With Strings
Page 55
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RATHER objectionable pressure was applied to the organizers of one heat of the Lorry Driver of the Year Competition by a local concern. They were approached to find out if they would donate a trophy, but it was found that an award would be forthcoming only if it were the premier prize.
I regret to say that this demand was accepted, although, as was pointed out to me, the cup that was subsequently presented was by no means the largest of those which the organizers had gathered from trade and other sources.
I would advise local organizers strictly to stipulate, when seeking trophies, that the decision as to which classes of the contest they should apply be left at the organizers' discretion and not that of the presenters of the awards. although naturally the consent of the donors to the organizers' wishes should be obtained.
Break from Greenfly
1/TR. J. W. WOMAR, formerly chairman of East Midland in Motor Services, Ltd., is now happily cultivating roses and greenfly, but he tore himself away from his garden to attend the opening of the company's new garage and terminal buildings at Worksop. Unfortunately, Mr. R. J. Ellery, the present chairman, who was to have presided, was called to Canada at short notice, and Mr. A. F. R. Carling deputized for him.
Cleaned Out
AREGULAR South African Railways bus service passing through the estate is one of the advertised attractions of an 8,437-acre ranch offered for sale in Swaziland at a price of £57,500. I assume that, having paid that amount of money for it, the buyer is not expected to be able to afford a car.
Still Fighting
QUGGESTIONS that the next Labour Government will
completely nationalize road passenger transport recall the piping days of the Omnibus Passengers' Protection Association, and particularly the great fight in the north-east, where the British Transport Commission's area scheme was ignominiouslydefeated. One of the leading defenders of freedom was Mr. Erskine Hill, whu was organizing secretary of the north-eastern region of 0.P.P.A. He is still fighting, but now as secretary of the Anglers' Co-operative Association, who are dedicated to the prevention of pollution of rivers. His association have fought several big cases and won them, all. This is not such a far cry from the prevention of pollution of passenger transport by the State.
Bad Planning Gremlin
HAVE just heard of an industrial estate on the western
outskirts of London that has suffered the inconvenience of unsurfaced roads for nearly five years. Fortunately the local electricity board had the foresight to lay a new cable before the roads were recently surfaced, but it was too much to expect that the British tradition of digging holes in
newly surfaced roads had been allowed to die.
True to form, a gang arrived from the gas board last week, equipped with pickaxes and pneumatic drills. I have often wondered what evil force waits until a road is nicely surfaced before it punctures a gas main or' causes a fault in an electric cable to develop. The culprit, of course, is the Bad Planning Gremlin, who permits, even in these enlightened days, the laying of services beneath the roads. In The Commercial Motor dated April 27, 1956, and November 16, 1956, the use of gullies, with concrete covers, to carry the various domestic services was advocated. Now that extensive road-development schemes are in progress it is the time to take advantage of this system.
Know-where
I AM frequently surprised by the ignorance of senior I manufacturing executives of sources of information.. There is a keen demand for statistics of all kinds, but particularly of passenger and goods-vehicle licences, output and exports. They can all be obtained either from official publications or from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Every executive who requires statistics should have a file handy, it could be compiled simply by cutting statistical reports from The Commercial Motor and pasting them in a loose-leaf folder. I recommend this as a weekly timesaving exercise.