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COMMERCIAL MOTOR

30th March 1926, Page 1
30th March 1926
Page 1
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Page 1, 30th March 1926 — COMMERCIAL MOTOR
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Recognized in Business Circles as the Leading Journal.

The Authority on all forms of Mechanical Road Transport.

Largest Circulation.

Conducted by EDMUND DANGERFIELD.

Has Road Transport Really Hit the ' Railways ?

THE railway companies, through their Associa tion three weeks ago, put before the Minister of Transport their case against road transport, their aina being to secure a transference to the road hauliers of the charges which now fall upon the highway rates : in other words, the whole of the extra empense of road maintenance and construction which is due to the use of the roads by hauliers and carriers should be met from the Road Fund. The railway companies claim that their present-day losses are due to the increase of road traffic, which now includes a large number of short-distance passengers who formerly went by railway, whilst there has been a considerable decline in the volume of merchandise traffic carried by rail. Naturally, the companies had to disclaim any desire to be protected from fair competition.

The road transport organizations made their reply to these claims a few days ago, contraverting many of the allegations. They submitted that more than half the total number of commercial motors of all sizes are owned by agriculturists and traders for their own traffics, by reason of the inability to rely upon railways for essential services. As to owners who are haulage contractors, it is not practicable to force them to become common carriers, but it is wrong to say that they select the traffics and only take the best, for it is the trader who chooses the road instead of the railway, because it better suits his needs. The public cannot be deprived of this right of choice.

The railway companies in the past have always maintained that the higher rates on goods in the upper classifications were necessitated by the extra costs in handling them, and road transport interests assert that they are not so profitable to the railways as the heavy trainloads of coal and minerals. • The railway companies, again, use the roads for about 235,000,000tons of their total traffics, which amounted to a further one hundred million tons. As the proportion of the annual highway rates paid by the railway companies is only 11,400,000, it is obvious that, were they totally exempted from highway rates, the possible reduction to freight payers would not exceed about a penny per ton. The whole of the passenger traffic on the railways must come upon the highways, so the railway companies are as dependent as the community upon the roads, and their total contributions to the cost of them is relatively small, because the number of duty-paying vehicles owned by all the railways is only 2,600.

The fact of the matter is this : the introduction of better means of transport by road has, for the time being, diverted some portion of the traffic from the railways, just as a hundred years ago the railways took practically all through traffic from the roads. To-day the railways have a monopoly of long-distance traffic, both goods and passenger, and, if they improve their systems and their methods, they will enjoy a share of the volume of traffic which will be vastly increased by the introduction of the improved facilities. Just as the candle, instead of being suppressed by gas and electricity, is selling in larger quantities than ever it did, so the railways, managed with forethought and consideration for the traveller and trader, will again soon be able to show a rising line in their chart of traffic carried.

Rubber Tyres on Haulage Engines. Rubber Tyres on Haulage Engines.

HAVING called upon owners of haulage engines to equip them with rubber tyres, willingness to do which will avert the need for legislation compelling them to do so, the Minister of Transport has gone farther and has submitted to the National Traction Engine Owners and Users Association a new method of fitting driving wheels with rubber strakes or crossbars, recovered rubber being largely used in their manufacture.

Certain members of the association have inspected, approved and themselves adopted the system, and they now recommend other owners to follow their example, as the alternative methods of fitting the strakes are quite simple and entail a cost of no more than £50 per engine. The leading users naturally desire that every possible effort shall be put forward to avoid harassing and embarrassing legislation, and, as engines engaged solely in agricultural work or in hauling timber on the land are not expected to be fitted with 'rubber treads to their wheels, it would seem as if the only possible objection to a general compliance with the request has been removed.

Curbing Excessive Speeds.

OCANE of the most difficult problems confronting the maker of commercial vehicles is that, whilst he may design them to operate efficiently at normal running speeds, he has in the ordinary course of events no guarantee that the actual speeds at which they are operated will not greatly exceed those for which they are built. Nothing, with perhaps the exception of lack of lubricant or the use of a wrong lubricant, causes more rapid deterioration than conveying heavy loads at excessively fast speeds ; yet how is such a situation to be avoided?

Various attempts have been made to embody governors either in the design of the engine or as an auxiliary, but the objection to the majority of such devices is that they unduly limit the revolutions per minute of the engine if the speed of the vehicle is to be restricted to, say, 20 m.p.h. on top gear, the road speed on other gears being in proportion. The modern power unit is quite capable of running without risk of rapid wear at a rate much greater than that required at a vehicle speed of 20 m.p.h. on top gear ; but, if governed in the ordinary manner, advantage cannot be taken of the additional engine speed permissible when on a lower gear, thus limiting to too great an extent the vehicle speed under such cdnditions. This is particularly annoying if the vehicle be operating in hilly country.

c4 The solution of the problem appears to be to govern the speed of the vehicle and not that of the power unit, except indirectly. Thus, a vehicle might be permitted to travel at, say, 20 m.p.h. on top gear and very little below that speed on third gear, and so on in proportion, the limiting factor, apart from the vehicle speed, being that of the engine. Such a method of speed control will shortly be applied to a new chassis which has just been placed on the market and which is described in this issue.

Methods of Maintaining Fair Prices.

THERE is a great deal to be said for the maintenance of fair prices for vehicles, their equipment and supplies, because it connotes successful trading and continuity of service. No useful purpose is served by the ability to buy, we will say, petrol, oil, steam coal, coke or tyres for a period at cut prices if the dealer in those commodities, after a period of unsuccessful trading, is compelled to go out of business and vital supplies cease. The case of the King versus Denyer has shown, however, that the methods of enforcing the maintenance of prices in the motor trade require to be overhauled. In this case the "Stop List Superintefident " of the Motor Trade Association, concealing his occupation, approached a motor dealer in Devonshire on the subject of the purchase of a car, and after long negotiation and much argument obtained a quotation for a car at a price lower than the price list. The dealer was thereupon hailed before the council of the Motor Trade Association, and, shortly put, was given the alternative of having all his supplies stopped or paying to the association—of which, by the way, he was not a member and had not subscribed to its principles-a fine of £257.

At the Exeter Assizes the " Stop List Superintendent" was convicted of uttering a letter demanding money with menaces, and this conviction has now been upheld by a Court of Criminal Appeal. From this it would seem that the Motor Trade Association is entitled, in the case of an infraction of an agreement to maintain prices, to place the name of a delinquent member upon its "Stop List," but is not entitled to propose the alternative of a money fine. It should not be impossible to devise measures which, whilst securing the maintenance of fair prices, do not call for the services of an agentprovocateu r.

A Dangerous Practice.

IN many districts, particularly in the poorer neighbourhoods, there is a growing practice amongst small boys, and even girls, to hang on to the backs of commercial motor vehicles, sometimes clambering into the bodies, and at other. times even hanging from such projecting parts as lamp brackets and frame cross-members.

The existence of the danger cannot be too strongly, emphasized, and every effort should be made, on the part of parents and teachers, to instil into the minds of those who are likely to indulge in such a practice a realization of the risks they run, and they should be warned that if found behaving in this manner they will be severely punished.

Only a few days ago we saw a small boy hanging on to the back of a brewer's lorry, and when he let go as the vehicle gained speed one of his feet caught in the lamp bracket and he remained suspended head downwards. A man, however, who was standing nearby dashed forward and supported his body clear of the ground, at the same time running to keep up with the vehicle ; fortunately the driver quickly stopped as a result of having his attention drawn to the matter by passers-by, and the boy was released, unhurt except for a wrenched foot.


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