An Impetus to Municipal Purchases of Motors.
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S A general rule, chiefs of the highway departments and engineers of the various county, county borough, municipal, and urban district authorities have, all along, been sound on the question of the employment of the motor vehicle in connection with the cleansing of roads, refuse collection, and road construction and maintenance. But it has not been at all easy to convince the committees who had the right to approve or veto expenditure upon new plant. Made up of the local tradesmen, with a strong sprinkling of the auctioneers and estate agents and the legal lights of the locality, the committees entrusted with the highways and the wbrks were seldom qualified, either in knowledge or experience, to pass a useful opinio-n upon u change over from horses to motors.
But the conditions are rapidly altering, for the experience of the more enterprising councils has become available, and it is now capable of ready proof that motor haulage is cheaper than horse haulage. The Highways Department of the City of Westminster, as shown in the latest returns prepared by the city comptroller, is able .to report that the cost of handling refuse by means of its motor lorries works out at 5s. 9d. per ton, whereas by means of horses the coat runs up to 8s. 8d. per ton. Since the report. was prepared the cost of petrol, wages, horse fodder, hire, etc., has been reduced, so that each mode of transport shows a lower -cost figure, but in no circumstances would it be possible for horsed transport to approach mechanical transport for efficiency or economy of working.
The City Engineer of the Norwich County Borough Council, in an article which appears in this issue, shows that his costs for haulage (in the 21 weeks ending August 25th, 1.920) were 2s. 0.5d. per tonmile for 31ton petrol wagons, 2s. 7.7d. per ton-mile for 5 and 6 ton steam wagons, and 3s. 2d. per tonmile for horses. The cost of loading gravel into motor vehicles, transporting it six miles, tipping, and returning empty worked out at only is.. 9d. per ton-mile for the 3 ton petrol wagons and Is. 10d. per ton-mile for 6 ton steam wagons.
In the British Isles there are employed in municipal service (according to a census taken by the Editor of The Municipal Journal) 3,538 motor vehicles. They a-re used by surveyors and works departments for road making and maintenance, by the highway
departments in refuse collecting, street sweeping, gulley emptying and flushing, by fire brigades, by the police, health, tramway, and electricity departments, end, in fact, in all sections of municipal undertakings. s .
The organization of a demonstration in London of mechanically propelled vehicles used in municipal work in connection, with the conference of members of the Institution of Municipal and County Engineers this week is a particularly happy idea, and we attach importance to it because we feel that the right kind of appliance will thus be brought before the right kind of people, and this issue of The' Commerclal Motor has been framed with the intention of bringing before the notice of the engineers valuable information which ordinarily is not readily available in a compact form.
Municipal Vehicles : The Question of Control.
0 F THE methods of operating and controlling municipal fleets, the two which seem the most general may be claseified under the headings of (1) departmental, and (2) centralized control.
The former of these has been evolved, in many eases, through the initiative of municipal committees, such, for example, as the Sanitary Committee, which arranges for the removal of house refuse to the destructor depots. The Highways Committee may act similarly, and other departments likewise. The -result is that, under the roof of one municipal building, there may be half-a-dozen departments each controlling a section of a big municipal fleet. The alternative—centralized control—means that. a special department exists (it might be the borough engineer's or the highways department) which, under the guidance of experts, advises the various corporation committees which are the best types of vehicle to , employ, why, when, and in all circumstances. The vehicles, whilst nominally owned by the committee which makes the requisition for them, remain under fhe control of the organization which supervises its operation and sees that it is being worked to the best advantage. This system enables useful records to be made of the service of each vehicle, together With interesting statistical information for the purpose of comparison of the respective types. Many corporations owning both horses and motors hire additional vehicles, but instead of each department aeting individually, place their orders through what is called by one corporation "The Horse and Motors Committee."
A corporation fleet administers to the serviee. of a community. The best methods of administration can only be decided by the corporations themselves, after paying due regard to local conditions and to the methods of other corporations.
Commercial Aviation at the Parting of the Ways.
HE FAILURE to realize the benefits of our control of aircraft is a bitter disappointment to those of us—visionaries, perhaps—who, before human flight by aeroplane was feasible and before the production of the dirigible airship, imagined an extraordinary accretion of benefit to the human race when flying should become possible. The aeroplane can transport passengers and fine goods over short distances at a marvellous speed. The airship of to-day can shorten the time of the journey between two distant points, -now connected by fast train and steamship services, by 60 per cent. Yet the Government, unable itself to establish and develop the airship services, experiences a reluctance on the part of financiers and commercial magnates to take over the existing heavier than air cat, airship stations, plant and equipment, at a gift, to which only the( most reasonable of conditions are attached.
• The work of the Design and Construction Department of the Air Ministry, in producing such a magnificent ship as R38 now on the point of launching, calls for the highest praise. She is a wonderful achievement, but one that was only rendered possible by American enterprise and money. A fleet of such vessels would link up our far-flung Empire by rapid aerial communications, would be of considerable service from a commercial and financial point of view, and, in difficulties and emergencies—national and individual—could be of incalculable value. The airships, the trained crews, and ground staffs, and all the necessary facilities exist for putting this boon at the service of the British nation, and the forthcoming visit of the Dominion Prime Ministers will, no doubt, afford the opportunity desired for demonstrating the possibilities and for securing their support to a scheme for bringing the bonds of empire even closer together. In the meantime, we commend the action of the Air Ministry, in seeking to enlighten the Press and, through them, to educate the public to the advantages that the airship is able to offer. Persistenee now will bring commercial aviation into a sound position a quarter of a, century sooner than would be possible if the existing craft, plant and facilities were scrapped and the staff dispersed.