COMMERCIAL MOTOR
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Conducted by EDMUND DANGERFIELD, Vol. XXX. No. 758.7
Safeguarding the Industry. .
WE are extremely glad to learn that the A.B.M.A.M. has made strong representations to the President of the Board of Trade to secure the reception of a deputation Of commercial vehicle manufacturers to put forward proposals framed in view of the position brought about by the removal of import restrictions.
We have already explained in some detail the present position of the industry and how it happens that that position is occupied. It would probably be futile to suggest a. renewal of import restrictions, but a proposal that this section of the industry should be treated in the same way as the private car manufacturer and given at least temporary protection in the form of an import duty should be favourably considered by any Government influenced by considerations of justice rather than those of sheer political expediency.
We have been rather inclined to wonder during the last few weeks whether the industry itself was not adopting an attitude too complacent and too confident. We know, of course, that the order books of manufacturers are in a very satisfactory state, calm.; lated to discourage any apprehension as to the immediate future. It is not, however, of the next year or eighteen months that we are thinking, but rather of the time that must follow when the abnormal demand has been filled and dependence has to be placed upon steady business and solid goodwill.
, We have found that some manufacturers have been rather disinclined to express themselves freely or strongly as to the difficulties which'they will then have to encounter. Their reticence might be, and was beginning to be, attributed either to halfheartedness or to short-sighted complacency. Now, in view of this proposed deputation, we conclude that there were other and better causes for apparent inertia. Precipitate action is not always the wisest. It is necessary to sow the seed before the crop can be reaped. , During the past fortnight certain influential organs of the lay Press have shown intense interest in the position of the motor :industry and acute dissatisfaction at the treatment, accorded to that industry by the Government. We know by experience that Governments more often than not lead from behind. They have to . be dragged into action by public opinion. The Press is the index to that opinion. The views of an industry may receive much more friendly consideration when the Government or one of its departments has learnt from the Press that, if it ignores the representations of the industry, it will be required to justify itself in public for doing so.
The Government is always impressed by a show of strength, and it must be apparent enough by now that feeling on this subject of the motor industry runs high in some quarters outside the industry itself, the influence of which cannot be ignored. We sincerely hope that the President of the Board of Trade will not only receive the deputation of the commercial vehicle manufacturers in person, but will consider the facts and proposals put forward by that deputation as a worthy basis for prompt and effective action.
Agents, Manufacturers and Users.
IT SEEMS likely that in the near future we shall hear a good deal of the Motor Agents' Union and its policy. Up to the present we have no official statement to guide us in assuming what that policy will be, or how far it will operate to the ultimate good of the trade. ' Anything approaching criticism of the scheme as a whole would therefore be premature.
In the circumstances, we regard it as somewhat unfortunate that advocate's of the Union have come forward precipitately with suggestions as to the means by which the Union would be able to act in an autocratic and, possibly, unconstitutional manner should it be disposed so to do.
A very prominent member of the retail trade has written as follows. " I say unhesitatingly that any agent Who starts to sell, or continues to sell, a commercial vehicle the price of which is not scheduled and protected by the M.T.A., is acting is a way disloyal to his own best interests and to those of his fellow traders." And again, the same writer, when dealing with a kindred matter states that "a trade union provides the only means by which agents can work out their own salvation. Agents have failed to take concerted action because they had no machinery. The Agents' Section, Ltd., is a limited liability company and can only act within its memorandum and articles. 'But the Motor Agents' Union suffers from. _ no disabilities. It is an agents' organization, pure and simple and it is trade union. . . . As soon as the M.A.U. is properly organized and all can act together, no more sacrifices will be necessary."
We fully appreciate the value of solidarity in any trade, but, in view of the quotations given above, we should like to be reassured as to the purposes for which that solidarity is demanded in this instance. It is clear enough that some people want to do some things which a limited. liability company cannot do, but a trade union can. A trade union has certain privileges -as regards immunity from the natural penalties following upon any coercive action or any action in restraint of trade.
We are strongly of the opinion that the agent may figure more and more prominently in the commercialvehicle business. We think that it is for the good of all that he should do so. His local knowledge and status and his ability to give service to users are important assets. It is one thing, however, for the middleman to be recognized as useful, and even necessary, and quite another thing for him to be recognized as the one determining factor in the -whole business, capable of imposing his policy and his moral code upon user and manufacturer alike.
The whole question is whether we can depen-d upon this Union being permanently controlled by the commcnsense of the moderate men who form the great majority of the trade. Perhaps some binding official statement as to what the Union will do, and, still more, as to what it will not do, would help to clear the air and give general confidence.
The Future of Road Trains.
WHEN A REAL revision of the law is taken in hand, the subject of road trains will require to be dealt with in a much broader-minded manner than was observable in the recent report of the Local Government Board Cominitee.
