News of the Week
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CLEARING HOUSES INCLUDED IN M.O.W.T. HAULAGE SCHEME
ALL who have been accustomed to use the services of its member's for the movement of traffic or who "may wish to do so in future, are informed by the National Conference of Read Transport Clearing Houses that it has been notified by the M.O.W.T. that clearing houses are recognized, by the Ministry's Road Haulage Organization as the agents of consignors.
FUrther, all Area Road flaulage Officers and Unit Controllers have been instructed by the Ministry to accept traffic, subject to its suitability for road movement, from clearing houses..
It is also understood that it is not the desire of the Ministry to interfere with the domestic arrangements of controlled undertakings in respect of garaging and servicing vehicles when away from their home 'bases. _Clearing houses, as accredited agents of the undertakings, can continue to act in this capacity, reporting the availability of vehicles to the appropriate Unit Coutrollers for traffic direction.
In addition, the services of clearing houses are fully available as usual forall classes of excluded and specialized traffic.
VISIT BIRMINGHAM TYRE 'ECONOMY SHOW I T should be noted that iniitation '.cards to the Tyre Economy Exhibition, Grand Hotel, Birmingham, will cover any number of visitors from the concerns to which they are issued. The original arrangement, whereby • operators and their drivers were given a specific time and date for attendance, has been cancelled. Now, any of the may. call do any date within the opening times up to the closing date on June 26, but it is desirable that they should arrive at the beginning of a session, as a lecture and a talkie film are included in the programme. Tickets and details are obtainable from all authorized tyre depots in Region No. 9. The Exhibition is open at the following' times:— Mondays to Fridays: 10.30 to 11.30 a.m., 2.30 to 3.30 p.m., 6.30 to 7,30 p.m. Saturdays: as above, but 6 to 7 pro. Sundays: 2.30 to 3.30 p.m., 6 to 7 p.m.
OFF-THE-RATION PETROL SALE: LORRY DRIVER FINED
AHAULAGE driver's sales of petrol to a taxicab proprietor resulted in both of them being fined at Bradford West Riding Police Court, last week. The lorry driver, employed by a Cleckheaton haulier, was fined £6 for supplying petrol without a licence, and for acquiring the fuel the cab
• proprietor was fined £20 and ordered to pay 9s. costs. Both defendants pleaded "Guilty."
For the prosecution, it was stated that it was estimated that 35 to 40 gallons of petrol had been sold t6 the cab owner, who paid 2s. per gallon for
it. Defendingsolicitor said that the driver's•job brought him into contact
with many people in the nuitor business, and he was tempted by an opportunity to get petrol " off the ration." As the retail price of petrol at the time in question was Is. 1 1 id. per gallon, the profit he had made was negligible.
MR. R., C. ROOTES PREDICTS DEARTH OF MOTOR ENGINEERS. WHILE addressing pupils and W apprentices of the Humber and Hillman companies at the annual prizegiving on June 1, Mr. R. C. Rootes said that the motor industry is one of the most highly developed engineering industries of to-day and one of the most progressive. Looking to the future, it was his view that there may be a great shortage of men with sound engineering knowledge, whilst we Wanted to look forward to engineering reaching higher standards than in the past. Research, new methods and new products will all have to be developed. Unless we become much more efficient than in the past in engineer.ing and similar developments; all our ideas for better social conditions will fail.
APRIL ROAD DEATHS SHOW • BIG DROP •
FEWER road deaths were reported in April last than in' any month for the past 10 years. The total of 396, compared with April, 1942, shows a decrease of. 169, or an average saving of five or six lives every day. Among adult pedestrians, the number of deaths fell from 170 ip 106.. By contrast, the reduction in the number of adults killed shows up 'more Clearly the high rate of accidents among children. .Nearly half the pedestrians killed were under 15 years of age.
FORD TRADING PROFIT HIGHER IN 1942
FOR 1942, the Ford Motor Co., Ltd., announces a trading profit of £2,303,891, after making provision for an unstatel reserve fpr E.P.T. based upon profit earned during the year. In 1941, the trading profit was £2;051,108, when £1,365,703 was set aside for E.P.T. The net balance is £515,169, comparedwith £356,625. after the following amounts have been deducted:—Depreciation and obsolescence, £798,654;' income tax. £749,900; pensions, £221,876; boys' training school and interest On employees' savings, £15,229; directors:
• fees, £8.063. A sum of £100,000 is provided or contingencies.
As recently stated, a 6 per cent. dividend is to be paid, which will take £27000, leaving. £1,191,010 to he carried forward against £1,050,841 brought in.
SAND AND BALLAST HAULAGE RATES
WE rather over-abbreviated our paragraph last week regarding sand and ballaSt rates to aerodrome sites which took effect from June 4, We would now add that the home base must be considered as one at a "'reasonable " distance. from the site, and the allowance of Is. per mile, where vehicles have to be brought from some distance. tp a base, is permitted for only one journey at the beginning 'and one journey at the termination of the contract.
The 'reasonable distance for a home base is linked with the 'factor, of whether subsistence allowance has to be paid or not. If not, the rate for empty running usually becomes admissible, but anything over 20 mile§ would probably not he allowed; even this distance might be considered excessive.
PERSONAL PARS
MR. W. G. COOPER has been re-elected area chairman of the East Midland Area of the A.R.O. for the ensuing year, with Mn. A. W. DARBY
as vice-chairman. They have also been elected to the Haulage Sectional Board.
Mn. R. E. Cox, M.Sc., A.M.I.E.E., has been appointed works superintendent in the Newcastle-on-Tyne Passenger Transport Department. For the past three and a half years he has been assistant rolling-stock engineer in Bradford Corporation's passengertransport undertaking, and previously he was with the London Passenger Transport Board.
