"The Times" Commercial-Motor Census.
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"The Times," in its issue of the 15th inst., purports to give a motorcar census, and states that it discloses a heavy decrease of numbers since war began. We are indebted to "The Times" for its investigations, in so far as they disclose figures which we take to be the total registrations of new commercial motors during the past three years. They are as under :— 1914.—England and Wales, 20,358; Scotland, 1412; Ireland, 421.
1915.—England and Wales, 12,643; Scotland, 2535; Ireland, 478.
1916.—England and Wales, 17,201; Scotland, 3530; Ireland, 627.
The foregoing figures are accurate, assuming that "The Times" has confined its investigations to registrations under the Motor Car Acts. They show new totals of commercial motors reaching 22,191 for 1914, 15,656 for 1915, and 21,358 for 1916. It must be remembered that such registrations include motorcabs, motorbuses, heavy motorcars, and all utility vehicles of any class if so declared on registration. Not every commercial motor is a heavy motorcar, because any trade vehicle which weighs less than two tons unladen is, notwithstanding its being a commercial motor,
also a motorcar in the eyes of the law, and not a heavy motorcar.
"The Times," comparing the above-quoted aggregate figures, states that "the licences of 6535 commercial motors were not renewed in 1915, as compared with 1914." This is a non sequitur. There are, of course, no anntial licences under the Motor Car Acts for commercial motors, other than hackney-carriage licences for passenger-carrying vehicles.
If" The Times" has been dealing solely with registrations under the Motor Car Acts, the data which we quote are accurate as new annual additions. If that newspaper has been partly relying upon returns of the Inland Revenue Department as regards licencefees, and partly upon registrations under the Motor Car Acts, the records are muddled and vitiated. We ourselves think it is clear that the annual figures of registrations, which we have extracted, entirely refer to new registrations under the Motor Car Acts, as these figures are readily obtainable. Read as such, they disclose the combined new strength of commercial motoring from all sources. The actual total, at the end of 1916, upon our own computations, which date back to the year 1901, was in the vicinity of 56,000—inclusive of steam vehicks—for goods vehicles, and of 29,000 for all passenger vehicles.