Answers to Queries.
Page 19
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Goodwin Snow Shoes.
113791 " G.A.P." asks Will you be good enough to let me have information as to where I can find a description of the Goodwin snow shoes, or '.7f wheels fitted therewith?"
ANSWER.—A description was given in our issue of the 22nd June, 1905, but we regret that this is out of print. The fitting in question is sold by T. C. Aveling and Coinpany, Limited, of Central House, New Street, Birmingham, with whom you might communicate.
Unattended Wagons and Alleged Obstruction.
[1380] " FROM YORKSHIRE " writes :--" Will you kindly inform me on the following subject, and publish same in your most valuable paper, so that it vill be a warning to other drivers? I am driving a two-ton wagon for a firm of machine makers, and on the 26th of February I was sent with a load of machinery to deliver at a small village about four miles out. There was also sent another steam wagon, and it also was a two-tonner. We had no assistants with us on these machines, so being there both together we helped each other to get unloaded, and the owner of the mill gave us instructions to draw from under the hoist each time when part of the machinery was being hoisted up to the top story of three. This meant that we had to draw into the main road, and to stand there until they were ready again.
" Now, when I drew out, I always went to the opposite side of the road, dose to the foot-path, so that I had room to back in again, The other steam wagon, and also a horse wagon with two horses attached, was standing on the near side of the road, facing the mill, We should be in this position about two hours, of course, shifting in
and out. There was plenty of room for any other traffic to pass between us; in fact, there was a motorbus passing about every so minutes during that time, and we were never away from the wagons and never out of sight.
" After we had unloaded and started to come home, I was surprised to be stopped by two police officers, who had passed us two or three times, but never said anything to us. They asked for my license, which has been renewed for the fifth time without a complaint; then, they asked me why we had been standing and obstructing and leaving our wagons unattended for so long a time. I explained the matter to them, but they insisted that we had no right to stand on the high road, and leave cur wagons to help each other, without leaving someone in charge. When I told them we had no one to leave in eharze, they insisted that we were compelled to have another man with us, although they are only twotonners, and they told us they should summon us if they caught us in the same position again. I have sent a rough sketch showing the position, of the wagons and the mill_ Your advice will greatly oblige."
ANSWER.-4\'e have had the sketch redrawn.---ED.1 Your position in the matter is perfectly clear to us. It is governed by Article IV (2) of the Motor Cars (Use and Construction) Order, 1904, which reads, in relation to the driver of any such vehicle, of which your wagon is one : " He shall not quit the motorcar without having taken due precautions against its being started in his absence, or allow the motorcar or a vehicle drawn thereby to stand on such highway so as to cause any unnecessary obstruction thereto." Steam being shut off, you comply with the first condition, and by implication you are allowed to cause a reasonable amount of obstruction, In any event, the police are quite wrong in supposing that you require a second man on the lorry. It is, we must warn you, a very difficult matter to avoid a conviction if the police like to charge ),ou with obstruction, and we would suggest that the owner of the mill, who is probably a large ratepayer, should call upon the local superintendent, or chief constable, and point out to him that trade ought not to be harassed in this way, assuming, all the time, that you have not really caused any inconvenience to other users of the highway. If the police were to take out a summons, they would probably not do it under the above-quoted regulation, but under Section 78 of the Highways Act, 1835, which renders it an offence to leave a car on the road so that it becomes " an obstruction to the free passage of the highway." We are inclined to think that the police are mixing up motor lorries with hackney cariages. Under Section ?, of the Town Police Clauses Act, 1847, any driver of a hackney carriage who leaves his vehicle unattended in a street is liable to a penalty, but that provision has no reference or application whatsoever to your steam wagon, and we feel pretty confident that this is where the police are under a misapprehension.
Steam Lorry Working Costs.
11381.1 " PURCHASER " asks :—" Can you inform me the best and cheapest company for insuring a 6h.p. steam wagon against the following risks : Third party claims; small and other damage to own wagon ; workmen's cern_ pensation; and boiler explosion? Also, what would the premiums be?
" Could you also give me any information as to the cost per ton-mile for running (not reckoning depreciation)' with wages at 6os. per week and, say, 30 miles per day for five days per week?
The wagon is a five-ton , and, as near as I can say, burns about 6-7 cwt. coat and coke per day,
at about, say, 1.6s. per ton, when running from as a centre. Perhaps you will think my enquiry very vague, but what I want to get at as near as possible is the cost per ton-mile up to 50 miles per day, on, say, 3-ton and 5-ton loads. From experience, I find one cannot rely on any builders' working costs, as they are cut much too fine, and it is only from actual experience that one can get these figures, hence my writing you."
ANSWER.—You cannot do better than apply to the Car and General Insurance Corporation, Ltd., whose head office is at 1, Queen Victoria Street, E.C. We do not know the premiums in detail, but their terms are very good. It is impossible to state the cost per ton-mile, unless one knows exactly how many tons are going to be carried, and the length of each loaded trip. It is a much better way to reckon the cost per vehicle-mile, i.e., per mile run on the basis you mention, and we think you may safely put that tt od., as a maximum, Or 22S. 6d. per day, which covers interest on capital, depreciation, driver's wages, maintenance, insurance, fuel, sundry stores, and contingencies. If you were able to run up to 5o miles a day, your cost might fall as low as 71d. per mite run, but that is the lowest figure upon which you can rely. YOU would, of course, require to pay your driver extra money for such a long mileage, and you would probably require to undertake repairs over the week-end, when you would have to pay overtime_ If the foregoing does not give you the general assurance for which You look, please let us know.