet this ignominious experience has been the lot of a Londoner in respect of his disability to bite motor chars-asbancs freely. Whilst excursions of the kind have become increasingly popular in all other parts of the United Kingdom, during the past few ,years, the great Metropolitan area has remained aloof and alone—the one important centre from which it was a most-difficult matter to arrange a trip by road, other than by taxicab or private-hire car. London's principal motorbus undertaking, the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., after a period of subdued catering for this branch of inquiry, has at last come into the open with a well-eonsidered scheme and adequate vehicular resources.
Many inhabitants of these isles like to travel about in parties. but only so long as they are able to choose their company. The opportunity to visit various beauty spots around London, of which we may mention Leith Hill. Banstead Downs, Hindhead, Box Hill, Burnham Beeches, and Cheshunt, is at no time provided in better fashion than by means of a motor char-h-banes. The number of the party may conveniently vary between 15 and 30, or even go so high as 34 if necessary. The hirers can be picked up to instructions, either at one point or several, and they are relieved of the unnecessary fuss and worry of terminal journeys to and from the railway stations, changing from road vehicle to railway carriage, and other details, associated with old-fashioned methods of travel, whieli are really much more exhausting than is appreciated at the time. The party which hires a motor char-ii-bancs can choose its own destinations, its own company, and its own times.
The latest developments of the private-hire department of the great London company are not, we learn, to be limited only to the provision of 1110iOr chars-abanes, although that section of its enterprise will undoubtedly command a large amount of patronage if the recent fine weather continues, and during the summer months generally. Covered private omnibuses may be hired for the convenience of concert, dance, dinner, theatre, or other parties, and this type of vehicle will comfortably accommodate 16 passengers inside. It is an old argument, and one which we have often used, that this method of door-to-door travelling, with its incidental avoidance of exposure to weather conditions, is a real economy. It will no doubt be of interest to those of our readers who are engaged in the private-hire trade, to know something about the terms which the le.G.0.0. has fixed. The minimum charge for the use of a private bus, for one day of eight hours, is £3, with an extra charge of 4s. an hour beyond that. Alternatively, a 'hirer may pay is. 3d. a mile for any run of less than 60 miles, and is. a mile beyond that distance, For shorter hirings, say of six hours or less, the rate remains at Is. ad, per mile. The least charge for a short period is El, and the condition is made that the starting point, from which the hiring is to be reckoned, is not more than two miles from any one of the company's garages. These garages, of course, are dotted about all parts of London and its suburbs. Should the vehicle have to go farther than two miles to pick up, a charge of Is. per mile beyond two is made, before the above-mentioned rates begin to be of effect.
Week-end hirings in the spring and summer are at higher rates than the foregoing. The minimum charge for a day's hire, up to the 30th September, is E4. On Bank Holidays, the minimum charge is .4:5. whilst there are special rates for race meetings. The typical ease of a dance, involving a total journey of 15 miles out and home, starting ahout nine o'cleek in the evening, and returning not later than three o'clock in the morning, inclusive of overtime, would be two guineas.
As we have not space to give all the details, we recommend any interested patties to address the Private Hire Department of the company, a, Grosvenor Road, London, S.W.
Accumulator Propulsion.
Interest in accumulator-driven vehicles, which received a severe and unwarranted blow when the exploited electrohuses came to grief in repriden. is again raising its head, and this time with every prospect of a satisfactory issue, and of good business for the manufacturers who are identified in this country with the revival. The fact that there were seven electric vehicles at the C.M.U.A. Whit-Monday -Parade did not escape the notice of the Press. and we regard it as the " thin edge of the wedge " for future happenings on a large scale.
The single fact that the new Arrol-Johnston works at Dumfries will, as was first announced by us, have one-third of their space devoted to the production of electric delivery vans, is one of the utmost signific ance. The rise in the price of motor spirit is the chief underlying reason for a growing measure of interest in the prospects of electric delivery vane. It is the relative cheapness of power, coupled with the comparative absence of inter-urban deliveries. that has accounted for the remarkable popularity of this class of vehicle in the United States, and corree sounding factors can undoubtedly be found in the situation on this side to-dar_ Although much mnoordelivery work in the United Kingdom is of the interurban variety, nobody can pretend that a considerable volume of business does not exist to be done with parties who are wholly concernod. or can at least arrange to be so concerned to the extent of a part of their fleets, with purely town calls and deliveries. A segregation of the delivery work may very properly be made, and then electric vehicles can be employed on schedule distances, which feature in the organization is vitel. When wiiting on this subject in our issue of the-. 1st inet., we considered it our duty to direct attention to the one uncertainty as to the elimination of which me were not at that time satisfied. We refer to the ease of a driver, caught on the road with his. batteries run down, in which eiiiinection we stated_ the alternative open to him to be (I) to stay there e (2) to damage the cells by over-discharging them;.
(3) to be towed home. The article in our issue of a week a-go, from the pen of Mr. W. IL L. Watson, satisfies its in a measure hereanent, but not entirely. Is certainly shows that the line of escape from these contingencies and risks lies in the appointment a a responsible supervisor. Careful booking of all the rounds, clear instructions to the delivery department. not to add too many extra parcels for varying points of delivery, and a few other precautions will dearly be necessary. Experience can alone show how seldom, or how frequently, the average tradesman will be able to ensure the exercise of that control. There is no insuperable difficulty, in theory, but occasional mishaps will undoubtedly have to be recorded. Just as a lady who is paying cells may vary her programme without premonition or advance declaration,. so may the driver of an electric van find himself forced hy the despatch manager to undertake the deliverer of extraapareels. He must then guess the added mileage, in which case any infallible recording instrument cannot do ntore than tell him. When to stop. The expediency of his stopping, or of his pushing along to finish his round, then resolves itself into a balance between the arguments and claims of the two departments which are directly concerned—the traffic and the engineering. This is an old story, It will, we suppose, be a source of contention so long as organized motor transport exists.
We have, again, thus expressed our belief that drivers of the latest and beet electric vans will, occasionally, find themselves run out of current when they arc away from their depots. It may be the fault of the responsible man, but the fact remains that the van will have to be get home, or the cells will have to be damaged. Having repeated that warning, we wish to assert our unhesitating belief in the future of the electric. van in this country, in the first instance strictly for employment upon town deliveries. At the same time, buyers must not ignore the necessity to work at all times inside the safe trip-mileage limit, and that will vary according to road gradients.
Distinctive Headlights.
Mr. T. C.'. Avelino. of Birmingham, contributes a suggestion to our " Opinions from Others " this week, concerning distinctive headlights. He quotes the practice of railway companies, and it is probably common knowledge that different positione of the lamps at the front of a locomotive engine on railways indicate varying degrees of importance and precedence for the tiains at the front of which the lamps appear.
Every user of the highway, in these days of increasing motor traffic, will incline with some favour towards the suggestion that a measure of differentiation ehould be possible before any two lighted units come into close proximity. The single white light DI) the off side, which it is legal to carry upon a motorcar in the absence of a-ny local by-law requiring two side !amps, is a real source of danger, notwithstanding its legality under the Motor Car Acts, because of the likelihood that it will convey the impression to an :ipproaching driver that it imports the presence of a bicycle. We know, as another example, that it is of advantage to
apprised that an approaching locomotive has a train of tinclis behind it, although it is usually posslide to recognize this condition by other indications.
There are no doubt arguments For and against this interesting proposal, hut evidence is not wanting that it will require to be justified before any elaboration of the oresent system is sanctioned by Parliament. Ventilation of the arguments for and against may well he taken into account.