Opinions from Others.
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At the Brussels Exhibition.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,141] Sir,—No doubt many of your numerous readers are interested in the Brussels Exhibition, and also the prospects of business there. Having just completed my ninth visit to Brussels, I should like to give you my impressions.
The exhibition, owing to its geographical position, will draw large numbers of visitors from surrounding tries, viz., viz., France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, etc., Brussels being in direct rail service with these countries, all of which send important exhibitors. The exhibition, as a whole, is in a very-backward state, the English section excepted; much praise is due to the English representatives and, for the motor section, to Mr. W. G. Williams, the S.M.M.T. agent, in particular. The position allotted to the United Kingdom, between Belgium and France, is a very-fine one.
Motors make a poor show at present. Germany is represented by two makes of commercial vehicles, from appearance three-tonners; it has, also, a fine show of steam tractors, portables, and traction-engines. The British section is also well represented in the steam-traction class; nearly all well-known makes are on view.
The finest position in the exhibition has been allotted to petrol-motor exhibitors, viz., Napier, Vauxhall, Humber, Deluder, and Star, who have each two vehicles, and to the Ryknield, who are the only exhibitors in this section with four commercial vehicles. The prospects for these exhibitors, if properly represented, are good. I think it a pity that so small a number of manufacturers is present. I made close inquiries as to motor business in Brussels, and I was informed that about 200 cabs are in use. If this is so, then there is room for 400 more. During the whole time I was there, I never saw one on a stand, it being a question of waiting for one to be disengaged. They are all under-powered for a hilly eity like Brussels; they have exhaust cut-outs, and are very noisy. The drivers are civil, but most anxious to convince one that the consumption of essence on one's journey has been very large! Any English maker desirous of tendering for this class of trade, I should he pleased to put in touch with likely parties.
Commercial vehicles are not largely used. The Tramway Co. has three Brillie buses, but only one on the road ; the Anglo-American Oil Co. has two tank cars for delivery of petrol; the Bon Marche and a few large stores have some 5-cwt. vans; one tobacco manufacturer has one with a body and bonnet which is a copy of cigar boxes, and this is a splendid advertisement. Ryknields are well represented: in addition to a large number of buses, and several lorries in use by the exhibition authorities for hauling goods from the docks, there are many firms open to contract but afraid to purchase. There is considerable difficulty in obtaining garage room near the centre of the city, and practically the only repairers there that call themselves such have but a few tools, a vice, and a forge, which are considered ample. There appears to be a good opening for a short-wheelbase petrol tractor; one estimate was that '200 could be taken in Antwerp alone. The reasons for this are: that owners of vans suitable for the purpose are reluctant to sell them ; distances are short, and the time taken for unloading much longer than here. A tractor would be used for taking loads to their destinations, returning to the warehouses for fresh loads, collecting two or three empty vans later in the day. To do business, all quotations should include Customs charges and freight. Germans always do this, and practically monopolize certain branches of trade. No objeetion seems to be raised to overloading, passengers preferring to stand, and there are generally two-thirds doing this in a bus or a tramcars-Yours faithfully,
314, Balham High Road. W. FLEXMAN FRENCH.
Taxi-Drivers' "Extras" and Wages.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,142] Sir,—With reference to the letter appearing in your issue of the 21st April, in regard to this matter, from the Secretary of the 34otorcab Owner-Drivers Association, I am directed by my association to request that you will kindly bring this letter to the notice of your readers.
Your eorrespondent states that "Not. merely were the men promised them ( the Extras ') in the first instance, but the Police required no machinery to enable the men
to account," but he agrees that. " undoubtedly the whole of the Extras ' now belong to the owners." The statement, that at the inception of the taxi-cab industry the extra fares were promised to the drivers, may be correct, in so far that the first type of taxi-cab was licensed to carry two passengers only, and that the fare of (id. for each passenger over two applied only on the introduction of the present four-seater cabs. Drivers are not legally entitled to charge any amount other than that registered on the taximeter, and in accordance with the scale of ordinary and extra fares fixed on the door of the cab, and passengers should therefore refuse to pay these extra. charges unless the full amount is registered by the driver. Gratuities to the drivers have, however, become general; it is not the intention of proprietors to endeavour to discontinue this practice, but on the other hand to encourage it. It is needless to say that at the inception of this industry motorcab proprietors very reasonably counted on the revenue that would accrue from extra fares, but, if it should be found that the payment of them cannot be controlled by present means, the consideration of raising the rate to one shilling per mile, including "Extras,' will become imperative.
Your correspondent's letter proceeds, "The ease for the men rests broadly on two grounds," but I need not say that, if it is illegal for the men to retain the " Extras," these grounds are consequently without foundation. If however, the drivers should be dissatisfied with their conditions of service, and it may be said there are few such, it is surely not the best method to adopt to retaliate by robbing their employers of the fares that are legally due to them.
I. presume the statement, that the amounts the drivers are forced to pay by the owners, and for which it is contended the " Extras " are a rough adjustment, refers more particularly to "bilks," but 1 would point out that the proprietors have recognized for some time past, the hardship of a driver " bilked' of his fare, and, in eases where drivers can give sufficient evidence of " bilking," their employers bear the loss.
