Opinions and Queries
Page 64
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Don't "Buy" 30 m.p.h.
REGARDING your letter, Will '30' for heavies pay?" [This was a circular letter addressed to a number of operators.—ED.] My answer is, for the
thousands of little men (for whom the Road Haulage Association say they are working), very definitely "No." In my case, we could do very little more, not, in fact, enough to pay the price of the "bribe." It is only a union move to get more money. They have recently obtained 10s. and, admitted by them, not on the cost of living. The heavies carrying 12-19 tons are daily doing much more than 20 m.p.h. and all road users know this. They have difficulty in keeping down to 20 although they work on a schedule of less than this figure. Where do they spend the time to keep down to schedule? The Ministry of Transport should make 30 m.p.h. legal. It should not be the trade union, in return for a bribe.
I say, leave it to the police, and then we shall eventually get 30 m.p.h. from the Ministry. Thousands of 6-7-ton lorries on a legal 20 m.p.h. could not possibly exist if their owners were compelled to pay the bribe, which I believe is to be 15s. extra for a 44-hour week. The trade of the country could not carry on without the existing 6-7-tonners. If the trade union concerned and the Government are so anxious, let the bribe be on vehicles over 4 tons. In any case I fail to see why the Government should have truck with the unions.
Please remember that transport cost has a big effect on production cost.
Sheffield 8. DISSATISFIED.
TO be or not to be, bribe or no bribe, that is the question, can we afford to pay tribute to the unions for 30 m.p.h.? My answer is "No."
Open-cast hauliers should all have the " 20 " plate; can they pay another penny? Can they carry 1 cwt. per day more if they may run at 30 m.p.h.? Can the thousands of 6-ton lorries of over 3 tons unladen weight and operated on local hourly work obtain another Id. per hour? Can the 6-tonner on long-distance work afford the penalty? The answer to all these also seems to me to be "No."
I would say to all owners, especially those in the fourwheeler class, take your trade papers and read them. You will obtain more protection from them than from any other source, if you use them properly. Your representative association does good work, but it cannot meet everybody's requirements. No doubt, the member with sixor eight-wheelers can afford to pay more and the rumour has it that the amount will be 15s, per week, per driver. If you do not fight for yourselves, you will be thrown to the wolves, and I am afraid that the Road Haulage Association will not raise any protest against the contemplated penalty, but write to them and to your trade journal and fight your own case. Also communicate with your Member of Parliament on this 30 m.p.h. question and tell him that this should be given without any extra cost. The Government know that this measure is overdue, and they are in the position to give the concession without worrying about trade unions. In my opinion, a good settlement would be 30 m.p.h. for all four-wheelers, without any extra charge, whilst, if the Government wish to co-operate fully with the o22 unions, a charge could be made in respect of the real heavies. There may be some excuse for this.
Sheffield, 8. FREE THIRTY.
Congratulations on Our Jubilee
WE have learned with interest that March 16 was the " 50th anniversary of your very interesting journal, consequently we would like to convey to you our sincere congratulations on this happy occasion.
We would also like to take. the opportunity of sending you our compliments on the way in which in the past, as well as today, you have succeeded in making The Commercial Motor one of the most prominent technical papers in the world in the field of commercial road transport.
We wish you every success for the future, more good material and a steadily increasing circle of readers. The Hague, D. W. BnitoEREN,
Holland. Chief editor, Beroepsvervoer (Magazine for Dutch road hauliers).
I DO not know. to what extent your journal is read by I " outside's " like myself, but _I wish to thank you for your magnificent Golden Jubilee Number and to join your many well-wishers within the industry in saying " Here's to the next 50." May it be an era of increased prosperity and development in which you may have your well-earned share.
Your journal was produced nearly eight years before I was born, even so, my years of readership number 28. Perhaps this is a commendable figure for a civil servant with no direct ties with the industry. My close interest in its development springs from the day when, as a boy, I liked to ride in as many of London's " pirate " buses as possible, and this interest has been fostered through the years by reading your road-test reports and such other articles as those by S.T.R.
Croydon, Surrey. B. JENKINS.
TOUR most interesting Golden Jubilee Number recalled my early days in the motor trade, first as a garage boy from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 12s. a week, and later as a fitter, 6.30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 21s. weekly.
I was employed at Sandgate, Kent, by Maltby's Motor Works, which made a commercial vehicle known as the M.M.S. This weighed about 3 tons, seated 26 and had a White and Poppe T-headed, four-cylindered engine, chain-drive gearbox and overhead-worm axle. The frame was ordinary girder and the vehicle was entirely built at Sandgate. A super model had a six-cylindered engine and was reputed to do 60 m.p.h. Two were converted to 40 by 8 pneumatic tyres at the back, and with springs on the top of the axle and the hood erected, they were as high as double-deckers, but we thought them beautiful. Wallington, Surrey. F.L.U.
CONGRATULATIONS on your Golden Jubilee. Our first motor bus was delivered on May 13, 1905.
Bamoldswick, R. LAYCOCK Lancs,
Director, Ezra Laycock, Ltd. .