Views of the Hon. Arthur Stanley, M.P.
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The Time Ripe for such a Journal as "The Commercial Motor."
Being desirous of obtaining the views of the Hon. Arthur Stanley, M.P., whose father, the Earl of Derby, K.G., is president of the Liverpool Self-Propelled Traffic Association, we spent a pleasant half-hour chatting with him at Derby House one morning this week.
Mr. Stanley has taken a close interest m the heavier side of commercial automobilism, and he was one of the heartiest supporters of the company which was privately formed to follow up the several trials held in Lancashire. The object of this syndicate was to preserve continuity of effort (after the 1901 competition, which was the third and last of the series organised to encourage the commercial motor suitable for heavy loads) by making a test, over a period of at least one year, of a number of strictly legal motor wagons. This happened three years ago, when the necessary data for road transport under the conditions of the 1896 Act were secured ; and the results so obtained largely influenced the departmental committee in their decision to increase the tare limit by two tons. The tare limit, which was the ridiculously low maximum of three tons for the weight unladen of any motorcar, has now been altered to five tons. Mr. Stanley's duties as a vicepresident of the Automobile Club, and as president of the Tramways and Light Railways Association—not to mention others—are occupying much of his time at present, though it does not appear that any check has thereby been imposed on his energies.
We have summarised Mr. Stanley's views as follow :— The pioneer work in heavy haulage, which was performed between the years 1897 and 1903, has certainly not been wasted; in fact, the gratitude of all who are interested in commercial motors is due to those who were well aware that they risked almost certain losses in order to help forward a movement for which they felt there was an enormous future. These early efforts showed what parts of the engines and vehicles required strengthening, and pointed the way to successful organisation in road carrying.
The Heavy Motor Car Order, which came into force on the 1st of this month, goes as far as we can expect in all the circumstances of the case; and the introduction of a relation between load and tyre dimensions, coupled with maximum axle-weights, is sound in principle and acceptable to lorry owners and road authorities alike. We shall probably see some new surfacing materials adopted in place of ordinary macadam, for we have gone as far as is possible in adapting motors to roads. The roads, particularly country roads, will have to be strengthened gradually to suit the traffic that is pouring in on them in a daily growing volume. In the meantime, reduced loads may be necessary where by-roads or secondary roads have to be traversed, according to local conditions.
Passing to the lighter forms of the commercial motor, there is now a feeling of security and certainty as to their use which did not exist a year or two ago, and this is easily understood after recent satisfactory returns from users. It is natural that the commercial motor should have developed more slowly than the pleasure car, for there have been fewer people willing to buy for the benefit of others who were to follow. The enormous purchases of pleasure and touring cars, by wealthy amateurs, has had no parallel in the case of delivery vans, though the latter class has undoubtedly benefited by the experiences of the former. There have, however, been sufficient vans in use during the past three or four years to make it positively clear that their use is a question of necessity and no longer one of choice. Motor vans are capable of travelling so much farther in a day than even two-horse vans, and there is such a wide scope for their use, that their continued progress and wide adoption is certain.
Th e f a ct that Messrs. Tilling and other large jobmasters are taking up commercial motors appeals to Mr. Stanley as being very significant, and he thinks it not unlikely that we shall see motor garages, or running depots, established all over the country to undertake with motor vehicles the jobbing work which is now so generally done by contractors with horses and horse-drawn vehicles. It is very evident that there will be a demand for competent service of this kind ; because, apart from mere hiring orders, many prospective users of commercial motors may desire to place the actual running arrangements of their own commercial motors in the hands of engineers who will look after the vans entirely and be responsible for them.
" I consider the time ripe for such a journal as ' TIIE COMMERCIAL MOTOR,' and congratulate you on your having taken up the editorship of a paper which will be so useful to the industry," was the kindly manner in which Mr. Stanley concluded his very interesting conversation on the subject of our visit.