Trying for More Petrol.
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Users throughout the country have no doubt read, in the course of the past ten days, the text of an official communique from the Commercial Motor TTsers Association in the following terms:—
"The Commercial Motor Users Association has for some time past been in communication with the Petrol Control Committee and more recently with the Petrol Control Department of the Board of Trade, with a view to assistance being rendered to those of its members who have been most seriously affected by the further curtailment in petrol supplies.
"A special Committee of the Association, which was appointed to draw up a memorandum on the subject for submission to the Petrel Control Committee, was eventually receivea as a deputation, , and was successful in arranging that, in cases where the Association, after thorough investigation, is satisfied that a member engaged on war work or on work of national importance is suffering genuine hardship through insufficient supplies of petrol, such cases will, on the recommendation of the Association, receive further consideration. by the Petrol Control Department.
Certain detailed' information ' must be forwarded, in the first instance, to the Assbciation, particulars of whiCh may be obtained from Mr. F. G. Bristow, F.C.I.S., the Secretary, at 83, Pall Mall, S.W. 1."
The particulars are those which we gave on page 413 of last week's issue.
It is probable that the success of the Motor Hiring Section of the Motor Trade Association, in obtaining recognition for itself at the hands of the Petrol Control Committee (now the Petrol Control Department), with which recognition as regards private-hire cars we dealt 'with at length in our issue of the 14th June, served as a precedent which the Commercial Motor Users Association was able to turn to account.
The decisions of the Petrol Control Department in these two cases have undoubtedly been. wise ones, in that they allow the examination of claims for more petrol to be undertaken by those who can weigh the facts. We are informed that a special committee of the Commercial Motor Users Association, which subcommittee is sitting several times weekly to deal with applications, has already received claims running into a total of several hundreds, from its members in all parts of the country. The wish to try for more petrol is und'oubtedly very general. Claims for additional petrol cannot all be met. That is obvious. The petrol is not in the country. Prospective arrivals cannot be made the subject of a, gamble, for the needs of the fighting 'forces on the seas and overseas, as well as of the trainiog farces and munition transport at home, have to be-met. first. Ordinary civilian transport comes a very bad last, with all classes of war service and food distribution, to say nothing of food production, in front of it. The Air Services are "mopping up" petrol. We have been urging the claims of coat-gas for precisely twelve months. The services which the fuel can render are subject to well-defined limitations. Only flexible holders can be obtained, owing to prior claims upon the supplies of steel. There is practically no hope of development of -Ahe use of coal-gas under pressure until after the war. 'The flexible holder, therefore, represents the extent of relief for any commercial-motorowners who cannot get petrol, or who cannot get as much as they want.
We consider that fully one-third of the total needs of the civilian user can be met by his having recourse to coal-gas. Every single-deck motorbus, almost every motorvan with a box body, and many goods-carrylng vehicles with canopies over the driver can be immediately adapted to accommodate flexible holders. The ordinary flat-platform lorry can be similarly adapted, by the fitting of vertical standards to support a suit.. able cradle. We are convinced that such adaptations will have to be made with rapidity, if users are to carry on.
Let Us repeat the equivalents for coal-gas. One gallon of petrol canbe replaced by 250 cubic ft. ; a holder with a capacity of 400 cubic ft. (20 ft. in length by 5 ft. in diameter) can be purchased for about £23, and the structure to carry it should not cost more than another £5 There are no alterations to the engine.; the cost of the fittings to introduce the gas into the inlet pipe cannot exceedslOs. or 15s.
Some of the larger motorbuses in the country, as at Bath, are already fitted with holders having a capacity of 850 cubic ft. The smallest holders yet on the market hold 160 cubic ft., and these are suitable for light delivery vans, such as a Ford.'dgThey cost under g10.
The cost of coal-gas, as contared withSpetrol, according to the rate per 1000 cubic ft. at which it can be bought, represents the older fuel at prices varying between 6d. and is. per gallon. The lower figure applies when coal-gas costs only 2s.''per 1000 cubic ft., and the higher figure when it costs double-4s. per 1000 cubic ft. Many a gas company will be glad to sell gas out of its gaSometers at the gas works, at or below is. 6d. per 1000 cubic ft., whilst Sunderland is at the moment selling it at that point of delivery, where the gas has not been subjected to losses in the mains, at is. per 1000 cubic ft.—equal to petrol at 3d. per gallon. We have tried to wake up all users by giving these facts before. We now try to do sc.,' once again. The people who can supply the holders and the fittings are Messrs. Andrew Barton Brothers, of Beeston, Notts. They have already supplied 280 holders, to equip a, like number of vehicles, and they have approximately 100 holders on order at the moment. It may be stated, as an average, that each holder that is sold represents the replacement of 2000 gallons of petrol per annum. An achieved saving, to date, at the rate of half-amillion gallons of petrol per annum is not negligible. Such a saving, however, is not the whole point. It is of importance to realize that users are enabled tc carry on, instead of their having to store the vehicles The maintenance of transport is the life of the country
• The necessity for younger drivers has been recognized amongst owners since a date which is almost coincident with that of the outbreak of war. The difficulties and disadvantages of any general admission of younger drivers to licensed status have also been recognized. We have dealt with the arguments for and against a lowering of the age limit, from 17 years to either 16 or 15 years, on more than one occasion, and the writer has personally raised proposals, at the General Committee of the Commercial Motor Users Association, in order to endeavour to bring about an understanding between that national body and the Local Government Board, the Home Office, and other State Departments.
