THE ROADWAY GOODS-TRANSPORT GUIDE
Page 53
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A LL motor haulage con..C1 tractors will be well advised to take advantage of the opportunity now being afforded them to obtain free inclusion of their names, working areas or routes, resources in rolling stock and other'particular, of their activities in the "Roadway Goods Transport Guide." Publication has purposely been deferred until the Road Traffic Act will have come into full operation. It is an undertaking for which Roadway Time Tables, Bookings and Publications, Ltd., of Roadway Corner, Glasshouse Street, London, W.1, is responsible. Mr. E. S. Shrapnel' Smith, C.B.E., is chairman of the company.'
The Need for a Reliable Guide.
The call for a guide to goods transport by road, to he published in adequate form, is undeniable. We have looked into the matter ourselves, and weefind, that nothing comprehensive exists ; on the contrary, in such reference lists as we have been able to study, there appears to be no sufficient discrimination between, for example, clearing houses in whose ownership there are no road vehicles and bona fide haulage contractors who do the * ork., Correct distinction between these two classes of enterprise is of real importance: we gather that most careful checks are to be exercised in the editing of the new publication in order that gTounds for such confusion shall be eliminated.
The genuine haulage contractor resents finding the non-owning clearinghouse put forward as an operator, whilst, on the other hand, not every professing clearing house is worthy of space in that category. Furthermore, those clearing houses which do conduct their businesses along effective, honourable and satisfactory lines must suffer from having grouped in the same list other clearing houses whose methods are not characterized by those qualities. We are glad to be assured that the fullest scrutiny will be applied by the compilers of the Roadway Goods Transport Guide to ensure correct segregation and even exclusion where necessary.
Traders Suffer from Lack of Information.
-The need for a comprehensive guide is _admitted. Leading agriculturists and other producers frequently do not know where to look, except in their own immediate vicinities, when they want the choice of offers to do their haulage. Wholesale and retail traders suffer the same way through the lack of sufficient information. Their needs are now to be met by the compilation and publication for the first time of a comprehensive list of representative haulage contractors, together with essential guidance as to their resources in plant and their areas of operation, the whole being arranged in alphabetical order, in the first place as regards towns and under each town as regards the owners themselves.
We note the following in an announcement concerning the preparation for press of the publication under reference:— "The provision of a straightforward Main list of this character is,the first feature of value to those who have transport to give out. Their number is very large. There are, for example, throughout Great Britain and Ireland, approxi
mately 640,000 employers c labour, who average som 24 employees each. On does not contend that th whole of these employer aret4engaged in operation calling for regular trans port services, but all o them do, at one time o another, need such service at short notice, whilst no fewer thin, perhaps, 200,001
have regular call for daily or weekly transport. 0 these estimated 200,000 possibly one-half art hirers of transport rather than owners of it. Eve" if they ,be owners for their own traffics, they Ire quently have to resort to hiring during seasonal a periodic busy periods. The Roadway Good: Transport Guide will be at their disposal."
The Particulars Given.
It is of interest to note that the Roadway Good: Transport Guide will be under the auspices of the Corn. mercial Motor Users Association (Incorporated), ant we hare been happy to agree that it shall be published in conjunction with The Commercial Motor.
It is intended that a clear and well-compiled index will open the volume, whilst, in addition to the main list of owners with their addresses and telephone numbers, there will be particulars of the following :—Branch depots and agencies, clearing houses, specialized transport pant—tank vehicles, furniture pantechnicons, heavy-maChinery and unit-load carriers' vehicles for horses, live stock and perishable goods (including insulated vans), tipping wagons, extra long multi wheelers and transport media for express parceldelivery services, coastal shipping services, forWarding and shipping agents.
There is to be a foreword by the Rt. Hon. the Viscount Brentford, P.C.; a section on law and legislation by Mr. F. G. Bristow, F.C.I.S., barrister-at-law, general secretary of the C.M.U.A.tables of operating costs based upon this journal's tables and data ; tables of reciprocal distances and other useful information.
About 1,000 Pages for 25s.
We understand that the contents of this important volume will approximate 1,000 pages. It is to be published at 25s. and to be available for circulation early in March. That date may seem a long time ahead, but prompt action is necessary, owing to the intervention of the Christmas Holidays, to allow for the careful checking and cross-checking of tabular matter and to provide for printing and binding. The first edition is to be one of 20,000 copies.
It is requested by Roadway Time Tables, Bookings and Publications, Ltd., that any haulage contractor who has not already received one of the forms spaced for the forwarding of particulars concerning his operations will apply forthwith by letter addressed to the company at Roadway Corner, Glasshouse Street, London, W.1. Free entry is offered.
The contractor for display advertisements is J. Weiner, Ltd:, which concern holds the Government contract for the telephone directeries, and we are advised that only a few special positions facing matter are still available for trade announcements. Requests for the remaining space should be addressed to the contractor at 71, New. Oxford Street, London, W.C.1.