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The Char-a-banes Position and the Classification of Paraffin.

14th September 1916
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Page 1, 14th September 1916 — The Char-a-banes Position and the Classification of Paraffin.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Owners of chars-a-bancs are undoubtedly hard hit by the effects of the recent Order in.Council, which Order became operative on the 1st inst. The position is one which has been receiving the utmost possible attention at our hands, and it is one with which we have already dealt in print—going as far as we felt it expedient to go—in our issues of the 24th and 31st ult., and of the 7th inst.

The action and attitude of the police appear to he characterized by a certain amount of divergence. This state of affairs we trace directly to the absence of any definite and firm circular from the Home Secretary. Inquiries which were instituted at the instance of the C.M.U.A., before the end of last month, produced results such as to justify the declaration by the Association in the course of its memorandum whiCh we published a fortnight ago, that "any fuel that does not pay the petrol tax can be used." Later inquiries, which were prosecuted attar the emergency meeting of the General Committee of the Association, made it clear, as we explained in our issue of a week ago (page 39 ante), that any fuel below 0.800 sp. gr. may not be used, except on sanctioned trips.

Owners of motor chars-a-bancs, i'vho may wish to continue to use paraffin, and who may be hindered from starting up in their depots on petrol, are in Borne cases within our knowledge being forced to adopt technical evasions in order to overcome hypertechnical constructions of the Order. They are, as we have pointed out in earlier issues, clearly entitled to run their motor chars-a-bancs empty, using petrol, and this provides the opportunity for warming up. It is lamentable that owners should be reduced to such methods, but these are the facts.

The ruling of the Home Office in respect of the use of paraffin is awaited. We expect that paraffin, provided it has a specific gravity not below 0.800, and provided it flashes at a temperature not below 73 degrees Fahrenheit (Abel closed test), is not to be regarded as an "inflammable hydrocarbon" for the purposes of the Order, any more than it is so regarded by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise. It is, we contend, open to owners of chars-abanes to use paraffin when their vehicles are engaged on work which does not fall within the exceptions of the Order, compliance with any one of which exceptions, three in number, ipso facto gives sanction for the use of petrol. We hope that readers of TEE CommEaciamMoTox who are owners of chars-a-banes, and who find their businesses in a state of temporary dislocation by reason of the Order in Council, will do their utmost to pay due heed to the national necessity. We do not refer to the shortage of petrol, because that shortage will shortly cure itself, although too late to affect this season's use of chars-a-banes. We refer to the disturbing influence of pleasure-taking unabashed, when such pleasure-taking is paraded —as it must inevitably be—under the eyes of munition and other workers who are being asked to keep their " noses on the grindstone." We believe that this aspect of the position is the real consideration by which the Government has been moved, although we have not so far been able to place our finger upon the particular individuals whose activities secured the adoption of the Order in Council.

A mistake has undoubtedly been made by somebody, in that the true cause for the Order has never been authoritatively give-n. The public at large, as well as owners of chars-a-bancs, have been left to grope in the dark, and to form their own inconclusive opinions. ThiS is not as it should be. Supplies of petrol, for use in motor chars-it-banes, had been sanctioned by the Petrol. Control Committee, and the necessary licences issued, less than three weeks .before the Order in Council was promulgated. Such a lack of co-ordination indicates culpable negligence on the part of someone, but we doubt if we shall ever know who was to blame. The net result, of course, was one month's grace for the char-abanes proprietors—the month of August.

Owners have been advised, by circular letter from the C.M.U.A., after several deliberations between London committees and local committees, to endeavour to hire their machines (a) to the Director of Munitions Mechanical Transport, or (b) to owners of chars-a-bones who are engaged upon munition or other sanctioned class of service. Police approval is also, of course, an alternative. They have been further advised to do their utmost to mitigate their losses, in order to strengthen their case hereafter before the appropriate Government Committee which will consider their &Alms for compensation. Such claims, we consider, should prove to be well founded, in that the character of the losses is strictly comparable to others which are known to fall within the purview of the Defence of the Realm Losses Commission. As to that, the C.M.U.A. is drawing up a course of procedure. A further meeting of the General Committee took place on Tuesday afternoon last, the 12th inst.

It is better, we agree, as matters stand, to endeavour to -accommodate oneself to the very positive decision of the powers that be, that motor charsiiebancs shall not be used except for particular classes of work, than hopelessly to "kick against the pricks." A decision to abide by existing conditions, coupled with reasonable efforts to employ the machines on other work,. will probably be found in the long run to make most smoothly for the good of the country at large, and also of the proprietors.

Depreciation of Commercial Motors Under War Conditions.

Not a few owners of commercial motors are experiencing difficulties in the matter of maintenance. The supply of material is surrounded by regulations; the supply of skilled labour is almost non-existent—at least for use in repairing civilian-owned vehicles .which are not strictly employed on war service. The leading insurance companies, as a matter of fact, are having to cope with like difficulties, notwithstanding the extent of their repair orders, the number of years over which they have in many eases 'dealt with the same repairers, and the obvious seriousness of a large percentage of their repair-Sobs.

There is an undoubted tendency, and one which has become more pronounced during the last six 'months, on the part of repairers, to require owners of commercial motors to "make do" with any ,machine that will still run on its four wheels. The worst cases only are at times taken, and at others only the bad ones ; the external and visible damage 'to which a vehicle is usually subjected when an acci dent occurs, by collision or otherwise, is not apparent as a persuading factor in those repair jobs which arise merely from ordinary wear and tear. The result is, that many commercial motors are continued in service, much as is a broken or decaying tooth in the head of many a human being. Whilst such a tooth may, by more extensive treatment and a larger filling, be made superficially good and strong, notwithstanding its being taken in hand by a dentist a year or more later than it should have been, everybody knows that such a tooth is in the end weaker than it might and should have been. We consider that this parallel holds good in respect of many commercial motors. Their owners, by more extensive repairs, which will in not a few instances certainly be undertaken a year late, may apparently make good the extra wear and tear that are asserting themselves, but we doubt if as good jobs will be made as if particular repairs had been undertaken betimes.

The foregoing considerations have a direct bearing upon depreciation allowances for assessment to income tax. It is true, of course, an owner can charge against revenue all repair expenditure, thus reducing the sum which is ultimately assessed for income tax. It is, we know, frequently the contention, of the Board of Inland Revenue, and of particular commissioners or surveyors of income tax, that a fair adjustment is therefore made, although a little late. We cannot agree with this view, and it is one which the writer has of late been taking definite steps to combat. There appears to us to be very good grounds for a considerable and definite increase of the usual rates of depreciation upon commercial motors, at least for the period of the war. The subject is one to which we hope to be able to return at an early date, and it is one which is just now receiving very close' attention at the hands of a special committee of the Commercial Motor Users Association


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