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RURAL MAIL AND EXPRESS SERVICES.

12th September 1918
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Page 2, 12th September 1918 — RURAL MAIL AND EXPRESS SERVICES.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

, U NDOUBTEDLY, THERE IS an enormous field for usefulness open to the motor lorry in the

work of opening up the country districts and bringing them nearer the towns, in the delivery to and from the villages of produce and general requirements. For generations we have seen the old onehorse carrier's wagon slowly crawling from village to town, perhaps once, perhaps twice, a week, and doing useful work. The carrier's cart is however, to-day beginning to give place to the carrier's motor wagon with beneficial results, and the Government has, since the chortness of transport has made itself felt, been doing good work in organizing motor transport between towns to ensure, as far as possible, full loads each way and thus to avoid the hundreds of miles of waste travelling on empty return journeys which swallow up the profits of so many motor wagons. The United States, confronted with the same difficulties as ourselves, and particularly—owing to the greater distances—with the isolation of the country districts, is now taking in hand the organization of services which may very well be duplicated in this country, to the great benefit of thei population, urban and rural alike.

Recognizing that-the great problem of the villages and the farms is the ready marketing of the produce and that much greater effort to produce, especially on the Dart of tile small farms and cottagers, would be made but for the difficulty of disposing and delivering the produce, the U.S. Government is now establishing two distinct series of country motor services. One, under the auspices of the postal authorities, takes the form of a Rural Parcel Post Service, and the other, organized under the authorization and encouragement of the county and state organizations, a Rural Express .Servie..e. Theizlifference between the two is quite clearly defined. The Parcel p,ost•Service is confined to the conveyance of packages which come within the regulations of the parcel post. The other deals with larger consignments. Each-has its own sphere of particular usefulness, and the system might well be inaugurated here. It takes very little observation and pereeption to see what a tremendous wastage of effort and expense there is throughout our country districts under the present system. Every.little thing the farmer wants has to come from the towns, and all the produce he has for sale has to be transported to the towns. In the case of the large farms dealing with niany tons of produce, the farm organization is well able to deal with the goods on a fairly economical basis, as the. delivery is in bulk. .But, here; even the empty—or partially empty—return journey is waste. With the smaller quantities the difficulty is great, and the wastefulness of effort extreme. Every farm has its light cart, . and this is constantly being driven into town, perhaps 10 or 15 miles, usually by the farmer himself, to fetch or take in one or two small parcels of produce, or things required. With a regular, certain, reliable motor service, this valuable time, both of man and horse, could be saved, and man or master fully engaged on production. With a sure and ready means of transportation available, an enormous amount of food now wasted would be saved, and much more would be grown if the means of disposing of it, or rather of delivering it when disposed of, were at hand. Village residents do not buy much from each other, for everyone grows his own produce, and outside supply is not needed. Many people in the villages. would keep fowls or rab bits, or grow more: produce than sufficient for the needs of their own households, if they could dispose of it with a moderate and fixed charge for carriage, and thousands in the towns would be only too pleased to be able to buy good fresh eggs, poultry, butter and vegetables direct from the country producers, if they could procure ;them. Moreover, the wants of the country dwellers would be better met, as a post-card would bring the thing wanted by the next parcel mail, and if the system of collection of cash on delivery., which is used in the States, were adopted, it would be vastly appreciated. The one man—with helper— and lorry, which would do this work for a large neighbourhood, would do the same, work now calling for the use of dozens of responsible men and horses, doing more or less wasted mileage. So much for the small requirements of the com. munity dealt with under the Parcel Post Service. The Express Service would be equally useful. It would call for the employment of larger vehicles—three-ton Army Service lorries after the war might well be utilized for this purpose by the Government. These wagons would pick up from a farm, a calf, a pig, or a sheep, alive or dead, a crate of cabbages, a bushel or two of peas or beans, or a sack or two of cereals, for conveyance to the towns, and would bring back from the cities the implements, repair pasts, small machinery, fertilizers and household goods required by the farmers, and would prove a great boon to the smallholder, and help to provide a practical means of establishing our dischargeit bolcliers on the land when the war is over, by rendering it much mere possible for them to make it pay. Even where roadside railway siAtions are to be found within a mile or two, except where larger loads and longer distances are concerned, the direct service between town and country, between producer and consumer, would be a vast boon, and would save all the waste of time and damage in handling and the cost of terminal charges of the railways, which should be relieved of all this small traffic and reserved for their more legitimate work of dealing with bulk goods on long hauls.


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