LINKING UP SMALL TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
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The Part Played by Mechanical Road Transport in Developing the Life of the Rural Community.
DURG the past two or three years a great, number of young men have invested. all their capital in the purchase of motor lorries, by means of which they transport goods of all kinds, and passengers, from the villages and small towns to the larger seats of industry. If the railway companies. had continued in their recent efforts to secure powers to operate and control road transport unrestricted in its activities; it is very much feared that these little men would have been squeezed out of existence. This would not only have been a great hardship to the men themselves, but would have ultimately meant that the districts which are now reaping the benefit of a healthy competition would in time again have been at the mercy of the large railway companies.
It is not-, however, my object to give a dissertation on the iniquities of railway companies, but rather to show how road transport and the enterprise of those who have entered upon it have benefited the community. Perhaps I cannot do this more effectively than by describing a day's run which I recently had with one of the principals of the Evesham Vale Transport, a small concern which has been running a regular daily service between Evesham and Birmingham for more than two years. This concern consists of two ex-arnmy men who upon demobilization found it. somewhat irksome to return to " the shops," so launched oat for themselves by purchasing a 2-ton American lorry. It was not all plain sailing, and there was a certain amount of prejudice to break down, but, in a short time, the
Of course, these vehicles are not solely occupied on time Birmingham service, but very frequently it is necessary for theta to •journey to the busy city in one day. The concern has a garage and office in Evesham where orders and goods for delivery are received; it also has depots in Birmingham and en route. The day I made the journey I joined the lorry at the garage in tha early morning. There I found the principals and their assistants busy transferring some bulky, but not toc heavy, packages, which were urgently needed by is tradesman in a neighbouring village, from time Wolseley lorry to a 10 lap Swift, which was at once driven out. This little car, although of the ordinary touring type, has been, found of the greatest value in carrying out work of this kind. Net only is it much more rapid on the road, but its petrol consumption is very much smaller than the heavier vehicles, and it is consequently found economical to utilize it on two or three days every week.
The Swift having been despatched, the other principal then started out on the Moaner, leaving the big lorry to follow later. We picked up front various tradesmen and warehousemen in Evesham, our lead consisting of an odd assortment of meat, seeds, farm implements, grocery, etc. We passed through Norton and Harviagtort and on to Salford Priors, Where we dropped one consignment. and picked up another. At Bidford-on-Avon we saw the familiar E.V T. card in green letters on a primrose ground displayed in window, and in response to a ámll we were handed a considerable commission to execute in Birmingham. Having deposited our seeds at. a farm en route we made two or three calls in Arrow and Alcester, and received orders here to bring a large -consignment of unfinished hardware from the Birmingham warehouse of a company whose finishing shops are at Alcester. At the concern's depot in this town was a quantity of boxes of eggs for King's Heath, which a neighbouring farmer scads by means of the E.V.T. two or three times a week. Parcels were picked up .at Coughton and at Studley, and the familiar yellow card was again on view at the warehouse of one of the leading needle manufacturers.
It was while goods were being delivered in this little town that I had the opportunity of speaking with a shop keeper's wife. She was loud in her pause of the benefits which road transrort had conferred on the community, and said that she only had to give the crder for goods she wanted in the morning and the articles were delivered the same night, which was very different from the treatment she got from the railway companies, who frequently took two or three days to bring goods 15 miles.
Front Studley onwards through Wythal and King's Heath into the heart of Birmingham our work consisted of delivery rather than collection. In the great city itself we had a number of places at whiA to deliver 1VIessrs. Beach's jams, and it was while cases of jam were being taken into a warehouse of one of the largest. wholesale firms in Birmingham that I received further testimony of the value of direct delivery byroad.
Here th3 manager told me, in all sin cerity, that since Messrs. Beach had consigned their goods by road instead of rail their orders had increased four-fold. This was because they could assure the arrival of the goods quickly and in excellent condition.. They could order by 'phone one afternoon, and were sure that the goods would be in their warehouse by about noon the next day. Moreover, pilfering is unknown and breakages are practically nil. Delivery completed, the work of col lection commenced. First a call was made at the depot, and here innumerable small packages were picked up and orders receaved for calls at various warehomes. The Evesham Vale Transport. make a practice of calling on their regular customers every day, and as they usually draw up at about the same time, all goods fey them are ready.
-We started back on this particular occasion in the early evening with full lead, and as we had to deliver at Stud. ley, Alcester, Arrow, Bidforcl, Cleave Prior and Littleton, it was getting late When Evesham was reached. Consequently, the home delivery was left until
the first. thing the next morning. I should have stated that while in Carr's Lane, Birmingham, we Met the big lorry which had gone up with a load through ftstwood Bank and Redditch, and which returned with a bulky-looking load by the same route.
By the way, as we came through King's Heath the driver stopped, and we picked up a member of the police force who lives some distance along the Evesham Road. and who had just. finished duty. This, I gathered, is very frequently done; I he officer knows about what time the lorry will be coming through, and is also well aware that the driver is only too pleased to help him on his way. In the courSe of the day I was able to judge for myself bow very careful the principals and their assistants ane to see that no damage is done to goods consigned by them.
I returned home, healthily tired, after having covered something over 70 miles in a lorry, and was more than ever convinced, after my day's journey, of the great value to the community of road
transport. But I will give this word of warning to those who may think of efnharking upon it as a career. It is an extremely strenuous life, and the hours are long ; an eight-hour day is useless to anyone who wishes to succeed in this branch of business. The expenses, too, are heavy, but, luckily for the Evesham Vale Transport, both the principals are skilled mechanics, and are, therefore, able to carry out their own repairs and replacements.
ISLH.-S.