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Motor Volunteer Corps.

8th February 1917
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Page 1, 8th February 1917 — Motor Volunteer Corps.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

His Majesty the King, under date the 27th ult., has made a stirring appeal to all men who are able to join the Volunteers. He calls upon "men who from reasons of health and age are unable to stand the strain of war overseas " to volunteer for home defence. Ile announces that his uncle, Field-Marshal H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, has been appointed Colonel-inChief of the new Volunteer Forces, and concludes his appeal with these words :—" I am confident that all who are now prevented from undertaking active service abroad will join the Volunteers, and show to our enemies that my subjects of all ages are ready to serve in the defence of our beloved country."

A general Order has since been issued laying down the conditions of the re-organization of the Volunteers. There are to be three categories : Section A, consisting solely of men over military age who sign the new agreement and comply with its conditions ; Section B, consisting solely of men of military age who do likewise ; Section C, consisting of men, whether over or under military age, who are unable to undertake the new responsibility.

Men who enrol in categories A and B will be subject to the same -conditions, and will have to pass a physical standard which is not below the present military clastification of CI; they must agree to serve for the duration of the war ; they must, except in the case of Motor Volunteer Corps attend not fewer than ten drills per month (or more if not passed as efficient); they must be free to vacate their civil employment in the event of need, without detriment to any work of national importance.

We publish elsewhere in this issue (pages 515 and 510) the full text of Army Council Instruction No. 90, dated the 1411 ult., in which are set forth by authority the regulations for the establishment of Motor Volunteer Corps. We have no doubt that many readers and supporters of this journal will participate in the formation of such corps, or in the establishment of individual squadrons as parts of such corps. The secretary of the Commercial Motor Users Association, Mr. F. Q. Bristow, 83, Pall Mall, S.W., is working energetically in respect of the establishment of a corps for the County of the City of London, with the support of the Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor of London. FieldMarshal Sir Evelyn Wood, V.C., and Colonel O. T. B. Cobbett, V.D.

We shall be pleased to record in this journal, from time to time, appeals from any particular localities for the furtherance of any programme contributing to the strength of Motor Volunteer Corps, as regards their heavy-transport squadrons, and we hope that the adjutants or other organizers of such squadrons will not fail to communicate nasticulars of their activities and intentions to us. To-day's working conditions are indeed beset by difficulties but many users, we know, will both respond and help their men.

Military Representatives and Local Motorbus Services.

We have found, on taking the country as a whole, that the attitude of military representatives towards the staffs of motorbus undertakings has been fairly reasonable. There are, of course, some exceptions, as owners of motorbuses will be the first to remind us. Our own perusal of reports of discussions and decisions, in regard to such personnel, satisfies us that most of the " irregular " and unfavourable decisions have been more due to the personal idiosyncrasies of members of tribunals, than to excessive zeal on the part of military representatives.

While looking through a collection of reports concerning appeal cases during the month of January, we came across one in "The North Eastern Daily Gazette" for the 24th of that month, dealing with a decision of the Bishop Auckland Urban Tribunal. In this case, the attitude of the military representative, Lieut.-Colonel Wardle, was unusual. He is reported as having delivered himself thus :—

" Motorbuses are simply an evolution of laziness. People have been able to walk before, and they could do so again. If the evolution was continued we should find, a million years hence, that children would be born with wheels instead of legs."

These " military " (sic) views come ill from any officer, having regard to the admitted services to the nation of motorbuses, both at home and overseas, during the past 2i years. It is not for the good of the nation that people, most of them with urgent national business to do, as is testified by the bare fact of their being still in the country, should walk. That is wasteful. Despatch is essential to efficiency.

We are not surprised that several members of the Tribunal in this ease, reversing the more usual process to which we have referred earlier, joined issue with the military representative, and testified to the great usefulness to the community, to travellers, and residents, of motorbuses—adding that they regarded motorbuses as being almost as important as railways.

The case appears to us to be one of peculiar hardship, seeing that the United Automobile Services, Ltd., which company is responsible for the motorbus undertaking in the neighbourhood of Bishop Auckland, has lost 97 per cent, of its pre-war staff to the Colours. A subsequent letter to the local Press, from the manager of that company, Mr. E. B. Hutchinson, points out that ate company's motorbuses have taken the place of nearly 300 small horse-drawn tsars: this is striking testimony to the economy and efficiency of the motorbuses and to their far-reaching service to the local community, whilst also setting free many drivers and horses for the war. It will, indeed, be a bad day for local labour, if those who are left in the district of Bishop Auckland to "keep the wheels of industry turning have to spend extra hours walking to and from their work, thanks to Lieut.-Colonel Wardle's one-sided short-sightedness.

The Control of Removals.

Certain 'writersin the daily Press have hastened to deny our announcement of last week that Government action is contemplated in the direction of the control of private and trade removals. We may remind our sueporters that, when we, in January of last year, lirst of any newspaper announced the contemplated Governmental action in respect of the control of petrol, there were similar questionings and denials. It was not until several months later that the, intention tame to the knowledge of such' readee •

acceptors °fit-official denials. They then gave belated publicity to the proposals concerning petrol control, of which we had written so long before, and as to hich our correct inferences had enabled us to give :repeated and serious warnings in advance. As to the control of removals. Well ; there may be more known by May next—if not sooner.

