Motor Contracting in Lancashire and the Factor of Disturbing Old Customs.
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It is difficult for anybody who has lived only in London or the south of England to appreciate conditions in Lancashire. The writer, fortunately, is a Lancashire man. More than ten years ago, in the days of the three-ton limit of unladen weight, he learnt by personal experience the difficulties which a motor-carrier has to surmount in order to obtain and retain in competition a share of the admittedly-huge truffle of the county and its several ports. Some people still appear to think that the mere existence of big traffic possibilities necessarily means t hat. a motorcarrying company has only to step in to make a Success of the undertaking, but no misconception can be farther removed from cold facts as they exist. Existing connections and contracts cannot be disturbed in a few weeks or a few months, whilst the factor of the time required to establish confidence amongst customers is too often forgotten by newcomers. Slowly— so slowly that changes almost defy detection—are terminal conditions disclosing the slightest indication of improvement in favour of the mechanical vehicle, and it is a striking exception to find a dock, railway depot or warehouse at which any preference whatsoever is given to the motor wagon, in respect of loading and unloading, over the horse-drawn vehicle. The motor still has " to take turn." It is not allowed to take an alternative or by-pass track to the crane, the quay, or the loading platform, and we are obliged to admit that seldom do the approaches and the area available permit of the provision of such alternative ways. Old customs die hard.
Ten years ago, terminal delays, at Liverpool, Manchester, Preston and other places where motor transport was started by pioneer companies, the cost and consequences of demurrage effectually wrecked the finances of several concerns. When the alternative of depot-to-depot haulage by motor (with a transfer from or to horse drawn lorries in collection or delivery) was of necessity adopted, in the majority of cases the extra disbursements upon terminal hauling, labour and warehousing could not be borne. It has taken a full ten years for the importance of speeding up at the terminal points to dawn upon the undoubted intelligences which control Lancashire industries and interests, and to win for itself a sympathetic view. This is step number one to the good, but it only brings the parties affected face to face with the physical difficulties that are inseparable from the problem. If the motor is to deliver from point to point, and to absorb the short terminal distances into the One long journey, which is the most economical course of all, everybody will have to pull together to lessen the incidence of terminal delays. As we proceed to show elsewhere in this issue, the question of cost per hour may prove to be a determining factor in the ease. The costs per hour for horse-drawn units are known to be low, and it is a settled conviction in the minds of hauliers that the motor can never comnete with the horse for idling purposes. We agree that a five-ton lorry cannot. be worked so cheaply as, say, is. per hour out of the stable, on a 12-hour day, which some team-owners claim to be canable of achievement with pair-horse lorries. On the other hand, compared with 10 years ago, and by reason of the fact tbat many uncertainties of cost and performance on the running side have been eliminated, the ratio bete era motor cost per hour and horse cost: per hour has diminished in satisfactory degree. Whereas it broadly was a four to one ratio 10 years ago, we believe that reliable instances can be adduced to show that. it has already fallen to an average below two to one in much town haulage. The choice between motor and I'm-se is then governed by the ascertainment of the ratio between horse performance and motor performance, and it is becoming obvious, in an increasing number of cases, that the motor, whilst costing twice as much per hour to work, is capable of doing greatly more than twice as much useful work, and is therefore the better investment of the two. Of course, as the tionveyanee portion of the total work to be done by any firolor rises in relation to the terminal portion, expressed in hours, so does the efficiency and economy of the motor become more anparent.
Two Show Issues.
We have decided that the two issues of this journal dated the lath and 22nd inst. are to be largely devoted to the commercial-motor section of the forthcoming North of England Show at Manchester The quickened attention of all north-country interests, in matters pertaining to motor transport, which followed in marked extent the carters' and railway strikes of last SUILIIIIFT, has not appreciably slackened during the past six months, and we are confident that the exhibition to which we refer will serve to fan that interest to the point ot: August beat and action, despite forecasted wintry conditions. The advent of every new buyer of a motor vehicle which centres noon Manchester will hasten the day when certain difficulties of Use—to which we have alluded on this page • • will disappear. The change or attitude on the part of cotton and woollen manufacturers, calico printers, dyers and bleachers. timi others who are identified with Lancashire and Yorkshire industries, has become very noticeable since the occasion of the last North of England Show, in February of last year, and we shall bring together, either in the shape of special articles or interviews from the pen of the Editor, in the above-mentioned issues of two weeks a-nd three weeks hence, a concise summary of the reasons which have accounted for this change and state the grounds for their acceptance. Personal touch with Manchester and district conditions is, nowadays, as important as personal touch with the principal owners in Ow Metropolitan area. The two sets of conditions, diverse in many respects, are likely to be responsible for considerably more than 50 per cent, of the motor traffic of the country. Each has a bearing on the other, but it is with Manchester that we are more immediately concerned. No surer proof of definite intentions to extend commercial-motor transport can be arlduned than the increase which we have noted in the circulation of this journal throughout the counties of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire during the past six months.
The Electric Tramcar Situation.
