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THE HAULIERS' INQUIRE WITHIN.

12th February 1924
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Page 18, 12th February 1924 — THE HAULIERS' INQUIRE WITHIN.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A Story with a Moral —Tables of Cost to Conform with Increased Price of Fuel.

IHAD a little business to do the other day, a few miles out along the Bath Road, beyond Hounslow, and a friend very kindly offered to take me there on his Ford car, a four-seater of the standard type. I accepted. the offer in the spirit in which it was made; and in due time we set out on our way. The 'first mile or so, and the first five minutes, were occupied in getting clear of the thickest of the traffic. After that, when we had passed Sloane Street and the risks attaching to any attempt to converse with the driver had become less intense, I addressed a few remarks to him about his choice of a car. I must admit that they were anything but well-mannered, but, at any rate, they were orthodox. We passed on—quite amicably—from that topic to the more interesting and useful one of car performance, and my friend told me that he averaged 25 miles per gallon on his machine, year in and year year. The . utmost concession I could get out of him was that a really prolonged spell of driving in London traffic might affect this figure to some slight extent, but certainly not much. At that we had to agree to differ.

Meantime, we were pounding along at a fine rate, showing a very dirty pair of rear mudguards to praciically everything else on the road that happened to be travelling in the same direction. Indeed, it was the astonishing way in which we were able to get ahead_ after any delay due to traffic or other cause which induced me to raise the question of fuel consumption, as it seemed to me .that, with the carburetter tuned up to give sueh rapid acceleration, there must be excessive use of fuel in the ordinary

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way, and I do not regard 25 miles per gallon as excessive consumption on that -type of car.

Anyhow, we quickly got so far as Chiswick, by the London General Omnibus Co.'s central overhaul works, opposite which, as all hauliers who pass that way must know, is a fuel-filling station. The sight of this establishment prompted me to inquire how we stood for Mel.

"Ample," said my friend. "I only filled up—eight gallons—a week ago." " And what mileage have you done meanwhile ? "

"Let me see. From home to town and back five times, say 10 miles each way--100 miles in ail. We've enough fuel left for another 100."

"We have," mark you, not we should have, or we ought to have, or anything like that, but" We have." Well, well. The result was as most of my readers will by this time have anticipated. About a mile from Isleworth, and on the London side. of it, the engine coughed and spluttered, coughed and spluttered, and then ceased even to cough and to splutter. We drew gently up to the side of the road and, without a, word, my friend removed the seat cushion and also the filler cap of the petrol tank, inserting a bar into the latter, and withdrawing it '—bone dry.

As this " friend" of mine boasts that he never needs to carry a spare tin of petrol, the only course open to us, short of asking some passing motorist to shoulder part of our trouble—and I drew the line at that--was a nice mile-walk into Isle,worth and a walk back again, carrying 18 lb. weight of petrol tin and petrol—which we did. The moral, of course, is obvious. Avaid swank ! If you own a touring car, it is merely folly' to exaggerate its performance, for it will only let you down and expose you eventually. If you own a goods lorry for carrying your own produce, it is more foolish still, for nobody is interested, and you may hold ip delivery of a valuable consignment of goods. If you are a. haulier, it is suicidal folly, because your mileage per gallon is one of the things upon which your hire charges are based. To exaggerate it in the manner, indicated is to rob yourself of legitimate profit.

The Importance of Knowing a Vehicle's Fuel Consumption.

Like the haulier or any other man, my friend, of course, had his excuses for this untoward occurrence. "The man could not have filled his tank," or" someone must have borrowed a couple of gallons without mentioning the fact," or "there may have been a leakage." None of these excuses is of any use when the cost of running is so vital as it is to the haulier. For him the fuel cost per. mile is expenditure on fuel per annum divided by number of miles per annum. Nothing else matters in that connection. The actual number of miles per gallon coveredby the vehicle is neither here nor there, and that is why, in none of the tables which I have ever published in connection w4th these articles, will there he found a figure of " miles per gallon " for any size of-petrol vehicle, or "miles per cwt." for any type of steamer. The term is almost valueless.

The temptation to make light of petrol consumption was serious enough a week ago with petrol at is. 3d. per gallon. It is much more serious now that it is 41d. a gallon dearer-an increase of 30 per cent. The last series of tables of running costs appeared in The Commercial Motor for November 27th of last year, when the price of petrol was is. 3d. per gallon. A complete revision of those tables, which filled nearly five pages of this journal, is quite out of the question. Those readers who are accustomed to the manipulation of figures themselves may very easily add 30 per cent. to the fuel cost, and vary the other figures affected by it accordingly. For those, however, who have not, that arithmetical facility, the accompanying brief schedules of alterations will be useful. They show, for the various sizes of petrol vehicle, the fuel cost per mile and the running cost per mile. These can be substituted for the corresponding figures in the existing table.

The Figure to be Added to Operating Costs and to Hire Charges.

As a further guide, I have added a column designated by the letter X. The quantity there given should be added to the operating cost in pence per mile for various weekly mileages and to the minimum charges per mile for various weekly mileages. The same figure may also be used, at the expense of a little more trouble to correct the amounts given in those tables for the " Total cost of operation per week" and the "Minimum charges per week."

To show how to use this figure I will answer an inquiry whiith has reached me this week from a correspondent who apparently has not seen the tables at all and to whom I am, as a matter of fact, replying direct. He wants to know the costs and charges fora four-tonner. He does not quote any weekly mileage, but, for our purpose, I will assume 200 miles. According 'to the small supplementary tables on this page the running cost per mile of a fourtonner is 7.11d. The operating cost at 200 miles per week will be 13.42d., the figure in the November tables, plus,.0.64d., which is the X figure from the new table, giving a total of I4.06d., the --otal operating cost per mile, so long as he runs a distance

A New Table of Fuel and Running Costs Arising Out of the Recent Increase in the Price of Petrol with a Figure X, Showing the Additional Operating Cost per Mile and the Necessary Addition to the Minimum Charge per Mile.

of 200 miles per week. The operating cost for other weekly mileages may be obtained in the same way. The cost per week will have to be found by multiplying 14.06d. by 200, giving ;ell 14s. 4d. per week. The hire charge per mile will be the existing figure, is. 9d. plus 0.64d. This may be is. aid. or is. 10d., according, to what the job is like. The weekly charge will

'again be 200 times this. , THE SKOTCH.

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Locations: London

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