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AMONG YORKSHIRE'S TRANSPORT MEN.

18th January 1921
Page 8
Page 8, 18th January 1921 — AMONG YORKSHIRE'S TRANSPORT MEN.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A Gathering Full of Interest, and a Discussion on Transport Progress.

REPRESENTATIVES of the transport industry from all parts of Yorkshire were present at the third annual dinner of the Leeds and County Motor Transport Association held at the Griffin Hotel, Leeds, on the 811 inst. Mr. W. J. Lewin, of the Yorkshire Commercial Motor Co., Leeds, the preeident of the Association for the year which has just closed, presided over the proceedings, and the place of honour at his right was occupied. by Mr. L. Page, of John I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., the newly elected president.

! Proposing the toast "The Leeds and County Motor Transport Association," Mr. Page said he had seen the Association grow from a very small organization to a very big one. Responding to the toast, Mr. W. Wright, chairman of the executive cons mittee, referred to the domiciling state of the Association.

The toast of 'The Visitors" was proposed by Mr, Alf Masser, one of the oldest motorists in Yorkshiie, who recalled his association with the motor movement since the days of the 41! h.p, De Dion. In those curdy days, he said, the great opposition the motorist had to meet came from the gentlemen in the transport trade. In those days the horse owners were Tesponsible for the transport of the country, and probably many of those before him were the very gentlemen who put up the opposition to motors. They had progressed, however, and had changed their mode of transport, and the result was that motor haulage was to-day one of the most important industries, if not the most important, in the world. A great war was needed to teach this, but now that we had passed from war to peace we had also passed to the time when vast problems, which were probably never foreseen, verruM havest.o be faced. All would have to realize that they were up against a proposition which would require the best brains and the greatest patience they could 'show, and it would require a greet deal more foresight than had been shown in the past. There was a. slump in trade that might last some time or might he pass ing. Many reasons were given for the slump, but in his opinion the pinch would be felt until the foreign markets were more easily accessible than they were at present. Up to now it had been said that the rate of exchange was in the favour of Britain but was it not, a fallacy to say the exchange was in our favour when it was so high that the foreign countries could not afford to buy our goods? Bad trade throughout the country had its effect upon the transport industry, and thus general questions had a direct interest to them. The Government would have to begin to deal with the question of the foreign exchange and he hoped it would be one of the objects of their association to use the brains of the committee with a view to seeing what they could do in their area to alleviate the situation.

Lk:conclusion Mr. Masser said as a member of the Leeds City Council he was glad to see the improvement in the way chars-a-banes were driven as a result of a circular sent out by the Asso ciation. Perhaps every objection had not been got over, but a great deal had been done. The corporation, he said, was about to apply for powers to compel traffic to keep as far to The left as possible. The object of that step was to keep the roads as clear as possible.

Mr. J. I. Stonehotre, chairman of the Leeds Horse Owners' Asrociation, replied, and urged a union between all sections of the transport industry. Nineteen unions, which covered the vehicle workers, the wharf hands, and the warehousemen had agreed to amalgamate and to be linked up with the Triple Alliance. The greatest problem the employing side of the industry had was to bring about an understanding between its many sections. Probably before six months had elapsed the motor side of the industry would realize 'what taxation really meant, but until they could show ! a more united front they would not be able to bring sufficient pressure to bear to make their position felt.

• Councillor Young, of Dewsbury, and Mr, E. Harrison, of the Yorkshire Centre of the C.M:U.A., also responded.

Mr. Harrison said it could not be urged that trade was in a good state. Some of the work they ought to be getting was not coming to them, but so far as the C.M.U.A. was concerned they wanted to help as much as possible. He agreed with Mr. Stenehouse that, there were too many associations. There had been too many small associations. In Yorkshire the C.M.U.A. had 700 members, and in a month or two the total would be 1,000.

The •health of the chairman was heartily drunk on the -proposition of Mr.

C. Sizer. Mr. Lewin, in responding, severely criticised the new Motor Car Act. In Leeds,, he said, the Licensing Authorities knew nothing about it, and the Chief Constable knew nothing about it, and yet the time for its introduction was now passed. lie urged that a longer peiiod of grace should be given before the Act was put into force._ They ought to have had the Act in their offices at least a month before it came into force to give time to digest the details. So far as they knew the details now tilers were many objections to the provisions of the

measure. In the case of steel tyred vehicles the manufacturers used to make the wheels extra wide so that the police could not prosecute the user. Now the wheel sizes were specified, but if they set out with a wheel of a certain size when the vehicle was new would the police have grounds for a prosecution if the wheel was worn down? That point should be cleared up. There was much confusion about unladen weight, and he did not agree with the method of taxation according to a fixed sum. The petrol vehicle ahould be taxed according to the amount of fuel it consumed, while they could arrive at a more equitable basis for the taxation of steam vehicles.

Mr. W. a Berwick, of Bradford, who was called upon to speak, said at Bradford the City Council originally had in the new Bill they were bringing before Parliament a proposal that; they should be allowed to run chars-It-banes and taxicabs. The proposal had been dropped for the time, however, but if it came up again they would need, all the help they could get to deal with the position.


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