Correspondence.
Page 18
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British v. Foreign Motorbuses.
The Editor, "Tin COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—I fail to understand the purpose of the remarks of your correspondent " C.B.D." which appear in your last issue. He says he " was led to believe " (though he does not explain how) that Beaufort cars were British, but that, in enquiry of the manager of the Beaufort stand last year, he was told—he thinks unwillingly—that they were made in Germany. There is DO need for " C.B.D." to indulge in _psychical exercises. Beaufort cars are designed by our works manager at 14, Baker Street. They are constructed, ,under our direction and supervision, in 'Baden. There has never been any secret in the matter, for our works and their locality have been for the last four or five years ex. pressly defined on our letter paper. We should like to see ." C.B.D.'s " figures purporting to show that more foreign buses break down in London than British ones, Even dis.regarding the fact that foreign motorbuses are far the more numerous, and, therefore, should be the more noticeable, OUT information is to the contrary.—Yours faithfully, THE BEAUFORT MOTOR CO., LTD.
J. EDGAR LOUND, Managing Director. 14, Baker Street, W.
October 26th, 1906, The Leeds Corporation Motorbuses.
Sir :-1 have read the paragraph, in the first column, or ;page lot, in your issue of the nth instant. The actual words in my report to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and citizens of Leeds, were as follow :—" Cost of two motorbuses .complete, £1,523 95. 6d. ; receipts, from January to March 31st, 19°6, £44 6s. Sd., or an average per day of 95. Hid,, . or 4s. lid. each " (I enclose the official figures handed Lo me after we had examined the books together, which please return and oblige). " Paid, in six months, for renewals and .accessories for motorbuses, motorcaros, etc., ,4'377 17s. lid., and this amount does not include cost of petrol." I have full particulars of the cost of the chassis and, also, cost of the bodies, including fitting up chassis, fitting on bodies, etc., which I need not give here.
Below, I give you. copy of a letter from Dougill's Engineering, Limited, of Leeds :— 39: and 36, Great George Street, Leeds, October lit, 1966.
J. Dransfield, Esq., Public Auditor, Burley, Leeds.
Dear Sir,—I read with great interest your remarks on the Leeds motorbuses. Some time ago we bought some patents for driving motorbuses and wagons, cars, etc., by friction, and, • thereby, doing away with gearing, which is the cause of all these breakdowns and expensive upkeep. We fitted up a factory in Leeds, and asked the Leeds Corporation to come and • see our system. They did not take the trouble to come or answer our letters, but went to Burton and bought the present buses. We felt that, as we were fairly large ratepayers, the least they could have done was to have examined and tried it.
I again thought I would approach them, so some weeks ago we did this through Mr. R. Armitage, M.P., of Farnley. Then up came Mr. Hamilton, tram manager, and an engineer called, I think, Mi. Ellison. They went a trial run, and expressed themselves as delighted, and we asked, as they were advertising for chars-a-bancs chassis, to let us estimate.
What was our surprise to learn that Ellison, the engineer, .of the L.C.T. motor department, was the designer of the machines the Corporation had bought, and he was still con.
suiting engineer to the firm at Burton. Is it likely that he would give us a chance to tender?
At the invitation of the inhabitants of Farniey—who complained that the motorbus from Low Wortley to Farnley was broken down five days out of six, and, when funning, often took one hour to run from Wortley to Farnley—we took, on Saturday last, a char-a-bancs over the same route, doing the journey with 23 passengers in 12 minutes 2 seconds. We made a journey from Woodpecker Hotel to Leeds in 20 minutes 25 seconds, passing the Corporation machine broken down on the road as we passed each way. The machine we drove is made complete in our own works in Leeds, and is one of a series we are making for Egypt.
We offer to guarantee to run our buses on one-third less petrol than other makes of buses, and 50 per cent, less upkeep, but, as one of the ex-councillors once told me, "If yox wor in London we cud bey a deputation an' a good feed, but ye can get nowght in Dolly Loine." I am sure the public do, or ought to, look on you as a public benefactor for bringing things forward as you do.—Yours truly,
(Signed) ALF. DOIIGILI.,
Managing Director.
I also enclose copies of letters published in the " Leeds and Yorkshire Mercury," on Friday, October 5th, 1906, and I may say that I have no interest in these matters beyond that of the public interest, and of fair play and no favour to all those who are, and should be, interested in such fnalters.
.—Yours faithfully, J. DRANSFIELD.
Elective Auditor.
P.S.-1 should have said that one bus chassis was sent to Leeds on November r4th, 5905, and the second one on January 20th, 1906. It is, therefore, evident that both buses were not running the whole three months. The takings for the two buses, hoU7ever, amounted to the sum given above, and were simply averaged by the aceountant as though the two buses had run for three months, but, even taking one bus as running three months, the average takings per day would only be 95. 11(1., a very small sum indeed.
is, Thornville Mount, HeadingIey, Leeds, October 26th, 1906.
[The figures which Mr. Dransfield professes to have c.xtracted from the tramway accounts do not in any way vitiate our previous criticism of his assertions. His original statements were absolutely erroneous, and this should, we think, have been conceded by him. We have instituted careful enquiries in Leeds, and we find that the first bus had, after delivery, to be fitted with a body, constructed in the Corporation's works, men had to be trained to operate it, several adjustments had to be carried out in the gears, so that the ratios might be adapted for a hilly route, and it had run less than t,000 miles by the end of March last. We are, however, able to say that the receipts exceeded 13d. per mile run. As reported in " THE COMMERCIAL MoToE," the omnibus was practically used to test the traffic, until the date when a new golf course was opened at the terminus, and we are in a position to state that the average receipts for both vehicles, over the whole period, ending September 30th last, have been close upon rid. per mile. It should be explained that the service in question runs from one of the tramway termini out into the country, and, therefore, its feeding value to the Corporation tramways, upon which a 2d. fare exists to the centre of the city, should not be overlooked. We are obliged to repeat that Mr. Dransfield's figures are absolutely unreliable.—En.]