The Wheels of Industry.
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The wheel of wealth will be slowed by all difficulties of transport at whatever points arising, as a carriage is by the roughness of the roads over which it runs."—John Beattie Crozier.
Gazette.
The members of Bradford Motors, Ltd., will meet, on the 27th inst. at 11.30 a.m., at the offices of the liquidator, Mr. R. S. Dawson, 9, Charles Street, Bradford, to consider the liquidator's report.
Proposal and Purchases by Local Authorities.
The Musselburgh Town Council is considering a proposal for a new motorbus service between •Joppa and Prestonpans.
The Gas Works Department of the Rotherham Town Council has decided to buy a 25-cwt. motor lorry for cartage purposes.
The Watch Committee of the Sheffield City Council has approved an increase of the initial fare, for local taxicab hiring, from Is. to Is. 3d.
Finsbury Borough Council, in which area the publishing offices of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR are situated, has ordered a motor-sweeper, at 2673.
The Sheffield City Council is laying down another petrol-storage installation, under a contract with the Steel Barrel Co., Ltd., of Uxbridge, Middlesex.
Local motorbus undertakings have refused to make any roadmaintenance contributions to the Portslade District Council. The local 'services Will, no doubt, be withdrawn, if this condition is enforced.
The proposal for the joint acquirement of a motor fire-engine by the City of Ripon and neighhouring rural districts has been vetoed by the Ministry of Munitions, which Department has had to decline to afford facilities for work upon the engine which it was desired to purchase.
Of the motor appliances which have been obtained since the process of substituting motor appliances for horse-drawn plant in the London Fire Brigade was in its early stages, four fire-engines have proved unsatisfactory, and two have been sold at £500 each, and the other two at .2400 each. The Fire Brigade Committee has been advised that more efficient appliances should be obtained, and it will be necessary to obtain two new appliances in substitntion for the four old ones. Quotations were therefore invited from Dennis Bros. (1913), Ltd., and Leyland Motors (1914), Ltd., the former company quoting 21050 each, and the latter £8.87 each. The offer of Leylancls was accepted.
026 The' Licence to Purchase Motor Spirit Free of Duty."
Thanks to the courtesy of the chairman of the Petrol Control Committee, we were 'furnished, on Monday last, with two specimen copies of the new licence to purchase motor spirit, available on and after the 1st prox. without payment of the new htl. tax. The licence has a broad green band printed horizontally across its front cover, no doubt to distinguish it from a licence for a private motorist.
The inside of the back cover provides spaces for the number of the licence, the quantity authorized for the period (three months), and the quantity in any one month. It is pointed out that " month " means "calendar month." It is stated that spirit which is purchased under the licence can only be used (1) for purposes other than the supply of motive power to motorcars or motorcycles, and (2) for supplying
motive power to motorcars or motorcycles ia respect of which duty is not payable under Section a6 of the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910. This wording practically covers petrol for all motor vehicles other than private motorcars and private motorcycles, as well as petrol for non-dutiable uses (i.e. stationary engines). The licence then proceeds to state the following oondition,s :— 1. Particulars of every purchase of motor spirit made under the terms of this licence must be entered herein at the time of purchase.
2.. The omission to make an entry, or the making of a false entry, or the purchase or supply of motor spirit in excess of the quantity authorized, is an offence involving the liability to an Excise penalty of £100.
3. No guarantee is given under this licence that the _quantity of motor spirit available for distribution will be sufficient to enable the licencee to purchase the . amount which he is authorized to purchase under this licence,. • 4. This licence must be returned to the Petrol Control Committee when it is exhausted, and must also be delivered to them for inspection at any time if required.
There then follow four pages, each ruled for the " date,' the "name and address of supplier of motor spirit," the "number of gallons supplied," and the "number of gallons supplied to date." The last page inside the cover, which is of flexible card, is a form of application for a fresh licence. It. is recommended that such 'application shall be, made a fortnight before the current licence is exhausted. The back cover has a space on it for the name and Address of the holder of the licence, which' overall measures approximately 51 ins. by 31ins.
Coal-gas Not Hopeless.
The first leading article in this issue re-directs attention of readers to the claims and possibilities of coal-gas for use as a fuel in motor vehicles which are fitted with internal-combustion engines. The factor of weight is the crucial one, although the attitude of the gas companies of the country is of only slightly-less importance in relation to any extensive use of coal-gas. This subject is one to which we shall give further and immediate attention, as part of our scheme for laying before. commercial-motor users all the alternatives to petrol. The present is clearly the time when ruling prices for petrol admit any alternative that can be utilized. Germany and Wan-used Vehicles.
We have been interested to observe how paragraphs are going the round of the Press concerning the Field Power Wagon Co., which was formed in Germany at the end of last year, with its offices at Unterden-Linden, Berlin. This company is under the direct supervision of the Prussian and Bavarian Army Authorities. We desire to recall, merely as a matter of record, that the particulars of the formation of this company, together with a statement of its objects and intentions, were published by,us in our issue of the 6th January last.
Sheffield Motorbus Accounts. The Trartiways ManagLa. r of the Sheffield Corporation, Air. A. It Fearnley, has sent us a. copy of his motorbus accounts for the year ended the 25th March last. The traffic f6verate per mile 'run was 12.07d., in respect of 540,628 motorbus-miles. The expenditure was as follows :—Traffic, 3.157d. general,
0.305d. ; repairs 1. ; tires, Q.948d. •' petrol, repairs, ; war allow, Awes, O.177d. ; interest, 0.239d. ; sinking fund, 0.196d. • depot-accommodation charges, 0089d. ; income tax on profits, 0.124d. ; renewals reserve, 1.131d. ; carried to balance sheet, 2.403d. After provision for special reserve, the net balance carried to general tramways account is 1.586d. per motorbus-mile, representing 23573. The results are most satisfactory, and we make editorial reference to this undertaking on on another page.
