OPINIONS and QUERIES
Page 37
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The Editor invites correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of com mercial motors. Letters should be written on only one side of the paper. The right of abbrematton is reserved and no responsibility for mews expressed is accepted. Queries must be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope.
THE RATIONING OF FUEL SUPPLIES.
IWAS very pleased to note the letter from Mr. John Lanipard, in your issue of September 15, with which, of course, I am in full sympathy.
As a matter of fact I feel exasperated over what appears to be the position in respect of long-distance road transport; it reminds me very forcibly of the awful chaos in the previous war. Obviously this chaos is to be repeated a hundredfold.
The Prime Minister assured us that the Government had made arrangements for the ordinary business of the nation to be carried on; we were also told that the supplies of motor fuel were sufficient to last two years at. the, then, present rate of usage. Evidently road transport is not to be considered as 'ordinary business."
What is the position to-day? This past week has been a positive nightmare to my company's staff. The commandeering, etc., of vehicles has made it impossible for us to cope with more than about 50 per cent. of the business of our regular customers, despite the fact that the goods are all of national importance and most consignments are directly concerned with munitions. In addition to this we have been inundated with requests for road transport services from people who usually send by rail. This also was traffic of national importance ; in one instance fittings for a famous shipbuilder.
During the previous war it was quite impossible for the railways to cope with the traffic directly connected with munitions, let alone traffic of national importance, and the Minister of Munitions issued instructions to manufacturers to send goods by road, so far as possible. The railway companies habitually referred the public to that instruction!
in spite of this, to-day, apparently, that policy is completely reversed. Long-distance road transport is to he made to collapse through fuel shortage, and the railways, already congested and declining traffic, are to be forced to try to carry the road traffic.
If this be not crass stupidity then I do not know what is. Give hauliers their requisite fuel and it indeed would be "business as usual" for everybody, not forgetting Government revenue.
The business of the country is-already in a state of chaos through lack of road-transport facilities, and it will very soon come to a standstill if it has to depend on the railways. As usual whenever a Government appeals to the public to put forth itsbest, that best is usually rendered impossible solely by Government restrictions. Red-tape regulations usually well exceed in cost any possible overlapping of serwices. Road transport can deliver the goods while others are fooling about with various priority, etc., measures.
While the war continues sweep away all the Regional Transport Commissioners, etc., and, as in the 1914 war, let road transport get on with its job, unfettered. Give road, transport its fuel and it will do the rest.
WALTER GAMMONS, Managing Director, For Walter Gammons, Ltd. London, E.C.2. WHO IS TO SPEAK FOR THE INDUSTRY?
letter with the above title, signed by Mr. J. P.
Hine, and relating to the activities of Mr. Sewill in connection with the Road Rail Central Conference, will probably be answered by Mr. Sewill himself if, in the present stress of national business of an even more important character than he is normally engaged upon, he has the time to do so.
The suggestion put forward by Mr. Hine is, however, so widely at variance with the facts, that I feel I must also make some rejoinder.
The facts are that the business upon which •Mr. Sewill was engaged was decided upon in the first place at a joint meeting of representatives of the industry in London, to wit, the Central Conference itself. In making his tour of the areas, Mr. Sewill was but implementing the decision of that Central Conference.
Further, at each inaugural meeting of the Regional Committees, Mr. Sewill merely passed on the recommendations of the Central Conference, putting tliem before the Regional Committees as guidance, thereafter leaving them to carry on the very necessary and important work which they were to do according to the dictates of their own discretion, experience and knowledge. It is important to note in this same connection that the Regional Committees, so far as the road representatives are concerned, comprised men elected to those committees by hauliers in the area concerned.
It may be news to quite a number of readers of The Commercial Motor that I accompanied Messrs. Roger Sewill and A. E. Sewell for part of their tour and what I have written is the outcome of first-hand knowledge of what occurred at each of five of the Regional Committee meetings.
If Mr. Sewill, in the way in which he conducted this business, be a dictator, then my interpretation of the term has hitherto been all wrong. My personal view is that nothing more typical of democratic government could be instanced than the way in which the business of the Road Rail Central Conference has been done.
London, N.22. S.T.R.
CONVERTING A PRIVATE CAR TO CARRY GOODS.
I S it permissible to fit a wooden platform on to an Austin Seven touring car, so that it can be used for trade purposes without increasing the horse-power tax of £6? I should be obliged if you can inform me as to the conditions of the case. J.M. Liverpool, 7.
[It is not permissible to fit a wooden platform to' a caT and tax it on the horse-power basis. This would necessitate taking out a licence on unladen weight, and obtaining a carrier's licence from the Area Licensing Authority (now
the Regional Transport Commissioner). If used for carrying your own goods, the licence would be in the C class and could be obtained automatically. In the present circumstances, you could also carry for other people.—En.]