A Surprise from Gamage' s.
Page 9
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The Latest All-British Enterprise.
Mr.. A. W. Carnage has decided that there shall be a Carnage Motorcab Company, and the business will, therefore, be practically completed by the time this short interview is published. The company is to be called the Gamage Motorcab Co., Ltd., and to have an authorized capital of £175,000. Immediately on the publication of our issue of last week, and largely because of our leading article dealing with " Motorcab Profits," Mr. Carnage and the writer chatted over achievements, intentions and prospects at the huge emporium in Holborn. We briefly recalled the occasion of our first meeting at one of the memorable "Cycling " anniversary concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, under the ovis of Mr. Dangerfield, and we then promptly came to business.
Four Central Depots.
" So you propose to invade the motorcab world, Mr. Carnage?' we began.
" Yes; I am quite satisfied that there is room for a cleanly-promoted and well-managed company. We have placed a contract for 250 10-12 h.p. two-cylinder B.S.A. cabs, and we have almost completed negotiations for the purchase of a further 750 from the same factory. The purchase price is 300 per cab, with London-built body. When we have our 1,000 calm delivered, we shall divide them up between four centrally-situated depots. We intend to avoid the loss and extra strain upon the men, which is involved by unnecessary travelling to depots in distant suburbs at night-time. Our first garage will be only a few hundred yards from hereNos, 73 to 78, High Holborn and 72, Red Lion Street: building operations will be undertaken, in order to render the accommodation suitable, and we shall house our cans, pending the completion el those buildings, in temporary quarters."
Intentions and Management.
" Yes," to our question about constitution and administration, " we do intend to have deferred shares for the benefit of those who have conceived the enterprise, and who will carry it through. On the other hand, after a 7 per cent. dividend has been paid to the ordinary shareholders, they will also rank for half any excess profits. We intend, of course, to depreciate the cabs on the basis of a life of six years, and to maintain them in the absolute pink of condition. There will be no underwriting, and no need for it."
In this we are inclined to agree: have not the many satisfied shareholders in A. W. Carnage, Ltd., had consistently-good dividends, and will not this record sufficiently influence the general investor to bring him in F We think it will.
" The board is complete. I shall be chairman, with Mr. W. A. Vincent, Mr. G. Murdoch, my son Eric, and a managing director. It, will, I am confident, interest your readers greatly to know that we are securing a gentleman who is well known in motorcab circles. I can't disclose the name yet, as he will only join us after allotment."
" Next, Mr. Carnage, about your drivers. Do you think they will come to you as a company which owns nothing but two-cylinder cabs, having regard to the great popularity of four-cylinder cabs such as the Belsize, Fiat, Napier, Unic, and other makes now in the Metropolis ?" "I have no doubt on any of these poiets, all of which we have considered in some detail. We do not propose anything special in the nature of co-operative treatment of
the drivers : they are to be as you know, on the basis ot 25 per cent. of the takings, whilst they keep all gratuities,. and have only to pay for their motor spirit—unless terms are mutually arranged in regard to insurance and livery. Anything we might offer to the men on those lines would' certainly he done at lower rates than they could make for themselves individually. Drivers will come to us because we shall treat them fairly in all respects, and because we shall have excellent cab-bodies, thoroughly well finished, and of the necessary strength to carry heavy luggage safely. We may, too' have some built of unusual stoutnessfor station work. We shall also favourably entertain, suggestions from drivers, and we shall do all in our power. to render the cabs suitable for emergency calls. One idea before us is that every cab should carry, in a suitablyclosed box, one or more acetylene headlights. These would. only be brought into service in the case of the driver's being suddenly taken into the country and kept there after sundown by a fare.' We have not yet settled our make of taximeter, and we do not quite know what to do in regard to excess-speed alarm indicators." ' Ah, yes," we interjected. "That is possibly one of. your reasons for your choosing two-cylinder cabs." " In that," replied Mr. Carnage, " you have recognized one of several reasons. What is the use of a four-cylinder cab in London if the 20-mile limit be enforced even approximately ? Also, it must not be overlooked that the average sober-minded hirer of a taxicab is quite content with '20 miles an hour in the country. We have carefully. settled the specification for the chassis, in conjunction with the engineers of the B.S.A. Company, and we are quite certain that the result will meet with widespread approval when our cabs are put on the road. That should be early in the New Year.
An Acknowledgment.
" Much of my data has been taken from THE Commit-. CIAL MOTOR. I Well recollect your excellent Motoreals Special of last year, and 1 have not overlooked your belief that average takings will come down to 26s. or 27s. per day. We intend to base our revenue upon an average of 33s. per cab daily, because our cabs will not by any means be merely of average excellence, and our men will be of the class which uses its head and ' makes jobs' by looking out for them. There are so many indications. of expansion in London, and so many fresh developments are obviously likely to take place as residents appreciate more fully the economical manner in which the taxicab can servetheir everyday needs, that 1 have no doubt in my own mind about our ability to maintain the figure in question.. Your own journal, a few weeks ago, gave figures to show the rapid growth of this movement, and gave the official total to the 31st August last—the latest official figures, 1 presume? Well, I have no doubt that London, which a few years ago used to be able to find paying work for more
11,000 hackney-carriages, can readily support, in the end, nearly as many taxicabs." We may point out, in conclusion, whilst acknowledging our satisfaction about the part which this journal has borne in furthering motorcab interests, that Mr. Carnage correctly assumed the figures contained in our issue of the21st October to be the latest available official totals. There were, at the 31st August last, 3.950 licensed motorcabs in the Metropolis, and there are now over 4,150. Less than two years ago, the total was under 700.