Petrol According to Urgency.

-The Petrol Control Committee has for the past week or more been issuing the following reply to applicants for new or supplementary licences for petrol for cornmercialemotor uses :— • "The Petrol Control Committee have recently been advised by the Government that a further drastir eduction in the consumption of petrol is .. necessary in the national interest, and in these circumstances, they regret that they are unable to • entertain any application for a petrol licence unless it is supported by a recommendation frona D Government epartment."

This strengthening of the earlier regulations will no doubt cause not a little embarrassment and concern to many new purchasers of commercial vehicles. It means, in fact, that the test of title to a supply of petrol is now ability to produce proof that any particular commercial motor or fleet is engaged upon work of essential national importance. The regulation may appear to be a drastic one ; it is no doubt a , necessary one. It is one that will receive the endorsement of tacit assent from all right-minded men.

Changes of intention as regards class of use of many commercial motors may be involved before supplies can be sanctioned in particular cases, but we fail to see, having regard to the widespread demands which exist at the moment for essential transport, and to the prospective demands in connection with the conveyance of agricultural supplies and produce, that any commercial motor in the country need remain idle. It will possibly be of some assistance to owners to have some constructive suggestions from us as to their best course of procedure, in order that they may bring themselves within the new condition that is laid down. We must make it clear, in the first place, that holders of current licences, which licences do not expire until the end of May next, have no reason to concern themselves with the point which is now raised. It is the applicant for a supplementary licence, or for a new one, who is affected. If such an applicant can obtain direct approval from a Government Department, in writing, setting forth in terms that his application is supported by that Department, his ,case and course are clear, If he should happen to be a local taxicab or motorbus owner, a local carrier, or a, user who is concerned only with the movement of his own goods, he may perhaps find it best to begin locally, by personal application to the chief constable of his •district or to the officer in command of the nearest militory depot or hospital.. The competent authority on the spot has first to be satisfied that the element of essential national service is present for a new taxieeb or a new motorbus, approval might be sought on the grounds of necessity for the conveyance of •naval or military officers, or hospital occupants ; in the case of a new motor-haulage contractor, on the grounds of necessity in connection with food distribution : in the rase of any other new owner, in strict relation to his actual degree of connection with o20 munitions conveyance or other direct or indirect war transport, not forgetting agricultural transport. We are convinced that the best way to bring into existence a document, which will ultimately have . written upon it the magic words "I concur" by some official at headquarters, is to see one or other of the local officials as indicated.

Co-operative Delivery and

Central Clearing-houses1 Th'ebreliti-en–of stress to which civilian transport has been reduced must have the .effect of leading to closer co-ordinatione in all directions. Local schemes for co-operative delivery must be multiplied. Not even the fringe of this method of obtaining relief has been touched, and, wasteful parallel deliveries continue in towns and districts all over the country.

Another direction of relief, in favour of which we have frequently written, is the establishment of local clearing-houses, to the end that the factors of empty running and light loading shall lose their present high proportions. A correspondent this week again directs attention to possibilities of local effort, and we have recorded that some of our Chambers of Commerce, :are themselves taking the initiative, for example, at Birmingham. and Walsall. The solution of the two problems must be found, in the first place, locally. Central bureaus for the country can, of course, have no application in schemes of co-operative delivery. • They can perform no allembracing functions as "freight exchanges," unless branch organizations are established-in many chosen areas. Constructional effort, by means of gradual building up from a well-conceived beginning, is the most hopeful of methods. As our correspondent writes, the right man with the right knowedge • is wanted in each case—on the spot.

Standardized Ships : Standardized Agrimotors.

Considerable progress is being made with the official plans for the rapid production of standardized ships. It is for the furtherance of this programme that the Accommodation Committee is as a matter of fact seeking to give effect to its requisitioning of the R.A.C. Rapid production is becoming of recog nized importance in an increasing number of ind i ustries, and it promises n the near future to find a

place in this country in the agrimotor industry.

We are glad to know that more of our leading British commercial-motor makers are now starting definite agrimotor programmes. They will, no doubt, have weighed very fully the expert views of men like Mr. R. G. Patterson, a member of the Council of the Royal 'Agricultural Society of England, as published in our issue of the 29th June last—that is as regards desirable maximum weight and average performance capacity. They will, of course, have formed their own conclusion as to the incidence of agrintotor output to total factory production. We have been making a few inquiries, in order to help us in the direction of fixing one or two further factors in the problem. According to two gentlemen who are possessed of suitable experience both in America and England, any cheaper American-built agrimotor (selling under 2200) should have a life of 500 acres of ploughing per 2100 of first cost. If 2s. per acre (250) Ise spent upon such an agrimotor at the end of that quantity of work or equivalent work, the stated life should be .doubled. It will then be a paying proposition for the farmer. As to wheeldiameters, subject to certain exceptions for some classes of' work, there is snore to be said in favour of a 6-ft. wheel than a 3-ft. wheel, on the land. As to total gear reduction (and only one speed in each direction is required), this should be in the vicinity of 80 to 1, with a, high r.p.rn., say, not below 900. Some of these points indicate a departure from accepted practice, as manufacturers will appreciate.


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