News of the Week
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LICENCES AND PERMITS EXTENDED
AS a method of saving time, manpower and paper in M.O.W.T. offices and in those of road-transport operators. the Ministry has decided, as was done last year, -to extend for 12 months from the date when it would otherwise have expired any authority in force on July 31, 1944, to act as driver or conductor of a p.s. vehicle; act in a similar capacity on a tram, trolleybus or hackney carriage in the Metropolitan Police District; use a p.s. vehicle; operate a road passenger service under a permit isstied under previous Orders; use a goods vehicle under A, B or C licence.
This will be effected by the Emergency Powers (Defence) Road Vehicles and Drivers (Amendment) Order, 1944, which came into force on July 31. The extension will be automatic and without fee. There is no need to apply for any renewal. Operators should note, however, that they must. notify the R.T.C. of any change of address or alteration of vehicle specified.
The extension does not operate in 'respect of a road service licence. The holder of this, if he wishes to continue the service, must, before its expiry, obtain a permit under paragraph' of the principal Order of 1943.
'Ordinary driving and Excise licences are not affected.
LONDON CONFERENCE OF ROAD TRANSPORT GROUPS
THE next meeting of the National Conference of Road Transport Groups will take place at the Piccadilly 'Hotel, London, on August 10, at 11.30 a.m. It should be noted that the meetings which should have been held in June and July were not called, in deference to the Government's wish that travelling should be restricted.
Any new group formed, or in the process of formation since the last meeting held in May, and which has not received an invitation for August 10, should, if it desires to be represented at this meeting, notify without delay the acting secretary of the Conference, 95, High Street, Chatham, Kent.
PLANT ENGINEERS FORM ASSOCIATION SOME months ago a series of conferences was initiated by Major S. Q. Hughes, of the Ministry of Works, for contractors and plant managers engaged on open-cast coal production in the North-Midland Region, the idea being to establish a mutual exchange of spare parts, and to pool information on maintenance problems generally. So successful was the project that it was extended to other open-cast coalproducing regions, and last month a meeting representative of 63 public works 'contractors, plant manufacturers, plant-hire concerns and kindred trades, Telt that a national -association should be set up.
On July 25, at a meeting at Nottingham, it was decided to recommend to a fall meeting that an association be formed under.the name of the National Association of Plant Engineers, and draft rules were approved.
The chairman, Capt. E. PiIkington, plant manager for Messrs. Simms, Sons and Cooke, Nottingham, mentioned that since the idea was first mooted, considerable progress had been made. The importation df American spares and plant over the past few years had created many problems, hut by getting together they had been able to " make do and mend " with tractors, excavators and a wicle range of necessary equipment.
NOTIFICATION OF P.S. TEMPORARY PERMITS ON the p.s. operating side there has been a little complaint that R.T.C.s have been granting permits without notifying other interests which might be concerned. Actually, there is now no compulsion upon an R.T.C. to make any such notification, but in special casesthis is sometimes done as an act of courtesy. Such a difficulty sometimes occurs where a special permit is granted for Lh.e transport of factory workers.
M.P.s " TEPID " OVER NEW FORTH BRIDGE SCHEME
OF Scotland's 74.M.P.s, all invited to attend a meeting in Edinburgh last week to hear details about the Mackintosh Rock site for the proposed Forth Road Bridge, as agreed upon by the local authorities concerned, only 14 attended, half of them declining the invitation and over 20 not replying. Sir William Darling, Edinburgh's Lord Provost, who presided, said that the interest pf the M.P.s generally in the scheme was " slight and tepid."
Lord Provost Darling outlined the history of Forth Road Bridge schemes since 1818, and Dr. David Anderson, of Messrs. Mott, Hay and Anderson, the committee's consulting engineers, said that the proposed bridge an the site recommended would cost £3,375,000 and take six years to build. It provided for twin carriageways of 22 ft., separated by an 8-ft. strip, cycle tracks 9 ft. Wide, footpaths 5 ft. wide, and would need 50,000 tons of steel.
LOG FALSIFYING IN U.S.A.
HEAVY fines are being inflicted in America upon lorry drivers who are proved to have falsified their logs. One convicted of this offence in June was, at Pittsburgh, fined approximately £25, including costs. The man concerned paid the full amount.
PERSONAL PARS
ALDERMAN GEORGE DIXON has been elected chairman of the transport and electricity committee of Newcastle-onType City Council. He succeeds Alderman R. Mayne, who resigned after holding the position for 29 years.