Several local authorities, who have taken the law into their own hands of their own initiative, and who have allowed youths below 17 years of age to drive, were recently given an assurance by the President of the Local Government Board, that no interference with this discretion should come from his department. Such a verbal concession, however, is strictly ultra vires, and there is no guarantee, in the absence of temporary legislation, or of an Order under the Defence of the Realm Act, that the police authorities in a particular .area, especially in the event of collision or other accident, will recognize the force of any such personal expression of opinion by the President of the Local Government. Board, or the effect of any individual letter -from him. Such letters have passed, but they are regarded by us as in the nature of private and confidential documents.
The matter of a reduction in the age limit for the holding of a driver's licence roust be viewed, at present, as remaining in abeyance. Nothing definite has been settled which will stand the challenge of an action-at-law, and we hope that •the C.M.U.A. will continue to press for this concession to be placed on a statutory basis. The mere °biter scripta of a well-intentioned official do not go far enough. Owners must realize that, if they employ youths who are below 17 years of age, they are, in a strict legal sense, doing so at their own risk. Many have already done it, we know, with apparent impunity. Our desire is that they should realize the facts of the ease, although, no doubt, any reasonable Bench of magistrates will make some allowance -for war conditions.
• The proposals of ‘the Commercial Motor Users Association, as finally approved after much deliberation, are the following : (a) That the licence shall only be issued to a. male person between 16 and 17 years of age, on the written certificate of an intending employer that the applicant is a fit person to be licensed.
(b) That the licence shall bear the name of such employer, and shall not be valid in any other employment or in respect of the driving of publicservice vehicles.
(c) That the licence shall be a provisional one, available for an initial period, and shall be subject to confirmation at the .end of that period only if the employer furnishes a written confirmation of the original application.
The foregoing •suggested conditions have been widely circulated, and have been the subject of much comment—generally favourable—in the daily Press. There are not wanting, in fact, those who think that the age limit, subject to the indicated safeguards,. might safely be lowered to 15 years. This is true, we feel sure, in exceptional eases only, and the choice of appeal in favour of one year, instead of two years, as the safe extent al reduction, is a' decision which will commena itself to the public at large, whereas any pressure in favour of a lowering to 15 years might have created a, feeling of alarm, if not of hostility. Most important of all, clearly, is the.expert view of the C.IVI.U.A. that there should be no indiscriminate licensing of younger male drivers. c20
Petrol Direct to France.
The question -was :asked by Mr. joynson-Hicks in the House of Comnions last week, whether the petrol consumed by the Arany abroad is first imported to tbiS ountry or is sent direct to the French and other Freeats. Mr. Forster (Financial Secretary to the War Office) replied that almost the whole of the petrol consumed bylthe Armies abroad is shipped direct, and. does not come to this country. Although the Financial Secretary did not suggest that none of the petrol consumed in the service of the British Army in France and Flanders is not first landed in this country and then transhipped, the reply . would seem to a very large extent to explode the canard current recently that shipping space was being wasted by the landing on British shores of all such liquid fuel, its canning, and its transhipment in its new packages across the Channel. If the supplies for the Front are thus largely obtained direct„ What a flood of light is thrown upon the conaum,ption the services in this country alone. The latest figures available are those for the five month's Jannary to May last, when 57,036,000 gallons of petrol were imported. Of this quantity, the proportion taken for pleasure vehicles (not necessarily on pleasure service) was only 2 per cent. Comparing the imports for three previous years (two normal and one abnormal), we Bud that from January to May, 1913, the quantity imported was 40,000,000 gallons ; from January to May, 1914, the imported quantity was 46,300,000 gallons ; whilst from January to May, 1916, the quantity imported was 49,658,000 gallons. It is interesting to speculate upon the possible total of ton-miles and vehicle-miles travelled, in this country alone, by land and in the air, taking as a basis the figures given above.The "Home Forces of all categories must be using an enormous quantity.
Coal-gas Equipment.
. We are of opinion that the time has come when the aid of the Ministry of Munitions may have to be sought, to the end that the output of flexible holders of coal-gas shall be very greatly increased. Messrs. Andrew Barton Bros., of Beestceni Notts., the pioneers Of this class of equipmentava.re certainly struggling gamely with a difficult situation, but we fail to see how they can hope to cope with the growing increase of orders without Departmental assistance.
We made an appeal, a little more than a month ago, to Mr. W. H. Paull, of the Dunlop Rubber Co., and expressed the hope that his company might put its wonderful organization and resources behind the coalgas programme. That programme, at present, is of necessity limited to flexible holders, because no supplies of steel can be spared.
The urgency of the situation is not at the moment as apparent as it may be a few weeks hence. We are keeping in touch with all circumstances, •but we are definitely of opinion that our old advice to owners of motor chars-it-banes, to accept, the situation for themselves as being " coal-gas or nothing," may Boon have its very direct application to large numbers of users of coinmercial goods-carrying motor vehicles. The petrol situation grows more and more disconcerting. The demands of the Navy and ArMy, inclusive of the Air Services, are obviously not yet at their maximum, whilst it is premature to conclude that the second phase of the submarine menace has been brought thoroughly under control. The alternative of coal-gas, if its beneficial use is to be extended during the critical months whicli lie ahead, must receive . direct encouragement from the Government, at least to the end that, the necessary issues of cotton fabric shall be sanctioned. With raw cotton but a little below 20c1, per lb., and with the prospects of stillfurther diminution in the supply from America, it is obvious -Chat the rationing. of cotton will become more and more drastic. We are doing all we can to make a good case for gas-holders to be in the favoured list.