,`A Commercar which Does More than 100 Miles Daily.
The accompanying composite block shows one of the Commercar vehicles which are in motorbus service between Llandaff and Cardiff. It is under the care of a foremanengineer, Mr. A. H. Hazeldene, who hail been active in helping our Campaign Comforts Fund. This chassis recently underwent a complete overhaul, and, as is shown by the first of the three photographs, the gearbox is in good condition, and ready to be again lined-up ; another of the photographs shows everything in. place, and on the point of being tested ;-the remainmg photograph shows the overhauled chassis, with its char-hbanes body back in position, prior to its resuming service for its usual complement of 36 passengers. This chassis has in the course of the pant four years done more than 100,000 miles of road surface, and Mr. Hazeldene tells us that he finds it "the most reliable vehicle in South Wales." His company has five Comnaercars and "the wearing parts throughout 4„). of them are absolutely wonderfel." With continued care, this machine should double its mileage just as satisfactorily.
Body-building Work.
The business of Mr. F. Cursons, motor body builder, Broadway Carriage Works, Walham Green, has now been amalgamated with Messrs. Jas. Bartle and Co., the ,well-known engineers and motor body builders, Western Ironworks, Lancaster Road, Notting Hill.
Berlin Motorbus losses.
The recently-published balancesheet of the Berlin Motor Omnibus Co. for the year 1915 shows the corn
pany to have been working at a considerable loss. The reasons given for this are the high cost of petrol, the maintenance of the members of the staff with the forces and the big drop in receipts. The number of passenger fell from 149 million in 1914 to 94 million in 1915. The latter figure includes six million soldiers who travelled free. The receipts were little more than half those of 1914. On a turnover of 21 million marks a loss is shown of 786,600 marks.
Royal Automobile Club.
We are interested to note that the half-yearly membership rates of the Royal Automobile Club are now in force. The Club does not at the present time require any entrance fee, so a new town member can join for the remainder of the year, on being duly proposed and seconded, for £3 13s. 6d.. or a new country member for £2 2s.
Gift of a Lorry Wanted.
Mr. W. Joynson-Hicks, M.P., Chairman of the A.A. and AEU., and Chairman of the Fund for Belgian Field Ambulance Service, makes an appeal (page 434) for the gift of a new or second-hand motor lorry. We have pointed out to Mr. Joynson-Hicks that there is hardly anybody in the country who is in a Position to part with a motor lorry at the present time even for so good a cause, but we none the less have pleasure in giving publicity to his request. Our surmise may prove to be inaccurate. We hope so. Petrol Has Failed.
Our aim, and object in the dig tressful circumstances which remain in force, and as to the varying degrees of acuteness of which we can offer no dogmatic statement, is to continue to direct attention to the claims of two-fuel carburetters, and to carburetters or vaporizers which are adapted to use paraffin only. We have deliberately followed this course for several months past, not merely because of its immediate bearing upon war-time difficulties, but because we have a profound belief in the benefit which will continue to accrue for users for all time to come. The temporary failure of petrol .is a timely lesson taall of us to extend a, welcome-to every class of fuel which can, nomatter to how small an extent in relation to the whole copsumption, be forthwith burnt in existing types of internal-combustion en-, gines. A special Order in Council was passed, on Thursday last, providing that any person 'who is under a contract to .supply motor spirit, and who refrains, on the request of the Board of Trade, from delivering motor spirit in accordance with his contract, shall not be liable to any action or proceedings taken against him in respect of the non-fulfilment of his contract so far as it is due to compliance with that request.
New Motorbus Routes.
Any proprietor of a. motorbus or motor char-ii.-bancs, which vehicle it is sought to use upon a new route, and in respect of which it may be sought to claim the right to run by reason of prior use of the route by a carrier's cart, will please remember that such a plea can only be based upon the earlier running of a carrier's cart for the purpose of carrying passengers at separate fares as part of its work. A carrier's cart which has conveyed goads exclusively will be of no value as a precedent. "The Sentinel News."
We congratulate Alley and MacLellan, Ltd., on the production of No. 1 of " The Sentinel News," which is published at Shrewsbury. We believe this is the fist case of the devotion of a house journal to the cause of the steam wagon.
Women Drivers and W.O.
We are officially notified by the War Office, in respect of the employment of women ambulance drivers that, whilst a certain number of women drivers are being so employed, it is not proposed to engage any more at. present. This may save diappointment. The Petrol Shortage.
"The Times," on Monday last, announced that "twenty per cent. is the reduction in the supply of petrol for commercial and private purposes under the new licensing system." We only wish this were correct. It is as far from accuracy as anything can well be, we fear. Those commercial owners who are curtailed by only so little as 50 per cent. will have good cause to be gratified. It is a strange commentary upon happenings, that when London motorbus services are threatened with a 50 per cent. reduction of petrol supply, the Ministry of Munitions. should have called upon theeL.G.O.C. to establish a new service between Broekley Station and Woolwich. Helping the Wounded.
The Chaplain of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, will be pleased to hear from any readers of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR who may he in a position to help him by giving motor drives to patients. Hospitality and petrol can be provided.
Motorbus Service Curtailment.
The L.G.O.C. gave notke towards the end of last week, that services Nos. 26, 117, 120, 122 and 155 were not to he rim on Sunday last, whilst other Sunday services were to be restricted. Services Nos. 26, 32, 45, 80, and Si were at the same time notified for early withdrawal. Users of motorbuses in London are advised to look out for further announcements.