The Needs of Transport.
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WE HAVE HEARD it argued, in reference to our advocacy of a Transport Executive, that it would be impossible, from a palatial hotel in the West End of London, with all the paraphernalia of a new Government Department, so to manipulate the nation's fleet of civilian motor vehicles that every one was kept constantly employed,,, and never ran from one destination to the next without a load. With the 'dictum we quite agree. Many efforts at traffic pooling and interchange of loads and journeys have been made since war broke out, and wherever success has been scored it has been in a small or concentrated area. Attempts to cover large areas, large fleets or large groups of deliveries have failed, just as excessive doses of medicine or a triple helping of a tasty dish will defeat the end desired.
For the manipulation of the individual vehicle or fleet we believe in decentralization—the local control office is the desirable authority. The Road Transport Executive must • deal with all the larger questions, and the larger questions only. It must take the broadest possible view, seek to increase the number of vehicles on the road (with all that is conveyed in that sentence), and so to co-ordinate the transport requirements of the Ministry of Munitions, the Ministry of Food, and other authorities, that, instead of overlapping, there is 'unity, and, instead of chaos and queues, there is food and efficiency.
The need for a strong man, ably assisted by men with knowledge, experience and technical training, is now urgent, and cannot be neglected by the War Cabinet.
Shall We Have Too Many Drivers?
T THE PRESENT TIME we are suffering rather from a shortage of many things than from a surplus of even a few. We are becoming accustomed to economies. We are banishing our extravagances. The war, however, is, in one of its many diverse effects, presenting us with a feW excess supplies, and there is one which occurs to us to which it were well to direct attention. We refer „to the war-time motor driver, and to a circumstance in connection with him and his kind concerning which it would appear timely to utter a warning. When war broke out there appeared to be no actual shortage of civilian drivers either for pleasure cars or for commercial vehicles. It was a pleasant, not very difficult, and not unremunerative employment. To-day we are carrying on in civilian life with women drivers, With under-age boys, and with over-age men. A very large proper:. tion of these substitutes have only become drivers during the period of hostilities. Again, many thousands of men have been trained 'as drivers for immediate Army services, either at the Front or in one or other of the many auxiliary branches. In addition, there are very large numbers of despatch riders, all of them competent to take a hand at the wheel of car or lorry.
At the present time, therefore, we probably have many thousands of more or less skilled drivers, both in and out of the Army, in excess of those in existence in 1914. With touring ears off the road with all but negligible exceptions, and with large numbers of commercial vehicles laid up for want of spares, it is probable that, taking all sources of supply into account, the numbers of skilled or partially-skilled drivers and prospective drivers are now at least equal to, and perhaps exceed, the requirements. When peace conditions are again established, a very large proportion of these trained men, women and boys will be available for civilian service, and, although it is not possible to secure a very close estimate of the number, it can be fairly assumed that the demand during a very considerable portion of the period of reconstruction will not equal the supply. We therefore regard the general tendency of many people to turn to motor-vehicle driving as an obvious, pleasant, remunerative and not too difficult form of occupation with an immediate future before it as disquieting. Nor are we convinced that it is desirable that various agencies, some of them urged by purely patriotic motives and others for reasons not unconnected with prok taking, should become too active in their endeavours to swell the ranks of trained motor drivers at the present time. We are rather convinced that much of such effort might be better directed in training men returned from the war to become active producers of some kind or another, and thus to fit themselves as prospective employees in our inflated factory organizations. We think it undesirable, taking all the circumstances into consideration, that unduly rosy prospects of certain employment as motor drivers, and that at relatively high rates, should be, held out in wholesaleterms for those whom it is desired to equip for the keen industrial competition which is certain to follow the renewal of peace conditions." • .
Replacing the Subvention Scheme.
WE MAY SAFELY assume that, when the l'Oar is over, the old subvention scheme for securing the availability of a sufficient number of vehicles 'of a type suitable for military service will not be resuscitated in its old form.All such schemes are based on the desirability of bringing into existence vehicles which have hitherto been lacking either in quantity, or as regards features of design which it is considered desirable to incorporate. The War Department, as we have seen, has power to take over in time of war any vehicles that it may fequ ire. The point is that, so long as the number of vehicles in civilian service is considered inadequate to meet the contingent military demand, some .considerable inducement must be offered to stimulate the supply. For this reason, the French and German subvention schemes were upon a very generous scale, but our Own was more modest as regards payments, because the demand was based on the presumed requirements of our old Expeditionary Force, and this country was particularly rich in suitable vehicles already engaged in civilian service.
