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News of Municipal Activities

21st April 1933, Page 33
21st April 1933
Page 33
Page 33, 21st April 1933 — News of Municipal Activities
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Presentation to Wigan's Manager.

On the occasion of celebrating their silver wedding, Mr. and Mrs. J. Brierley entertained to dinner representatives of the administrative, traffic and depot staffs of Wigan Corporation transport department, of which Mr. Brierley is general. manager. Mr. Brierley's first link with the Wigan passenger-transport system was in 1921, when he was appointed traffic spperintendent, and eight years later he became general manager of the undertaking. The opportunity was taken to present Mr, and Mrs. Brierley with a combined silver barometer and clock to mark the occasion.

Benefits of Replacing Obsolete Vehicles.

In his annual report, Mr. D. EL Brown, county surveyor of Warwick, states that the cost of working the council's steam wagons was £6,145 45. 6d., or an average cost of £2 7s. 7d. per day. This includes the wages of drivers and loaders, fuel, oil and repairs, but no amount for depreciation, interest on capital, etc. The tonnage of material hauled during the year was 58,010. The haulage cost of material delivered on to the roads was 2s. 1d. per ton, as compared with 2s. 21d. Per ton in the previous year.

During the year, a pneumatic-tyred steam tractor, together with two threeway tipping trailers, was purchased to replace an old steam wagon. This tractor worked on 180 days and hauled 7.892 tons of material—an average of 44 tons per day—at a cost cf £456 is. 5d. The average working cost per day was £2 10s. 8d., and the cost of material hauled was is 2d. per ton. A second tractor, and trailers of the seine type, were purchased in May, 1932. A comparison of the above figures is of considerable interest. In the case of the tractor and trailers, no expenditure for repairs was incurred on this new outfit, but after deducting the cost of repairs and renewals to the steam wagons, the average cost per ton of material hauled was is. 10d., as compared with is. 2d. for the tractor and trailers. This, the report states, clearly proves that the policy of replacing the obsolete vehicles with this new type has effected a considerable saving, and that the whole of the old wagons should be dispensed with so soon as can conveniently be arranged.

There were 11 petrol lorries owned by the county council in use during the year. The average working cost per day of the Morris-Commercial 30-cwt. lorries was Li 2s. 2d., of the Garner 35-cwt. and 24-ton vehicles £1 5s. 3d., and the Thornycroft 6-tonner £2 12s. 10d., showing an average lower cost of about 2s.,per day, as compared with the previous year.

Manchester's Taxation Work Increases.

The work of collecting taxes on, and issuing licences for, mechanically propelled vehicles in Manchester, is relegated to the police and, in the 1932 report of the chief constable, some figures are given to indicate how the volume of work transacted in this connection has grown during the past few years.

In 1921 3,216 goods vehicles were licensed, whereas last year the figure was 7,433, whilst 800 licences were issued in 1921 for motor hackneys, compared with 1,149 in 1932. In addition, 35,777 drivers' licences were issued last year, as against 16,848 in 1921. During the past year £443,006 in respect of payment for motor licences was placed to the credit of the Ministry of Transport; in 1921 the amount was £170,010. Cardiff and a Toll-gate Purchase.

The question of the purchase by Cardiff City Council of the Penarth. Road toll-gate has again come forward. The council's Parliamentary committee has discussed the advisability of buying the toll rights, with a view to the ultimate freeing of the road, and has decided to ask the Ministry of Transport for assistance in the matter.

It is understood that the toll-owning concern is willing to negotiate for the sale of the toll rights, although use was not made, in the period of its currency, of the council's compulsory acquirement right obtained some years ago.

The toll owner is Mountjoy, Ltd. (the Bute Estates), and the tolls levied annually on traffic amount, it is computed, to £80,000 to £100,000, of which Cardiff Corporation vehicles pay some £3,000 and service buses alone some £2.0,000 per annum.

The Ministry of Transport has agreed to provide 65 per cent, of the cost of the road and bridge improvement scheme at Leckwith Road, Cardiff, which would provide an alternative route for much of the Cardiff-Penarth and Barry traffic. A condition of grant is that Glamorgan County Council and the Cardiff City Council proceed at once with this joint scheme. A conference between the two authorities is being arranged to go into the matter.

Petrol Buses Favoured at Present.

After receiving a report from the tramways manager on the proposal that compression-ignition engines should be employed in the municipal buses, Aberdare Urban District Council has adopted the advice contained therein and decided to continue "the present policy of buying petrol-engined buses" for the immediate future.


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