WHEELS of INDUSTRY
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" The wheels of wealth will be slowed by all difficulties of transport, at whatever points arising, as a carriage is by the roughness of the roads over which it runs."—John Beattie Crozier.
NEW RECORDS, REGULATIONS.
The Minister of Transport has made new Regulations as to the records to be kept in connection with the use of vehicles operated under A, B and C licences. They will come into force on April 29, and will• consolidate and materially modify those replaced.
Two important concessions are made affecting the part-time driver of a vehicle operated within 25 miles of its loading base. The first permits a record to be • made of the aggregate time spent by. the driver in connection with the vehicle or its load, instead of requiring the entry of disconnected periods. The second provides that a number of journeys made in any one district on the same day may he treated as a single journey for the purpose of the records.
A third clause excuses an ownerdriver from keeping any record when he drives an authorized vehicle on a journey in no way connected with any trade or business carried on by him.
The first two concessions have already been referred to in The Commercial Motor dated January 11, but the third has been added since these were published.
Special Vehicles to be Classified as Goods Vehicles.
Owing to differences in the design of certain vehicles equipped with machines, such as generating plant, or other contrivances, they have been held to be chargeable with licence duty on the basis of horse-power, whereas other vehicles employed for similar purposes are classified as goods vehicles. It is, therefore, proposed, in the Budget, that as from January 1, 1936, all §uch vehicles shall be chargeable with duty as goods vehicles, but that the weight of the machine or contrivance Shall not be included in the unI4en weight of the vehicle for the purpose of assessing the duty payable.
Mr. Bibbings for Parliament?
A proposal to put forward Mr. Frank G. Ribbings, general secretary of the Yorkshire Stage Carriage Operators Association, as a road-transport candidate at the next general election, was unanimously approved at the annual meeting of the Association, in Leeds, last week.
A representative of The Commercial Motor learned after the meeting that approaches would be made to one of the political organizations, with a view to securing support for the candidature of Mr. Bibbings. Whilst he would further the interests of road transport, he would stand on a more general programme, a feature of which would be the advocacy of private enterprise. Mr. Bibbing8 was Conservative candidate for Penistone in 1929. Recently, n1.8 he was elected unopposed as a member of Horslcrth Urban District Connell, on which he had previously served.
The executive committee was authorized at the meeting to prepare a legalaid scheme.
A resolution was adopted giving power to the executive committee to prepare a scheme for purchasing in bulk supplies used by members. IMPORT AND EXPORT RETURNS.
The Board of Trade returns for March, 1935, show that the value of commercial vehicles, cars, chassis and accessories imported was £462,229, as contrasted with £286,997 in March, 1934, and £218,711 in March, 1933. The increase is, again, mainly brought about by a heavy influx of cars from America and Canada.
The exports of complete. commercial vehicles show a further fall, the figure of 254 vehicles, with a value of £58,159, for March, 1934, coming down to 183 vehicles with a value of £38,901. The exports of commercial chassis show a marked improvement, -the figure of 987 for last month comparing with 692 a year ago, the respective values being £149,535 and £98,851.
Further Meetings of the R.H.A.
In addition to the meetings announced in last week's issue of The Commercial Motor, the following meetings have been arranged by the Road Haulage Association :— South-Eastern Area : Central Hall, Station Road, Hastings, April 18. Metropolitan Area : Shoreditch Town Hall, April 29, 8 p.m. This meeting is for drivers, and the speakers will be Mr. R. W. Sewill, Mr. Norman Letts, Mr. F. G. Witcher, and, possibly, Mr. J. F. E. Pye.