Answers to Queries.
Page 19
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Our readers will be informed by the Editor on any points connected with the construction or use of commercial motors. Where a direct reply is desired, a stamped and addressed envelope should be enclosed : if a request for privacy is not specially made, any query and answer may be published. Some replies,owing to pressure on our space, are held several weeks. Numerous requests reach us/or lists of motorcab and commercial-vehicle owners ; these we never supply. Our advertiement columns are open to those who desire to snake announcements to owners for the purposes of trade No Carriage Tax on Steam Wagons. LIVERPOOL'' write :—" We beg to inquire if you can afford us any information as to whether steam wagons are in any way rated on formula by the Royal Automobile Club ? We have frequent insurance work respecting motors and wagons, and we have been approached for this information, but we cannot trace any such rating."
ANswea.—Steam wagons are not rated on formula by the R.A.C. The carriage tax does not apply to goods vehicles. Steam cars do come under the cylinder-dimension rating of the 1909-10 Finance Act, which is, of course, a hardship upon owners, especially ill cases where an engine has a low-pressure cylinder.
How to Obtain Mail-van Contracts.
{19-,3j ' LANCASHIRE " writes :—" I shall he glad if you will send me full particulars as to how I should go to work to obtain a mail-van contract. Kindly let me know if I stand the same chance as a company, although I am only a private individual. I am at present in private work as a chauffeur-mechanic. I have unlimited experience over a period of seven years. I am an old reader of yours, and shall be glad to have the information requested above."
A NSWER.—Certain guarantees and sureties are required by the Government in respect of any mail contract. Any party who wishes to obtain a contract must be prepared to bring forward sureties if he is to stand any chance of getting the business. Application must be made to the Controller, G.P.O., London, for a copy of the conditions which apply to mail-van contracts. The accompanying letter should state that application for a contract is in contemplation, and that for this purpose the applicant wishes to lay the matter before some financial backers. This action should be taken in order that the Controller should be given the reason for the application for the papers.
Does His Trade Call for Deliveries in :Four Directions Simultaneously
[19e4] " PROGRESS " write:—'' Will you please give us your opinion re the following ? We have a business in which we employ four horses. Their work consists of the collection and delivery of goods. and is mainly house-to-house collection. The radius covered by them is about six or seven miles of moderately-hilly ground, and not of the best surface.
" Can you, under such circumstances, recommend the use of a, motorva.n in preference to horses.? Can you give us the approximate cost of working with a motor under such conditions, and how many horses might we dispense with ?
"We have had a 12-14 h.p. car offered us, with the suggestion of removing the body and placing a cover on to form a van. Would such an one, if all right, suit the circumstances ? We quite see the difficulty of advising, without personal acquaintance with detail, and we are afraid that perhaps the information given is rather crude. However, we shall thank you for your opinion, deduced from the remarks made."
ANSWER.—A motorvan can easily replace four horses, unless it be absolutely necessary to make deliveries in four directions at the same time. " Progress " do not say whether their four horses haul two carts or more. If they will state the class of load that is to be handled, and state the maximum
weight that will at any time be put upon the motorvan, the Editor will be happy to endeavour to give suitable information in reply free of charge. The van mentioned, which is secondhand, no doubt wants careful " vetting." The best course would be to have an expert examination made and an opinion given on the suitability for conversion or otherwise of the chassis.
The Mental Gymnastics of the Licensing Laws for Public.-service Vehicles.
1.191,5] "CORNERED" write :—" We are desirous to know whether owners of motor passenger vehicles, plying for hire, are obliged to apply for licences to : (a) county councils, when working in the administrative area of a county council ; (b) urban district councils, when working in such an area which is policed by the urban district councils' own police ; (e) urban district councils, when the area is policed by arrangement with the county police.
" It may possibly simplify your investigation if we say that our own conclusion is that the Public Health Act of 1875 (Section 171) extends the licensing powers of the Town Police Clauses Act, 1847, to any urban authority.' whilst 'any superintendent of police acting for the authority or in its district is expressly included. We are indebted to you for previous answers on this question, but we think we now raise it in a new form, and in one which should give you the opportunity to settle queries under the foregoing heads. It is quite likely that the Town Police Clauses Act of 1889 also has a bearing on the matter."
ANSWER.—Apart from the Metropolis, there is no general Act conferring on the police the power of licensing hackney carriages or omnibuses, the latter of which include every omnibus, char-h-bancs, wagonette, brake, stage coach and every carriage plying or standing for hire by or used to carry passengers at separate fares to or from any part of the prescribed distance. Therefore, the question as to how a local area is policed does not affect the question of licensing. Under the Town Police Clauses Act of 1847, when any Act is passed for the improvement, or regulation of any town or district defined or comprised therein, and with which the Town Police Clauses Act is incorporated. the Commissioners or other persons entrusted by the said Act with powers for executing the purposes thereof are empowered to license hackney carriages, and various provisions are made with reference to their use. By the Public Health Act of 1875 (Section 171), the powers contained in the Town Police Clauses Act of 1847 with reference to the licensing of hackney carriages were conferred upon urban district councils generally. By the Town Police Clauses Act of 1889, the nrovisions with regard to the licensing of hackney carriages were extended so as to include omnibuses as defined above. Hence, if the vehicle ply for hire within an urban district. then a licence must be obtained from the Urban District Council, and if it ply within any other town or district the question as to whether such a vehicle must. be licensed depends. upon whether there is any special Act affecting that town or district which incorporates the provisions of the Act of 1847 ; if so, application for a licence must he made to the person or body entrusted by the Act. with powers for
executing the purposes thereof. If we have not made ourselves quite plain we shall be happy to give any further information..