We were last weck taken to task by a _Midland correspondent, on the ground thatwe were adopting methods worthy of •• The Daily Mail " or " The Daily News" in relation to electric tramcars. We are not sure that he intended the comparison to be in the nature of a compliment, but we are inclined to think that his abuse was another example of trying to cover up a bad case. The fact that electric-tramcar undertakings throughoutthe United Kingdom are generally speaking in a bad way is again uncovered, officially, in the Annual Return of Street and Road Tramways and Light Railways. That for the year 1910-1911 was issued by the Railway Department of the Board of Trade last week, and it reveals, in summarized form, the state of financial depression into which the majority of electric-tramcar undertakings have fallen in the United Kingdom. There are, of course, a few notable exceptions. For example, of the 174 undertakings belonging to local authorities, sums in excess of £10,000 were—for the 12 months under noticc—allocated to the relief of rates by the following nine authorities : Birmingham (g41, I 03) ; Bradford (.E.20,000) ; Hull (1;12,000); Leeds (g51,666) ; Liverpool (1::32,735); Manchester (275,000); Nottingham (gI5,000); Salford (E1r,.750); and Sheffield (S.:26,5-12). On the other hand, grants in aid from the rates have been necessary in respect of the 29 (not 26) undertakings belonging to the following authorities : Barking ; Bexley ; Birkenhead ; Burton ; Colchester ; Darlington ; Darwen; Dover ; Erith ; Glamorgan County ; Gloucester ; Handsworth ; Hasliegden ; Heywood ; Ilkeston ; Ipswich ; Lancaster ; Lowestoft ; Maidstone ; Nelson ; Pontypridd ; Raw tenstall and lineup Stalybridge ; Hyda, Mossley and Dukinfield ; Swindon ; Wigan ; Kilmarnock : Leith ; and Perth. The total allocation in relief of rates was 1;370.435, and the total of aids from the rates 1:,055. It is worthy of note that the undertakings which we quote account for £293,038 of grants in relief of rates, and that the difference between that sum and the total of £;;70. I:3 has reference to 136 remaining authorities.
It is a matter for grave regret that this annual meturn of the Board of Trade does not set out in figures the deficiencies of many other authorities in respect of due provision for reserve and renewals. Were that done, we do not hesitate to say that the state of many more tramca.r undertakings would look bad. Turning to the 122 undertakings which are owned by companies and nrivate individuals, we find that interest and dividend payments on a paid-up capital of 225,184,164 reached 2786,913, after total repay
ments of £24,900 of debt and sinking fund, and the appropriation of £250,819 for reserves and renewals. there are many additional features of interest in the report, from the standpoint of the motorbus proprietor or maker, whose vehicles have to •‘ make good" under conditions of free competition. The electric tramcar enjoys a virtual monopoly in nearly every instance under notice, and most of all in the cases of local authorities, who, in order to bolster up their own municipal undertakings, deliberately hamper and hinder motorbus progress. Even in London, where there is a certain amount of free competition, the L.C.C. has recourse to artificial means of supporting its tramway undertaking. We content ourselves, from the report in front of us, by citing the fact that only £462,126 has been charged against the L.C.C. tramway undertaking in respect of street and road improvement concerning 143 route-miles upon which services are run, whereas the total expenditure is known to be in excess of 10 millions sterling, of which sum probably no less than six millions might properly be charged against the tramway account. The County of Middlesex tramways, in respect of only 42 miles of route, has been obliged to charge no less than 2092,001 for street and road improvement ; again, the Metropolitan Electric Tramways, in respect of 10 route miles, has similarly charged no less than 2150,095.
The report, to which we shall probably revert in an early issue, should undoubtedly be purchased by any readers who wish to become acquainted at firsthand with details of the capital expenditure, length of line, gross receipts, working expenditure, net receipts, appropriations, surpluses and deficits of the 296 undertakings with whose affairs it is concerned. In conclusion, we direct attention to the fact that the L.C.C. shows nothing appropriated in relief of rates.
The Importance of Placing Orders • Before or At the Manchester Show.
Elsewhere in this issue (pages 458 and -159), we devote initial space to references to this month's. North of England Show. The exhibition in question, at which a representative display of commercial
motor and allied exhibits will be shown, promises to be well supported from all sides. Not only will the show be successful from the standpoint of the exhibitors, but it will provide the opportunity for very many dilatory intending new purchasers to complete business which they have been turning over in their minds ever since the big strike of August last. Notwithstanding the huge volume of new business from Lancashire and Yorkshire, since that transport cataelaani, there remains a volume of business yet to be placed upon which we dare not essay to set limits. A proportion of this potential new business will be transformed to actual dealings atManchester, and we would warn owners and intending owners that they will do well to refrain from further postponements.
It is, we know, disappointing to hear that delivery cannot be given for a matter of six or eight months, and we are well aware that this position in respect of numerous approved models came as a distinct shock to inquirers last August. Considerable factory extensions have not materially relieved the delivery situation, and there is little indication, particularly in respect of machines for four-ton and five-ton loads, of any real measure of easing. Shorter intervals for delivery are not likely to come just yet, and we look to the forthcoming North of England Show to furnish the occasion upon which virtually all unallotted chassis for the first three-quarters of the year 1912 will be snapped up. We repeat our belief that this likely insufficiency of supply has particular reference to petrol vehicles of the heavier load capacities, and it also deserves to be noted that two of our leading makers have wisely reserved some heavy chassis for "
spot" sales during the months March-September, after which period it is hoped to establish a state of balance as between supply and demand.