The Motor Omnibus Industry and the War.
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By uManager.'
With the tightening grip of the Government on the trade of the country of late months, due to. the war, the question has arisen often as to which has been the most hard-hit trade. Each one, of course, thinks that his has been the Most hardly treated. The brewers and distillers, for instance, often call theffiselves more hard hit than others. Then there is the Press ; and there are many others. But, when one comes to look back on the period since August., 1914, and to think of the many blows which the motoromnibus industry has received owing to the war, and the innumerable restrictions placed upon their supplies of labour, fuel, and material—and even on the running of their vehicles, it seems almost incredible that any other business could have suffered so Much as this business, which, according to the Reserved Occupations Committee of the Government;bis stated to be of national importance to the extent of its being entitled to hold certain classes of men from Army service. It was rightly included by the Director of National Service in his List of Occupations of Primary Importance.
Passengers by Motorbus Hall Those by All Railways in the U.K.
It seems strange that the motor-omnibus industry, depleted as it now is, should still be carrying, passengers equal in number to half the total carryings of all the railways in the kingdom ; yet. such is the importance of the business. Few have realized this : that it has overcome many of the difficulties with which it has been confronted, and which two-and--ahalf years ago would have been considered insuperable. The fact that it is carrying on to-day shows, I venture to think, what a splendid spirit of-determination possesses those who have built it up, and reflects great credit on an industry which, after all, is only one of recent growth, with staffs hardly settled down to know each other: Indeed, in another ten years or so, it will be said that in 1914 the industry was only in its first infancy,' as,„it was then beginning to grow by leaps and bounds.
The Question of Vehicles.
The greatest blow struck against the-industry was undoubtedly that of the impressment by the War Office of large numbers, of vehicles in the summer and autumn of 1914. A big company, like the London General Omnibus Co., lost many vehicles—recently stated to be 1350 out of a total of some 3000 ; other companies lost half their fleets, and many owners had all their vehicles taken from them. The question of the effect of this huge withdrawal of travel facilities upon the trade of the country -may be ignored for the purpose of this article, but it can be readily imagined' that if any company, no matter whether it is a motor-omnibus company or what other kind of business it may be engaged in, has halfits earning power removed, the blow must necessarily be severe, if not vital, and it would probably be most difficult even to meet the necessary fixed" charges upon the capital employed.
Outputs Commandeered No Substitutes Obtainable.
The omnibus companies seem hitherto to have kept their heads above water, in spite of the terrible handicap under which they have been working for over two-and-a-half years, for it has been impossible to obtain other vehicles of a suitable nature. When the War Office impressed the buses, all makers of chassis of a suitable nature for omnibus use had their entire outputs commandeered at the same time, and this state of affairs has continued. It will continue till the end of the war. Owners were faced with two alternatives they could adopt the policy of going without other chassis, and of waiting until the makers could deliver suit. able 'vehicles ; or, they could obtain unsuitable or non-standard makes of vehicles, or American types. Which. was the better policy to adopt remains to ha seen, as we are net yet at the end.of the war, but each has had its own advocates, and doubtless there have been sound reasons in each case which guided the decision.
Passenger-carrying Bodies Left en the Hands ot Civilian Owners.
Not onlyxwere the chassis taken by the War Office, but the added; difficulty-was laid upon the omnibus owners of removing the bedies from them before the chaSsis were delivered. These bodies were, therefore, left -in most instances in the .hands of the owners ; they filled up•ruany garages, wit1-4 the result that other vehicles could. not and still cannot use them. Possibly, in addition, when the war is over, it may be found that. the type of chassis then delivered will not be suitable for their use. This has proved a formidable difficulty, as the bodies rectuire to be kept in order and insured, and are.certainly,.a drain upon the depleted resources of the owners. There is hope, now, as regards char-h-banes bodies, thanks to the C.M.U. A.
Impressment Anomalies.
One cannot pass by the question of the impressment of vehicles without referrim,t' briefly to the attitude adopted by ther War Department in regard to payment. The original idea, as contained in the Army Act, was 'of course that impressment officers would go about and buy up motor, vehicles at an assessed price, in the same way as they have in times past'bought-up.hOrses. But under this arrangement officers in various parts of the country adopted all kinds of different standards which, while in some cases the owners were satisfied, often_ meant thatthe compensation., offered was inadequate. The arrangement proved 'both unfair and unreasonable in .general.The faCt that, although the duty involved .considerable 'knowledge of values, and close calculation, in relation to condition, it should have ben. left to officers to decide on the •prices to be awarded in this way, has been distinctly unsatisfactory. One hopes that quite different arrangements willFbc enteredkinto as soon as the nation is able to review these matters. As the result of the-dissatisfaction caused by the awards) of' these officers, who were otherwise, I need, hardly say, most estimable young men, manyclainis were made on the War Office, and an enormous amount of correspondence resulte(d. Most, 65,the claims: .have now been settled in one way or another, but there is a shrewd idea prevalent that the War Offiee has, in most cases, by means of' the pressure that, such a Department can bring to bear, notgot the worst of the bargain.:
know very few eases indeed where anything like a genuine grievance has not been redressed, if the owner has himself behaved reasonably.—ED.]
Whether any compensation is going to be made to omnibus owners in respect of the losses incurred owing to the removal of buses st;ll remains an open point,to be decided by the Law Officers of the Crown and the Defence of Realm Losses Royal Commission.
'Supplies of Material.