MR. J, DONALDSON-IRMSON, son of the late Lieut.-Colonel DonaldsonHudson, who was chairman of Edward Box and Co., Ltd., Liverpool, was the man who, in 1936, bought from the Receiver the assets of the M.R.S. Company. He has now gone in for a new enterprise, having purchased the Leicester Square Theatre, although he is still a director of Edward Box and Co., Ltd., which operates the huge Scammell Gardner-engined 100-tonner.
DEATH OF MR. W. E. BENNETT much regret to record the death VI' of Mr. W. E. Bennett. formerly of Tilling and British Automobile Traction, Ltd., and joint secretary of the National Council for the Omnibus Industry, which occurred on May 28 after a brief illness. Mr. Bennett, who was 61 years‘of age, has spent the whole of his business life in the road passenger transport industry, joining the British Electric Traction Co., Ltd., in 1899. In 1905 he became secretary to the British Automobile Development Co., Ltd.: which was formed to undertake development work in connection with motorbuses. It was in 1912 that the company's name was changed to the British Automobile Traction Co., Ltd., until 1928, when it adopted the title of Tilling and British Automobile Traction, Ltd. More recently Mr. Bennett had held the position of secretary to the Conference of Omnibus Companies, and was joint secretary with Mr. ,Harold Clay to the National Council for the Omnibus Indnstry. At the time of his death he was secretary to the newly formed B.E.T. Omnibus Services, Ltd.
Mr. Bennett's successor as secretary to this company is Mr. R. J. Ellery, who will hold this position in addition to his present one as secretary of the la.E.T. Federation, Ltd.
OPERATORS' SUPPORT FOR "WINGS FOR VICTORY" EFFORT 'THE first fortnight of the campaign 1 which is being led by the NorthEastern Transport Commissioner, Major F. S. Eastwood, to enlist the support ofthe Region's road-transport operators for " Wings for Victory " war savings efforts, has brought £91,000 towards the £250,000 investments target of the campaign. THEFT OF LOOSE LOADS IN _TRANSIT
THE belief that the systematic thieving of food products in transit had become an industry, was expressed by a West of Scotland magistrate when trying a case in which the theft of sugar was proved. • In this instance, heard in Greenock Sheriff Court, a transport driver was sentenced to two months' imprisonment for the theft of 24 lb, of sugar.
A constable noticed sugar trickling on to the roadway and upon investi
gating found a small bag, between two sacks. of sugar, which was being filled slowly from the sacks_ by the use of a small piece of tubing; a Similar bag filled with sugar was found in the' driver's cab.
GAS PRODUCERS. MAKE HEADWAY IN AUSTRALIA DRIOR td the war, all efforts in this JT country to promote interest in the use of producer gas for vehic.le prolaulsion were put forward by private enterprise, attempts to arouse the interest of the Government was met 'with the customary apathy Whilst private enterprise was responsible for the pioneer work on . gas producers in Australia, the Governments of the various States saw fit 'officially, to associate themselves with the efforts being made, -although, perhaps, to give only moral support. To-day, the production of producergas plants forms a big part of Australia's industrial effort. This has come about largely as the result of the pioneer efforts of Mr. Atibrek Melrose, an Austin agent, of Perth, Western Australia. One of the chief problems he had to solve, was that of weight, his original trailer outfit being considered too heavy at 4 cwt. • Mr. Melrose eventually solved the problem," and, to-day there are three models known as the Melrose Junior (I cwt.), Senior' (2' twt. unladen), and the Truck (2i cwt.). We understand that with a Mel rose Truck plant fitted to a lorry, 13 'tons of timber is the average load carried over difficult country. A point of interest in the design lies in the, grate which, by preventing, the formation of clinker, removes one of the annoying features of gas-producer operation.
HAND OVER YOUR BOOKS
Pl.A BIG drive is in progress to collect millions of volumes for the Paper Salvage Drive, particularly in the
London area. Chelmsford averaged five and a half books per head of the population, Harwich,' four and a half books. So come on, London! RAIL PANEL CHAIRMAN URGES ' MAXIMUM CO-OPERATION " IN the past, we transport people • 'spent much of our strength in fighting one another, and were nearing that point where we should no lOnger be
efficient. The ,War has taught us that this must never be allowed to happen. Each has a place in the economy, of the Nation."
So spoke Mr. A. S. Sewell, chairman of the railway panel of the Road anal Rail Central Conference, when he .addreised a meeting ,of the Northern 'and Southern Scottish Regional Coinmittees of the Conference at Perth.
He was urging the maximum co-operation between road and rail to ensure thit each form of transport is used to the greatest national advantage.
".If between us we cannot lay plans and carry them out to give the Nation the transport services it needs,' he
said, "" We risk being 'directed.' " • ' • CONFERENCE ON. TOWN PLANNING AND EMPLOYMENT
THE Town and Country Planning Association, 13, Suffolk Street, London, S.W.1, will hold a Conference at the Waldorf Hotel, Aldwych, London, W.C.2, on July 3 and 4. At this will be considered certain problems of national post-war reconstruction, which involve the relationships between town and. country planning. housing and a policy of full ,employment.
The Conference is open to nonmembers,but new ones are welcomed.. The individual subscription is £1 Is. per annum; local authorities and concerns, minimum, £2 2s.
The fees are: Members—Conference and report only, 15s.; Conference, report and lunches (two days), Al 12s. Non-members—£1 5s. and £2 2i. respectively... Affiliated local authorities can send two delegates at member's rate.