The invasion front demands tremendous quantities of paper for shell containers and innumerable other articles. Do not waste a Scrap. HAULAGE CHARGES AGREED FOR HARVEST TRANSPORT
.FOR the hiring of haulage vehicles to I work on the transport of the 1944 corn harvest, the National Farmers' Union and the Standing Joint Committee have agreed on arrangements which include provision for the formation of a pool of vehicles'in any area where this is found desirable, on the lines of that operating in the Northern Area for the 1943 harvest It is stipulated that the organization of such a pool must rest with the S.J.C. Area Committee covering the territory concerned. In the absence of a pool, the contract shall be between the farmer and the individual haulier.
In those areas in which a pool is not found necessary, copies of the lists of hauliers willing to undertake work under the scheme—compiled by the S.J.C. area office—should be sent to the secretary of the county branch of the N.F.U. and to the secretary of the. County War Agriculture Committee. Any matters in dispute shall be referred jointly to the S.J.C. committee dealing with harvest transport and to the transport committee of the N.F.U.
The following is the scale of charges for the hire of vehicles:—
HUGE AWARD TO AMERICAN WIDOW ACCORDING to "Transpott Topics " of Washington, the wife of a Well-known American cartoonist, Mr. J. Karaffa, was awarded £25.000 damages against a haulage concern of New York for causing his death.
There were some unusual features in the case. One was that, without the knowledge of his employer, the driver had been confined for five years in a hospital for the criminally insane, and had been hired after his release. The driver testified that e his mind • went blank just before the crash.
It is understood that the case may be taken to appeal,
TYNEMOUTH'S CENTRAL BUS STATION AT Tynemouth, the town improvement committee has under consideration alternative sites for a central bus station. One 'site is et Northumberland Square, and the other a site which is bounded by Percy Street, Bedford Street and Nile Street. The committee is to obtain the Views of the ba5 companies on the subject.
DEATH OF FORMER G.W.R. ROAD. TRANSPORT SUPERINTENDENT
WE greatly regret to record the death on July 24, following an operation, of Mr. Fulmar C. A. Coventry, 0.B.E., M.I.A.E_, M.Inst.T. Mr. Coventry, was an active man of 70, with
• many interests, and until recently G.W.R. superintendent of road transport. He was also a director of a number of road-transport concerns, including Crosville Motor Services, Ltd., • Western Welsh Omnibus Co., Ltd., City of Oxford Motor Services, Ltd.. Sutton and Co., Ltd., and the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Co., Ltd.
BUSES FOR TRAMS: REACTIONS AT BRADFORD AND LEEDS
AN'estimate that it would cost nearly £4,000,000 to relay and re-equip Bradford Corporation's tramways was given by Alderman Walter Hodgson, chairman of the municipality's passenger transport committee, at the city council's meeting last week. Speaking in favour of the policy of gradually aispdoning the tramways, Alderman Hingson said: " So far as I can gather, the feeling of the council and of the city is: ' We have done with trams for 'good and all.' " The council approved a further sectional withdrawal of trams by the use of buses on the Wibsey route. The passenger transporiocoromittee had i-ecommended this substitution as immediately necessary because of the bad condition of the track and lack of the labour and materials necessary for its repair. In reply to pleas which Wibsey residents made through the correspondence columns of the local Press, for the provision of trolleybuses rather than motorbuses, it was explained that this was not practicable at the present time. That there is no intention of abandoning Leeds Corporation's tramways, with the exception of one or two singleline routes, was emphasized by Councillor F. Leach, chairman of Leeds Passenger Transport Committee, in a statement on July 25. , These exceptional routes, he said, were uneconomic and inconvenient in operation, and they would continue to be difficult to work unless the roads in question were widened to permit double tracks.
NEW FODEN SERVICE AGENT APPOINTED
A VALUABLE addition to the sex': CA vice facilities of which operators of Foden machines may take advantage is to he found in the appointment, by Fodens, Ltd., Sandbach, Cheshire, of Gordon Stewart Motors, Ltd., Morris House, Sale, Manchester, as an official service agent.
This concern was established in 1927 and, in 1930, Mr. F. G. Fakes, who had previously held a position with Stewart and Ardern, Ltd., London, was appointed general manager. It is Mr. Fakes's intention to give a seven-day maintenance and repair service which, with the facilities available at this modern depot is now in full operation.
The concern carries a comprehensive stock of Foden and Gardner oil engine spare parts, and the necessary skilled labour is available for carrying out, repairs or overhauls of all descriptions.
