Sick Pay for 23 Per Cent. of Staff
Page 39
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IN the year ended May 28 last, 23.07 per cent. of Edinburgh Transport Department's employees to whom the model sick-pay scheme applied, received benefit. Sick-pay amounted to £4,313.
The transport manager's annual report, which has just been issued, shows that the following ailments were responsible for absence from duty: Colds and influenza,. 15.7 per cent.; respiratory disorders, 8.2 per cent.; digestive ailments, 12 per cent.; rheumatism., etc., 9.6 per cent.; nervous troubles, 0.5 per cent., and unclassified, 54 per cent.
The department incurred a deficit of £100,437. The combined tram and bus undertaking carried 10.5m. fewer pas sengers than in the previous year. The trams lost 11.1m. passengers, whereas the buses gained im. Tramway total revenue of £1,312,399 compared with working expenses of £1,184,838. Netrevenue charges converted a balance of £127,561 into a deficit of £33,314.
Bus total revenue amounted to £980,384 and expenditure to £1,046.042. With net-revenue charges, the debit balance on the buses was £66,040.
Average working expanses per mile for the trams were 21.991d. and average total revenue 24.358d. The motorbuses worked at an average cost of 22.I24d. a mile and earned 20.921d. per mile.
The trams operated at an average speed of 9.304 m.p.h. and the buses at 10.334 m.p.h.
NEW REGISTRATION MARK SYSTEM
WITHIN a few months all the available registration marks for vehicle number plates in some parts of Great Britain will be exhausted. It is then proposed to introduce a new system of marks under which the letters will be placed after the numbers.
The Minister of Transport has decided on this method after considering various systems and consulting the police, the motoring organizations, and transport bodies. In most areas the change will not be necessary for many years.
Any combination of letters following the numbers in the new system will represent the same registration authority as they did when preceding the numbers. The total number of figures and letters in any registration mark will not be more than six and of these not more than four" will be figures.
CALCULATING WAGES QTATUTORY wages for road haulage e-) workers and wages agreed by the Road Haulage Executive are included in the R.H. Wage Calculator, which has just been published by the Queensbury Press, Ltd., Queens Road, Barking, at Is. 6d. (Is. 9d, by post).
It provides a convenient ready reckoner by which to calculate the wages for any week ranging from 44 hours to 72 hours. It also contains time-mileage charts for 20 m.p.h. and 30 m.p.h. vehicles, by means of which it is possible to see at a glance the mileage expected to be covered in any period up to 12 hours 55 minutes. MODERN METHOD OF STRAIN RECORDING
THE measurement of strain by electronic methods resolves itself into the accurate measurement of resistance changes in a length of wire. Of the various circuits available, the standard Wheatstone Bridge is the most suitable. This type of bridge circuit is
limited in sensitivity but in the case of dynamic work this presents little difficulty as a normal A.C. amplifier can be used.
Mr. S. F. Smith had this to say in a paper on electronic methods of measuring strain which he read before The Society of Engineers, in London, last week.
Describing the gauges used, the speaker said that these took the form of a wire grid mounted on a paper base. Materials having a high degree of resistivity were desired, such as nichrome, manganin and constantin, the lastnamed being used extensively.
In use, the gauge was cemented over the area to be measured and connected to an indicator, which was usually a cathode-ray oscilloscope. A permanent record could be obtained either by photography or with a chc. amplifier and pen recorder.
Some of the factors likely to introduce errors were the contact resistance of terminals, bad adhesion of the gauge, and reading errors. There was. too, a possibility of the gauge _being slightly out in its calibration, whilst temperature conditions could also influence the accuracy of a reading.
L.T.E. 20-seaters to be Replaced
ALL the 20-seat one-man-operated vehicles of the London Transport Executive are to be replaced. Thirty country routes are worked by these buses, replacement of which is overdue. Under the P.S.V. (Equipment and Use) Regulations, 1941, the Metropolitan Licensing Authority has sanctioned the use of 26-seat one-man-operated buses on 26 routes, as the smaller vehicles were sometimes inadequate to meet
traffic demands. •
The Executive has ordered 84 Guy Otter 26-seaters for use on these services. The machines will have Perkins P.6 engine's and bodywork by Eastern Coachworks, Ltd., Lowestoft, and the first. model is expected to be delivered early next year.
By the end of this month, the Executive will have completely re-equipped seven trolleybus routes in south-west London with 8-ft.-wide vehicles. Most of the new trolleybuses, which are 70seaters, are already in service. Seventyseven have been running since 1948 and the introduction of another 50 will release vehicles of normal width and permit the replacement. of some older trolleybuses in north and south-east London.
TRIBUNAL CUTS GRANT
Qappeal by the Railway and Road kJ Haulage Executives, the Transport (Appeal) Tribunal has reduced a grant made by the Scottish Licensing Authority to Macintyre, Ltd., 15, Duncan Street, Greenock. The company, which is chiefly engaged in carrying sugar for Greenock refineries, had been granted a licence for two extra vehicles, as it had been stated in court that lorries had had to be hired to deal with the work.
The Tribunal sanctioned the addition of only one vehicle. Mr. Hubert Hull, Q.C., president, said that the evidence did not justify a claim for two more harries.