OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.
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Greater Safety on the Roads.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2222] Sir,—I read Mr. Wilkeg's letter in your isine of Oct. 12th with particular intetest, having just returned from a holiday spent in North Wales, where I did a fair amount of motoring to the .principal places Of interest. I can entirely endorse Mr. Wilkes's statements as to the quality of his company's vehicles and the way they are handled—as a matter of fact, all the machines working from Llandudno appeared to be the best available, and remarkably well kept and driven ; during many hundreds of miles covered I saw nothing that remotely approached reckless or • inconsiderate driving, and although the roads are generally on the narrow „side rwas never held up, and the drivers of the chars-Abanes could not have been more courteous iii making room, for passing—for one thing, all the .cars were fitted with mirrors, the absence of which is generally the _cause* of holding up. It wouldbe in -mutual benefit if some proprietors of chars-h-hanc•s from other parts of the country would visit North Wales just to see how the ears are run there, and take note of the meticulous care exercised in their upkeep
and operation.—Yours faithfully, F. J. Fano.
Discounts on Solid Motor Tyres.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
12223] Sir,—British tyre manufacturers, one large firm in particular, are conducting a very extensive advertising campaign to persuade users to purchase only British tyres. As buyers of about 22,000 worth of solid tyres per annum, we are naturally anxious to support British trade, but, on making inquiries for the new contract terms from the leading solid. tyre manufacturers, we find that we can obtain no better terms for 22,000 worth than any small trader requiring Xe0 worth ! This seems to us exceedingly short-sighted policy, calculated to drive buyers into the arms of the Americans, who offer reasonable inducements to place large orders. There. are still rebates on quantities for pneumatic tyres, but none for solids !—Yours faithfully, . SOLID/Tx; London.
Commercial Vehicle Design in Great Britain.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2224] Sir,—I have returned from a visit to the French Commercial Vehicle Show' and have read the leading article on page 304 of The Commercial Motor, and, rightly or wrongly, I feel that the writer of it desires to convey the impression that the French are ahead of the British in the design and construction of commercial vehicles. My own opinion is entirely the opposite, and I think it is greatly to be deplored that writers in this country are so ready to take every opportunity of condemning everything British'; and belauding the enterprise and products of the foreigner.
Take the front-wheel-brake question, upon which your writer appears to think that we are 'behind the times. From wide experience, I am quite satisfied that, for the Commercial verhiele, With its necessarily moderate speeds, Un necessary.front-wheel brakes are quite u
i necesSary. TO ndorporate these in commercial
vehicles would add considerably to the complication of the mechanism, to the cost of manufacture and to the cost of upkeep, thus enhancing the price to the consumer without any real or adequate advantage ; the net effect being the curtailing of the market for
these vehicles instead of its expansion, which is our chief object at the present day.
The motor trade has suffered much in the past from faddists who have attempted to stampede the public in demanding this or that ne-fv idea, incorporated into standard vehicles for no other reason than that it happened to be the popular fad at the time, and these wholly unnecessary changes of design are very much to the detriment of the Movement as a whole, and to everyone concerned in it.
• Another fetish in which your writer would appear to 'believe is what is known io newspaper parlance as "clean design." In a commercial vehicle, the principal function of which is the economical performance of its transport work, accessibility is infinitely more important; and wherever "clean design" entails a sacrifice of accessibility, as it so often does; or of other practical considerations, it is undoubtedly wrong, and here again I think the British designer has proved himself a much sounder engineer than his confreres on the Continent. —Yours faithfully,
T. BLACKWOOD MURRAY, Managing Director, Glasgow. ALSIOls.: MOTOR CAR, CO., LTD.
Ile Road Transport Industry and Unemployment Plans.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR..
[29251 Sir,—The Government's guarantee of support for railway outlay, involving many millions of public money, will certainly be recouped in general benefit. Does the road transport industry merit total exclusion from the field of Treasury assistance ?
The progress of this branch of our industry has been effected by British brains, brawn, and—as Lancashire would say---" brass." Its effect (in lowered distribution cost) ranges over a vast gamut, from cotton bales to "daily bread." Its existence to-day is a martyrdom at the hands of foreign competition and for shortened demand.
May I suggest one stone for two birds ? Roads and bridges are to be subsidized for construction. The traffic vehicles that will use (and abuse) them are—it is hardly an exaggeration to state—subsidized for destruction, since their taxation system ignores this factor of supreme importance to the public, who, after building must maintain ! Why, therefore, should not the Ministry of Trans• port offer really munificent prizes partly to designers and manufacturers and partly (in the form of licensing privileges) to users of such primary (motor,
• petrol or steam) and secondary .(trailer) vehicles as should emerge victorious from rigorous tests—under expert ••observation—in which the paramount criterion would be that of least destructiveness under load, whether by vibration or other-defect!
Is not the result of such survival ef the fittest one worthy on many and far-reaching grounds, and the spending of a few thousands of po-ands a reasonable insurance premium upon the eight-figure moneys so safeguarded I—Yours faithfully, (Signed WHELDON, B.A. (Cantab), StaPlehurst, Kent.