That Codimittee examined one system in which power is electrically transmitted to the driving wheels of all the following vehicles in the train, and reported that this system appeared to be sound in principle, particularly irri view of the proper distribution of weight upon a number of driving wheels. Though thus mildly admitting the merits of the system, the final conclusion of the Committee was as follows : "It appears to us to be very doubtful whether road trains such as suggested could properly be allowed on roads generally, and, after carefully considering the matter, we are not prepared to recommend that their use should'be legalized." This decision appears to be a very extraordinary one. One could readily underatancl that the Committee might not agree with the exact proposals as regards speed limits put forward by the designers of road trains but it is incomprehensible that no consideration should be given to their legal use at all. Meanwhile, the crudest of all road trains, which consist merely, of heavy road locomotives drawing a train of trailers, is permitted to use the roads. Its speed is, of course, strictly limited, as it should be, having regard to the fact that the string of trailers is Under indifferent control and a single pair of driving wheels has to be responsible for the adhesion necessary for drawing the entire weight of the loaded train. The more modern form of road train can, of course, be used at the speeds permitted to the road locomotive, provided that the vehicles which go to form it are in accord with the legal requirements for road locomotives and trailers respectively. It is, however, more than questionable whether the modern type will ever get used under such disadvantageous conditions. Its first cost must he considerably higher than that of the cruder form of train. Probably its operating costs also would be higher. One would have thought that a reasonable way of viewing the whole problem would be to create a new class or category for road trains eonforming to certain requirements, to be stated. There should be a. maximum limit of weight upon any axle of the loaded train,. this limit being considerably lower than that permitted to the road locomotive itself. The train should also be required to he so constructed that the course taken by each unit or follower can be exactly regulated by the driver on the power unit. Rules 524 might also be laid down with regard to brakes on all the units of the train, and poisibly with regard to automatic braking in the event of a portion of the train becoming detached. Provided that the train as a whole and each unit singly were built to conform to a series of regulations of this kind, there appears to be no reason why the maximum speed permitted should not he considerably higher than that allowed to a road locomotive drawing trailers. The injury done to the road by the passage of a road train, every unit of which bears its share in the work of propulsion, cannot be appreciably greater than the injury done by an equal number of independent load-carrying vehicles. .
The fact that the units of the train are coupled to one another tends towards the creation of obstruction, and thus necessitates a somewhat lower speed' limit, particularly in towns. The question that officials iesponsible for road traffic laws should ask themselves is whether a rubber-tyred road train of modern type,' in which every unit, shares in the work of propulsion,. is likely to be as harmful to the road as a train of the old and cruder type carrying the same aggregate useful load. If the modern system is likely to do less harm at a given speed then its legal speed may reasonably be increased up to that point at which it is no more, if no less, objectionable from the standpoint of road damage than the older type. If provisions of this kind were made, it is probable that improved forms of road train would be built and put into service, and would be found very valuable as an economic means of transporting very considerable loads at a, reasonable pace, and without doing prohibitive damage either to the surfaces or to the foundations of the roads.
The Dangers of the Streets.
OF LATE, we have heard comparatively little from those who delight in endeavouring to prove that the motor omnibus is responsible for an abnormal number of street accidents, but we may safely assume that the hardy annual arguments will be brought up again with every yearly publication of the statistics bearing upon the subject. We have pointed out more than once that these statistics are very misleading, and, in this connection, attention may be drawn to the details of a fatal accident which occurred a few days ago. The evidence was to the effect that a cyclist approaching a motorbus completely lost his bead and control of his machine. The driver of the omnibus, in his determination to avoid the cyclist, was obliged to put his vehicle partially on to the pavement, and in so doing unfortunately struck a pedestrian.
The jury exonerated the omnibus driver from blame, but the fact remains that this accident will go down in the records as a fatal accident caused by a motor omnibus. It appears that the difficulties of the cyclist were due to, or increased by, his fear of upsetting npon the tram lines. Consequently, it is difficult to apportion the real blame for the occurrence. The cyclist also was exonerated by the jury, which was i cnly proper, as he had no direct share n the fatal accident and certainly did not intentionally or negligently do anything to bring it about. Probably we should not be far from the truth if we attributed the fatality partly to the cyclist, inasmuch as he lost his nerve and partly• to the tramway system, the rails of which certainly helped him to do so. In three cases out of four, a street accident cannot be directly laid at the door of any one vehicle or its driver. It is the result of an unfortunate combination of circumstances. The motor omnibus actually participates in such accidents somewhat more frequently than does the tram. If statistics of accidents, fatal and otherwise, could be made to 'reflect accurately the real initial causes of those accidents, they would be valuable.