Mr. J. Jones, whO was at one time foreman at the Manchester depot of Scarnmell Lorries, Ltd., is in charge of this service. The workshop covers a floor space of 25,009 sq. ft., and as the company has set out to give this specialized Foden service, it has at its disposal a range of up-to-date equipment to put its plans _into effect.
AN AMENDMENT OF THE ESSENTIAL WORK ORDER
ik NEW Order entitled "'The Essen tial Work (General Provisions) Order, 1944." made by the Minister of Labour, came into force on July 24. It amends certain details of the Essential Work (General 'Provisions) (No. 2) Order, 1942, in order to allow for cases of persons dismissed from employment on account of serious misconduct.
Previously, if the Local Appeal Board found that dismissal was not justified and the worker's reinstatement was directed, the worker did not lose his right to the guaranteed wage for any period intervening, but his right to wages for that period depended on whether or not the reinstatement was directed. If for practical reasons, reinstatement had not been directed, although the dismissal was considered unjustified, the worker had been unable to claim the guaranteed wage as above.
This anomaly is now corrected, and Where it is found that the dismissal was unjustified but reinstatement not directed, the worker may claim the guaranteed wage under the Order for the period between the date of dismissal and that on which the final decision is communicated to the parties.
WEST HARTLEPOOL'S TRANSPORT SURPLUS IT has been decided by West Hartlelpool Corporation that the surplus of £9,733 on the transport undertaking for the past year should be disposed of by trabsferring £7,000 to the reserve fund and using the' remainder for the relief of the generid rates. The .surplus was an increase of £6,129 on the previous year, and included £9,198 on the motorbuses and 4540 on the erolleybuses.
VALUE OF BUS ROLLING-STOCK REDUCED BY " SLOGGING "
DURING a discussion at a meeting last week of Warrington Town Council on a proposal to increase bus fares, Councillor Harding said that prewar fares—in fact, fares that,were fixed 40 years ago—were still operating and 48 buses had passed their normal period of life, many having almost' doubled it. He added that five years' slogging without a single bus replacement had considerably reduced • the value of the rolling stock. To replace the 48 buses would cost £125,000. Another councillor spoke in commendation of the fact that, fortunately, the buses were paid for out of revenue.
DEPRECIATION EXTENSION FOR MUNICIPAL BUS FLEET
THE transport committee of Mancheater Corporation reports that the basis of eight years for the depreciation .of buses should be continued for another year. The bus fleet comprises 971 vehicles, of which 390, representing 40 per cent. of the fleet, will be fully depreciated by the end of the present financial year. The operating conditions have not changed so as to cause any greater degree of wear and tear.
EDINBURGH RAILWAY ROOF AS A BUS STATION
USE of the roof of Waverley Station, Edinburgh, for the purpose of a central bus station is envisaged by the advisory committee on city develop. meet, as a sequel to the Clyde report. Mr. W A Macartney, city engineer, reporting on this matter to the public utilities committee of Edinburgh Corporation, said that the suggestion was not a new one. The streets and building committee had appointed a special sub-committee in regard to local and regional planning, and it was hoped that the question would be raised with its members.
WESTERN WELSH LOSES CHIEF ENGINEER
WITH great regret we learnt recently VV of the death, on July 24, of Mr. A. Dimmack, chief engineer to the Western Welsh Omnibus Co., Ltd. He had been with the company for a considerable period, but had not been in the best of health recently, and was away on sick leave at the time of his death,
ADDITIONAL COUPONS FOR FUEL
WHERE any person engaged on VT essential work is able to show that the restriction of public transport renders unavoidable an increase number of journeys by private car, the Regional Petroleum Officer has authority to grant additional coupons. Similarly, as regards private-hire cars. licences for journeys beyond the normal limits may he issued in cases of proved need.
This was stated bY Major Lloyd George, Minister of Fuel and Power, in Parliament last week. He had been asked whether, in view of the congestion on trains, he is now able to relax the conditions attached to the rationing of petrol so as to permit a freer use of cars for business journeys and other essential purposes.
R.H.O. IS NOW RUNNING SMOOTHLY
SILENCE does not always suggest S but we have recently received few complaints concerning tie operation of the M.O.W.T. Road Hail!: age Organization, and we learn' that this is running smoothly throughout the country. If this were not the case, no doubt many more criticisms would have come to hand.
Suggestions have been made that the Ministry, in addition, to providing tyres, should supply other items of equipment, such as vehicle covers, but these must obviously form a part of what should be the standard equipment of, certainly, an open lorry, and, therefore, should be supplied by the hiree.