Answers to Queries.
Page 18
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A Good American Paper. •
[3054] (Birmingham).-2-We think that if you were to subscribe to " The Commercial Vehicle," published fortnightly at 234-241, West Thirty-ninth Street, New York City, U.S.A., it might meet your purpose. The subscription rate for Great Britain is stated to be "three dollars" for one year. 1 A.S.C., M.T., Enlistments.
[3055] (Grantham).—We published the official list of district recruiting officers and offices in our issue of the 25th May. We must point out that certain alterations may now have been made, but you will no doubt be able to see the officer at the nearest point to you, which appears to be either Sheffield or Bedford.
Rebate on Petrol Purchased between 1st April and 30th June.
[3056] (C.V.).—You are entitled to a rebate of 3d.' per gallan,on the petrol to which you refer, provided you are duly in possession of the vouchers to the effect that the petrol on which you claim had paid 6d. per gallon. These.vouchers should be supplied to you by any garage which has sold the spirit to you, and they form the originating documents for the return of 50 per cent. of the total tax applicable.
Steel Bottles for Compressed Coal-gas.
[3057] (Supply).—You had better be advised by the engineer to your local gas-works, and try to get the matter of -equipment in hand through him. You can alternatively obtain advice from Mr. W. A. Tookey, 212, Upper •Thames Street, E.C., thei writer of the
article. There is no doubt that the requirements of the Government for steel bottles are very considerable at the"moment; and some delay will inevitably arise in consequence of this.
Petrol Allotments.
[3058] (Bridlington).—There is not yet any right,of appeal against the decisions of the Petrol Control Committee, but certain obvious errors have to our knowledge been corrected 'by the Committee itself. Even people who have ,dontracts with the oil companies can only getdelivery,of quantities which are allotted to them by the Petrol Control Committee. You will have to put up with the quantity which is allotted to you, in accordancewith ydrur application when the census of requirements was taken, but you can of course gain partial relief by having recourse to two-fuel carburetters, and using 75 per cent. paraffin
" Caterpillar " Tractors.
[3059] (Designer).—Some of the earliest .experimental work in the manufacture of chain-track tractors was undertaken by Messrs. • Hornsby,„of Grantham. The Holt Manufacturing Co., of Stockton and Peoria, U. SA., makes a successful chain-track tractor, known as the "Caterpillar," and these are handled in the United Kingdom by Caterpillar Tractors, Ltd., of 60, Queen Victoria Street, E.C. We have several times pointed out in TEE COMMERCIAL MOTOR that the word "Caterpillar " is the registered trade mark of the foregoing undertaking, and that anybody else who uses that word to describe a chaintrack tractor is liable to an action-at-law.
Liability of Gas and Water Companies in Course of Laying Mains or Repairing Road Surfaces.
[3060] (Dasnages).—The law is strongly settled against gas and water companies which, through their servants, are found to be guilty of neglect in any degree, when that neglect results in damage to any user of the highway. Complications sometimes arise, in respect of the settlement of claims, when a gas or ater company, under an agreement with a highway B52
authority, leaves the making-good to somebody els'e. Such agreement for making-good, however, is not the mine thing as the right to pass on liability. Liability at law cannot be passed on, although the payment of proved damages can It may sometimes be necessary to join the local authority as a co-defendant, but we think that in most cases it will be safer to let the • action lie against the companies which are primarily responsible undea their private Acts of Parliament. They can then fight out with the local authority any question of recovering the damages which they have themselves had to pay, if the neglect is really due to some act of a servant of the local .authority. Anyone who places a dangerous thing. upon or near a public highway, such as--an obstruction, either by way of a projeeting obstacle or in the form of a depression—such as that which is caused by an improperlY-filled and poorly-consolidated trench—is bound to show that all reasonable precautions we taken, and all legal requirements fulfilled, in order to escape, liability for the consequences; including even those due to an accident's occurring through the intervention of a third party, if the possibility of such intervention should reasonably have been foreseen.
Steel Bands for Commercial...vehicle Tires.
[3061] (Motorbus Company).—It is difficult for us to help you, with any supplementary names at the present time, having regard to the restrictions upon output for which the Ministry of Munitions is primarily responsible. You might try the following :—
. Ed. Ranks and .0o. Oldbury.
Steel Stampings, Ltd., Cookley, Kidderminster. Active Engineering Co., Trafford Park, Manchester.
Ajax Engineering Co., Arthur Street, Birmingham.
'Smith, Parfrey and Co., Pimlico Wheel Works, Hammersmith.
Mr. S. G. Billett, 6, Holborn Viaduct, E.C.
Rates and Work for Their Six-ton Sentinel as Soon as They Get It.
[3062] (Nuneaton).—If Alley and MacLellan, Ltd., has accepted your order, and has been able to promise delivery this month, we think you will undoubtedly receive the machine. This maker, no doubt, weuld not have taken your order if there had been any difficulty of the kind.. Such difficulties are practicallyonly arasing in connection with releases by the War Office and the Ministry of Munitions of vehicles which would otherwise be taken for military purposes. As to charges, 'with a six-ton lorry On rubber tires, we think that, under existing war conditions, :and with so many abnormal expenses,you would-be well advised to base your charges in such a fashion as to obtain a revenue per mile run of not less than 2s., reckoning both light and loaded mileage together. H the dela,ys are such that you cannot earn this revenue per mile in respect of 45 miles of running per dayesay. 250 weekly—you should charge more. If you do any hiring by the hour, you should obtain 10s. per hour, with,a, guarantee that the mileage will in no hour exceed five miles. You broadly want, to-aim at earning £1 10s. per working day without a trailer, and you should have no difficulty in getting that revenue. If you are waiting a hirer's convenience, and at the same 'time assured of a, reasonable straightaway run, 'it is usual not to charge for waiting unless it is excessive, but to cover the waiting element on the Mileage charge. Where the periods of waiting are such that you do not feel able to assess them, but where you are at the same time going to have a straightaway run of some length, we think that the case might be met by a waiting charge (specifically applicable to the picking-up point or the delivery point) of 8s. an hour, beyond some agreed limit of delay.