"Before the Show" Dinner.
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The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders entertained members of the Press at dinner, on Thursday last, the 2nd inst., at the Grand Hotel, London. Mr. S. F. Edge, the President of the Society, occupied the chair, and other members of the industry present included : Messrs. Sidney Straker (Chairman, Commercial Vehicle Committee), Raymond Dennis, Arthur Spurrier, J. D. Siddeley, Lieut.-Colonel A. F. Mulliner, Messrs. R. Barry Cole, A. Brown, E. M. C. Instone, F. W. Shorland, A. S. Mayes-Smith, C. Jarrott, Frank Churchill, J. Maughfling, R. J. Paton, A. E. Meaden, J. H. Adams, W. Dewis, A. Norris, E. Citroen, R.. E. Wilson, F. W. Robson, L. M. Bergin, and P. Liversidge. The executive staff of the S.M.M.T. was represented by Mr. T. F. Woodfine (Secretary), Mr. IL A. Blackie (Exhibition manager), and Mr. C. D. Clayton (Press manager). The Press of the Empire was well represented.
The Toasts.
Mr. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith, Editor of THE COMMERC/AL MOTOR, submitted the toast of "The Exhibition." He thought it appropriate for two special reasons, that the company was assembled to mark the imminence of the Commercial Motor Vehicle Exhibition, which was to open at Olympia on the 18th of the month. These reasons were: the fact that the average four-per-cent. increase of railway rates had been in force only three days, and the fact that rubber had failed to sell as high as 3s. a lb., in a single instance, at the last auction sales. Both points were of good augury for the progress of the industry. The latest increase of railway rates was equivalent to an additional average inducement of 30s. per week to the hesitating buyer of the commercial motor vehicle to order one, whilst the position of the rubber market was a set-off to increases of fuel prices, and a guarantee of reduced damage to roads and lessened motor-maintenance charges. The growth of use of commercial motors demanded an exhibition. There were only five vehicles of the kind in use at the end of the year 1898, compared with a total of 36,500 at the present time. Official statistics did not present a true state of affairs, because they frequently only took into account " heavy motorcars," whereas large numbers of delivery vans weighed below two tons unladen, but these were none the less strictly commercial vehicles.
The speaker then proceeded to deal with some encouraging points in cost and performance experience, and the advantages of reduced congestion, due to the use of motor vehicles. He particularly mentioned the intention of a number of municipal authorities, with whom he had been in recent correspondence, to send deputations of selected members or officials to the Show. He pointed out that the yield of taxation on motors using Piccadilly was at the rate of 22250 per mile per annum, whilst the cost of road maintenance there was only at the rate of £1600 per mile per annum. Mr. Sidney Straker, in responding to the toast, expressed the view that something like 270,000,000 would have to be spent on the roads of the country before they were really thoroughly satisfactory for all motor transport purposes. Mr. Shrapnell-Smith had mentioned the fact that the yield of motor taxation for Piccadilly was largely in excess of the cost of maintenance, and he thought that fact was too often overlooked, but it was country roads that presented the real. problem. The number of exhibitors at the forthcoming Show would be well in excess of 200, and the variety of the exhibits. had never been equalled in any city of the world. He particularly hoped that the number of Colonial visitors would prove to. be satisfactory, and some 199 advices of such intended visitors had been received. The development of Colonial trade was of undoubted importance, and British manufacturers stood well in that regard.
Mr, Straker then proceeded to give a general summary of the typos of vehicles that would be on view, and referred to the appreciation of the Society on its having been granted the patronage of His Majesty the King for the Show, which was to be opened by H.R.H. Prince Arthur of Connaught. Judging by the interest which had been shown at this year'sRoyal Agricultural Show, which he, the speaker, had visited the day before, so far as the motor exhibits were concernedr he looked forward with confidence to a considerable measure of newly-found public interest in their own great Exhibition..
"The Guests."
Mr. S. F. Edge, in submitting the toast of "The Guests," commented on the enormous cost of cartage in London and other big cities. Commercial-motor vehicles alone could. simplify the problem of town transport, by quicker despatch and reduced congestion, and this was a problem quite distinct from long-distance country transport. He then proceeded to. refer to the extraordinary development of motorbus travelling at holiday times. The populace generally was finding that the way to see the country on a Sunday was to take a motorbus. A few years ago, no such opportunity had existed for people of moderate means, and the motorbus was conferring a wonderful benefit by helping town and country minds to mix. He welcomed all motoring developments that would help to alter the stagnation of mind which was found in the country, and he believed that putting agricultural labourers in charge of agricultural motors would make them changed 131E0 —more alert, more ready to show evidences of their being alive and possessed of ability, and more useful to the cominunity as a whole. The chauffeur of to-day was very much better than the coachman of old, and so would the agricultural population quickly become of a higher stamp and a higher standard after having been brought into contact with motors of one kind or another. He believed that all sections of the community would benefit by going to the Exhibition, and that they woad be educated by personal observation of the names of owners that would be found on the exhibits, and practically the whole of which names were household words.
The response was shared by Mr. H. Thornton Rutter(" Daily Telegraph "), Mr. F. Hinde (" Liverpool Post "),. Mr. N. K. Kearney (" Johannesburg Star "), Mr. H. Wyatt (" Motor Traction "), and a representative of "The Glasgow Herald."