In regard to the weekly wages of drivers, referred to in the remainder of your correspondent's letter, I must submit that the estimate is very much misrepresented. The earnings per day (given for three of the most-unremunerative months of the year) are stated to amount to 6s. 9d., and the cost of petrol at an average of 2s. Taking these figures at a glance, I think you will agree that an average week's work does not consist of five days per driver. The average mileage per gallon of petrol, for which the drivers are charged 8d., is 20 miles. The average daily earnings, with a consumption of three gallons of petrol during the months on which your correspondent bases his estimate, are returned at approximately 30s., the driver's commission amounting to 7s. 6d. My association is of opinion that a very-reasonable estimate of a week's work and wages for the three months under discussion would be six days at 7s. 6d. per day, amounting to £2 5s. Quite aside frum " Extras," and based on the consumption of petrol only, this shows an increase of 9d. per day, or 4s. 6d. per week, on the estimate of your correspondent, and is exclusive of " tips," which he states from actual experience amount to approximately 2s. per day. It may be added that the average daily earnings to which I refer are materially affected by the earnings of those drivers who, owing to incompetency or irregular working, fail to drive a cab a full day or a full week of six days, and it is felt that it is these drivers alone to Whom Mr. Davies attributes an average wage of 25s. per week. In this connection, may I draw yonr attention to one of the inaccuracies appearing in the letter of your correspondent he estimates a driver's average daily wages, for January, February and March, at Os. Pd., that, for the ensuing three months, his daily average will probably be much areater. and that, for the remaining six months, it will be at about the same as the three under discussion. From this, it will readily be seen that he estimates a driver's minimum wage at 6s. 9d. per day, but he then proeeeds to state that "for the year round, his net wages, apart from tips and extras, amount to 5s. per day: this is only 25s. per week." I think, therefore, it will be rather difficult to reconcile these varying statements.
As an illustration of the earning capacity of a 'London motorcah driver, the following instance of a driver in the employ of a member of this association may prove interesting to von. During the year 1909, the receipts of this driver, as shown by his taximeter, amounted to £600, and he stated that, together with his percentage of this amount, and tips and other emoluments, his net personal earnings amounted to £300.
In conclusion, may I say that the motive of your correspondent's letter is a matter for conjecture, inasmuch as he is the secretary of an association of drivers who are the proprietors of cabs driven by them, and whom the question of " Extras" and drivers' wages, would therefore not appear to affect.—Yours faithfully, The London Motorcab Proprietors Association, ALBERT E. Humus, Secretary. Queen Anne's Chambers, Tothill Street, S.W. 25th April, 1910.
Users' Experiences : Unladen Weight.
The Rditor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,143] Sir,—It is some four months since I had to chronicle a breakdown on the road ; this week, one of my drivels 'phoned through that his valve-gear quadrant had gone. It was not a very serious matter, and the machine was soon on its way again. The driver had complained that his engines were running a bit rough, and the breakdown was really due to want of inspection in time, owing to our being exceptionally busy. The proverbial stitch in time is of the greatest importance to carriers, whose work must he curried out with regularity to be of any real value.
I hear that the police of a certain borough, which has long been notorious for the stringency with which it applies the laws regulating heavy motorcar traffic, recently weighed a motor wagon, when it was unladen, and, because it weighed more than the registered weight painted on it, straightway condemned it. I don't suppose the owner will take any notice of this act of condemnation, which seems to me altogether outside the province of the police, and was probably performed without any regard to the usual allowances made on such occasions. Should, however, such a practice become popular with the police, it will raise some rather-knotty problems. In the first place, is it permissible for a motor-wagon owner to place additional fittings upon his machine, after registration, for the purpose of carrying on his business with greater convenience, such as a pole on which to hang his sheets, sides for his platform, or even the addition of a furniture-van body? Assuming that he may do these things, for the purpose of carrying his loads, is he obliged by law to stop his machine in the course of its work, dismember the ,same of all superfluous fittings, and submit to have the unladen weight of his machine tested by every borough and county authority through whose territory his machine passes? Assuming, further, that all this may happen according to the law as it is now, should the machine still prove overweight, who is the responsible party —the owners or the makers? Motor wagons are always registered before delivery, and are accepted by purchasers on the understanding that they are built in compliance with the regulations appertaining to them, the registration form being the maker's guarantee to the purchaser that such is actually the ease, A further point, while I r1111 writing about the police, is this: Why do these gentlemen always get their costs? I have known several cases dismissed, but I cannot recollect hearing of the police havimz, to pay costs. This seems to give them an undue advantage, to which they surely have no right. I should like to hear other opinions on this matter.
Our log sheet for the past week is as follows:Earnings, t80; tonnage, 192 ; mileage. 1,020; percentage of work done, 100: coke used. 11 tons 1. ewt. ; oil used (gear), 12 gallons. and (cylinder) 5 gallons.--Yours faithfully, MOTOR-WACON CARRIER."
[We find no anthnrity in the Heavy Motor Car Order, 1904, or elsewhere, to allow the noladen weight to be tested after registration. It is or no external effect or interest.–En.l