Next to the withdrawal of the buses, which were the omnibus owners means of livelihood; there has arisen the question of the supply of material with which to keep the vehicles that were allowed to remain in a fit state to run. It will readily be understood by anyone having dealings with motor, vehicles that a, stock of spare parts to replace those worn out or broken is necessary.. It is generally found desirable to keep a stock of all parts likely to need renewal, either because they get broken or become . worn. The supply of these spare. parts for necessary renewals has been very much curtailed by the Ministry of Munitions. During 1910, the Ministry made arrangements with all Controlled Works that material should not be -supplied except in order of priority ;depending upon the importance from a national point f view of the work on which the vehicleswere engaged. The requirements of the Army and Navy and munition-making were naturally first to be considered, and then afterthis demand had been met those of other owners were allowed to be dealt with. Early in 1917, the shortage of supplies became worse, as the Ministry of Munitions gave a ruling to certain chassis makers that spare parts made up from material obtained under Class " A " certificates might only has obtained on the production of a Class " A " certificate. As the motorbus companies of the kingdom -were generally supplied under Class " B," i.e., work of national importance but not direct naval dr military work, the situation became disquieting, and it is so now, although it, is understood that some arrangement will be honoured by which urgently-needed spareparts will be supplied to omnibus owners. , Man Power.
Of all the serious difficulties with which the omnibus owners have been faced since the declaration of war, the question of the supply of skilled men necessary to maintain the omnibus services has undoubtedly been second only to the question of impressment. Quite differently to some occupations, the utmost pressure to enlist was from the very start put upon the two classes of men which are essential to the industry—drivers and mechanics. These men were, straightaway, in the first week, in August, 1914, offered, in the case of drivers, fis. per day, and in the
ease of mechanics 10s. per day. Considering the .facts that separation allowance was also given and the men received uniform and rations in the Army, the equivalents to civilian pay were about £3 10s. per week for drivers, and £5 per week for mechanics. . This high pay, in view of the fact that most.drivers in -ordinary life received about 22 per week and mechanics about .45s., was a very great inducement for these men to enlist, and a great proportion of men actually did so. Thus, at the very outset, the industry was considerably embarrassed for staff. In addition, very shortly after, and especially during the summer of 1915, the question of munitions arose, with an additional strong call to all skilled mechanics. These men were offered high wages, as well as an allowance, if they lived away from their homes ; in consequence, considerable numbers accepted the call, and the omnibus staffs were again depleted.
Transfers to Munition Factories.
• In the spring of 1915, the pressure ,of mechanics to transfer their services to Government work was very great. Various munition makers and Government munition factories were offering by advertisement very high wages, with the result that there was a great deal of change of employment among mechanics. A mechanic could, at that time, easily transfer himself to other work where he might obtain considerably more money. This state of affairs, and the great unrest whiCh it produced in engineering circles, eventually became‘a serious menace to the ananufacture of munitions. To prevent it, an Order was issued under the Defence of the Realm Act on the 29th of April, 1915. .Among the provisions of this Order, it ' stated that : " Noaaerson should directly or indirectly by ad vertisement or otherwise take any step with a view to inducing " (a) Any person employed in any other factory or workshop on Government work to leave his employment ; (b) Any person resident at a distance of more than 10 miles from the occupier's factory to accept employment therein, otherwise than by notifying vacancies to a Labour Exchange."
This regulation amounted -practically to a refusal to allow the industry to engage any more mechanics, for the Labour Exchanges,. to whom vacancies might, it is true, be notified, had instructions that they must place the men who offered themselves in munition factories. Mechanics, however, were at perfect liberty to leave, if they so desired, and the industry, although it has subsequently repeatedly been classified as performing work of national importance, was not given the powers which "-controlled establishments" had, under which a mechanic, if he left their employment, was not allowed to obtain work elsewhere without having a "leaving certificate," in order to obtailk which he had to give some good and sufficient reason.
In the winter of 1915, the present Group System of Army enlistment was brought into operation, and shortly after, in connection with this, *as issued a Government "List of Starred Trades," the men in which were not to be called up. In the first list publishpd, the omnibus industry was not shown, although tramways were included, but this omission was speedily put right when the matter was represented to the authorities by the Omnibus Owners Federation.
Regulations Which Are Not Observed.
This inclusion of certain specified classes of men engaged in the omnibus industry (I think it is no secret to say that the Reserved Occupations Committee did not include one half the categories of men represented as necessary by the Federation) was undoubtedly of assistance in protecting essential men at the beginning, when there were many men being called up, but since the autumn of 1916 the military authorities—in spite of the list of CertifiedOccupations as issued under the Authority of the Army Council—have made endeavours to obtain men from their employment in these categories, representing in each case (as opposed to the Government statement that the men in. question are engaged on work of national importance,and in the opinion of the Government should not be enlisted in the Army) their view that the men were of more service if in the Army. This struggle between the military and the occupations classified in the list is one which is well known to everybody, and need not be further touchedupon, except to say that, from the point of view of the omnibus owners, who, through their association repeatedly supply details of all employees of military age to the Reserved Occupations Committee. it is unsatisfactory that the local military officials in 'different parts of the country should question the ruling given by the Committee under the authority of the Army Council. Those at headquarters, through which the instructions are issued, have full details of the men employed in the industry, while the local military people have no such knowledge.
An Unequalled Record.
At the present stage, the industry has been almost compktely depleted of physically-fit men of military age. The writer is aware of several companies which have changed practically every member of their staffs since 1914. The percentage of enlistment of theoriginal staff into the Army or munition works would, from a calculation which has been made' be between 90 and 97 per cent. This may be compares' with about 25 per cent. enlistment from the various railway eompanies.
(To be concluded nest week.)