In these circumstances there was no question of bringing additional vehicles into service by offering a big financial inducement. The only point was to direct design into certain channels, with a view to a fair degree of uniformity among all vehicles of subvention types. When the demand for such vehicles wais small, the cost of their construction was correspondingly high. They did not represent quite such good vable for money from the point of view of the civilian user as did the types already in ordinary service. The subvention was therefore intended to balance the increased cost of manufacturing to the Government's specification. Now the position is reversed. The number of existing vehicles known to be suitable for military service is immense. Our works have been concentrated upon the output of this type, and existing facilities are probably better capable of manufacturing these than any other type at the lowest possible cost. What we shall require, then, is something quite different from the old subsidy scheme. It will merely be necessary to ensure that the types already approved, or improved editions of them, continue to be manufac tured. This will be largely a matter of bringing civilian and military requirements so far as possible into line as regards such points as wheel diameter and the height of the platform above the ground. The military authorities will also have to see that the types to be approved and encouraged by them are not such as to be unnecessarily injurious to the roads, and that legislation aiming at road improvement does not discourage the production, of the types of' most military value. This really appears to mean better co-ordination between various Government departments, and in our opinion this principle of CO-ordination needs to be carried still further with a view to. popularizing types of military value and of uniform design in all parts of the Empire. The organization should .be such that, should it become necessary to concentrate military power in any part of the world, we should have ready to hand substantial fleets of transport vehicles, capable of being increased in number at short notice, by bringing over from other parts of the Empire fleets of similar vehicles, and not merely a, collection of machines of all sorts and sizes, which would be most difficult to kee' p in commission. The whole question appears to be one which ought to be discussed between all the Governments of the Empire, with a view to the creation of what would, in effect, be a permanent Motor Transport Reserve, each group of which would be capable of rapid concentration on some one centre. The drivers of all these Vehicles and the mechanics reisponsible for their maintenance would be ideally fitted for military service in the same capacities, and the whole organization, if carefully worked out, might, we 'think, he made a means of accelerating the developmentsOf many colonies and districts of great potential value.
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After-war Control.
WE ARE NOT a nation that approves in general of the exercise by the Government of any form of control that is not absolutely unavoidable. Particularly, we are all interested at the moment in securing that, directly the war is over, we shall be relieved of all those inconvenient war-' measures that made us wonder whether a free country is a thing of the past. if we thought that there was any immediate prospect of our industries coming permanently into the grasp of officialdom, there are many who would consider emigration.
For such reasons the title of the Imports and Exports (Temporary Control)Bill is not such as to en sure its friendly re*ception by those who do not study its provisions. Among those who do, we believe that only a small minority will take any exception to -it.
It is only by controlling and restricting imports that we are now enabled to supply ourselves with bare necessities. If-that oontrol were to cease immediately.
on the conclusion of the war, we should find ourselves with much of our shipping occupied in bringing home our men and war materials, and the remainder quite inadequate to import with sufficient rapidity the foodstuffs and the raw materials of industry which, we must then collect rapidly if we are to recover our markets and give good employment to our soldiers.
Just how long it will take to get back to a normal state of affairs we do not know. Those who framed this Bill believe that three years is the maximum time during which such special measures will be necessary, and if the Bill becomes law in its present form, this will be the period of its v"alidity. During that period, imparts and exports generally, or, if desired,' to and from certain countries, will be liable to restric tion which might in some cases amount to prohibition. Existing orders will continue automatically in force unless specifically withdrawn. Licences may be .granted for imports which would otherwise be prohibited, and the terms of granting licences may be varied. .
The Bill certainly seeks tdgive the Government what look like arbitrary powers, but its object is clearly apparent, and one cannot see how that object could be otherwise achieved. To the motor industry this Bill, if it goes through, may be a double bless ing, securing on the one hand a rapid replenishment of supplies of raw materials, and checking on the other the free introduction—for a. period which, in our opinion, it will ultimately be found advantageous to extend—of the products of the competitive industries of other countries.
Users' Conference a Means of Education.
IN THE STATES they have lately been going in for conferences of truck owners, and another such gathering is fixed for New York on 8th and 9th March. The topics on the agenda are intended to be of a nature helpful to the truck owner—questions of -quicker loading, better mechanical facilities, bonuses to loading gangs and other vital subjects. Views on the problems confronting commercial motor owners are sought and encouraged, and often men go away from the discussions with solutions of difficulties with which they have been faced for some time. A good point about these conferences is that no "sales talk" is allowed such manufacturers as attend.