OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.
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The _Editor invites correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be on one side of the paper only and typewritten by preference, The riyht of abbreviation, is reserved, and no responsibility for views expressed is accepted,
Resilient Tyres and Unsprung Weight,
The _Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2076] Sir,—In reply to the remarks of" Engineer " re Fig. 2, which was included with, and referred to in, the article on " Unsprung Weight" in your issue of December 12th,. I do not think that Fig. 1 represents a tyre inflated with a low pressure and carrying any weight. Fig. 2 is far more like the form of such a tyre, and my question was " How long would it last? '
I notice the other remarks of" Engineer "—re tyres running with low air pressure—but my experience with such tyres in actual service makes me cling to the opinion I expressed in my letter published in The Commercial Motor of December 26th.
In reply to the letter of Brame°, Ltd. I have no experience of tyres fitted with the particular tubes to which they refer, and was only speaking of pneumatic tyres broadly. When I see the London buses fitted with shock-absorbing tyres I shall be only too pleased to withdraw my remarks.—Yours faithfully,
Motor Taxation.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2077] Sir,—As one entirely in sympathy with any scheme calculated to provide a more equitable basis for motor taxation than that now in force, I would urge the motoring community to realiZe, before it is too late, the fallacies underlying the arguments by which it is sought to justify a reversion to the petrol tax. If such an awakening does not come now, it will assuredly be found later that motor-vehicle owners and motor users directly, and the whole motor trade indirectly, have unwittingly assumed burdens which they can ill afford to bear.
In the first place, as the net sum which has to be raised for the upkeep of our roads will not be altered by the adoption of a new system of taxation, it follows that, if individual motor-vehicle owners pay less under the new scheme, others must, necessarily, pay More. If the matter stopped there it could plausibly be argued that the revised incidence of taxation was more equitable, but, unfortunately, the matter does not stop there. The effect of the scheme, to which most of the principal authorities representing motoring interests have put their names, will be that motor taxpayers will be asked to find, at a conservative estimate, £2,000,000 a year over and above the sum asked for by the Roads Department for the upkeep of roads. This figure of £2,000,000—not one penny of which will go towards the upkeep of the roads—is arrived at as follows:— .
(1) When the petrol tax, amounting to 6d. a gallon, was abolished, the oil-distributing: companies at once reduced the price of petrol by 7d. a gallon. The difference of a penny represented the costs incurred by the companies in financing the duty and in carrying out the clerical work involved. The present proposals would again put the companies to a similar expense, for which they would, quite properly, expect to recoup themselves. This additional penny a gallon on the petrol consumption of the country would represent an annura payment of approximately 21,200,000.
(2) A large proportion of the Motor spirit consumed in this country passes through the hands of middlemen in the shape of dealers and garage -proprietors, who would, of course, expect to make their profit on the additional amounts paid out by them. The nation's annual bill for motor spirit would, under _this head alone, be swelled by a sum in the neighbourhood of £500,000.
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(3) Under the new. proposals, benzole would be exempt from taxation. Past experience, • unfortunately, shows that the price differential between petrol and benzole 'remains constant, or, in other words, the price of benzoie fluctuates in sympathy with that of petrol, and it is a safe assumption that the effect of the reimposition of a tax on petrol, involving an increase of, say, 6d. a gallon in its cost, would result immediately in a similar increase in the cost of benzole. On this basis the country's benzoic, bill would show an increase of £300,000 a. year, no portion of which would contribute towards the upkeep of roads.
If a more equitable form of taxation than that at present in force can be devised; then, I repeat, by .all means let us have it, but a scheme 'which would burden us with the payment of an additional 22,000,000 a year hardly merits that description.— Yours faithfully, S MATTHEW KEATING.
Mud-splash Prevention Tests. The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL 'MOTOR.
[2078] Sir,—Reading the report of the recent tests of mud-splash preventing devices in The Commercial Mo4n. of December 15th, 1922, it occurred to me -to ask: Did anyone expect any other report when such absurd tests were made? Whoever saw a pot-hole in any street or road like 'Hendon had, yiz., 30 ins. wide by, 5 inS. deep -1 The Camberwell tests were a failure, too, simply becausethey had artificial pot-holes, with two stories let in each end of the not-hole (which soon became loose in the bottom of the " hole '') then a thick layer of mud, to obscure the whole to a depth a 6 ins. or 7 ins. If those io authority at such tests would use natural pot-holes, which are deepest in the middle and tapering to nothing on to the crown of the road, I could name a dozen devices that can abate the nuisance of mud-splashing. With a natural pot-hole, as the wheel enters the guard is above, or level, with the road crown, according to the depth of the pothole, whereas, at Hendon and Camberwell, the wheels and guards were submerged, .both inside and outside the guards ; the, consequence was both these tests turned out mud-pushing competitions, instead of catching the splash from the wheels on the back of the guards.
There are several devices that can abate the nuisance of motor mud-splashing, but as these devices bring in no revenue, in the shape of taxation, the public must put up with being splashed and hoodwinked by such ridiculous tests. Now, regarding so-called kerb shocks. I have seen these tests carried out by crushing the wheels along the kerb for 20 to 30 yards, even these absurd efforts failing to wrench off many guards. What driver would, in the ordinary course, do such a senseless thing? Ho would deserve to be fined for driving to the danger of the public !—Yours faithfully,
Birmingham. • E. E. ROGEREI.
"The Skotch" and Clearing-houses.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2079] Sir,--T offer my hearty congratulations on the articleby "The Skoteh " in The Commercial Molor of January 2nd. It is excellent, and I feel that, at last, past criticisms of the bad clearing-house are being corroborated, and, obviously, 'The Skotch " is fast arriving at the conclusions I did nearly two years ago as to a remedy for the malpractices of the bad clearing-hoses. I have fought the clearing-house of ill repute with all the force I could
command, and this almost single-handed, and my criticisms have always been founded upon facts.
However, I should be glad if you would allow me, to make a few constructive criticisms and observations on the article by " The Sketch." I maintain that the legitimate eletring-house is the one which pays customers' rates, less 10 per cent. (or less) commission, and declines to accept traffic at rates below the economic level' but there is an increasing tendency (in fact, it is the general practice of an increasing number Of clearing--houses) to refuse nothing in the way of traffic and to dispose of it at the lowest possible rate. Generally speaking, they experience little difficulty, because there are so many vehicles at a loose end, and they have no compunction in offering traffic at ridiculously low rates ; in fact they pre., tend they are doing the haulier good service in preventing him running light, and are, ostensibly, to the
• commercial public, the pioneers of economic road transport, whereas, actually, .they are ruining the hauliers and disgusting many traders.
These houses are run so expensively that, despite illegitimate revenue, they are compelled to trade on the hauliers' hard-earned money. They could not possibly work on a 10 per cent. commission basis-; it would hardly meet their office expenses, apart from any salaries, whereas I affirm that 10 per cent, commission is ample to run any clearing-house efficiently.
The gullibility of the haulier who works for such clearing-houses is absolutely amazing. "The Sketch" cites a case of " rate sweating." A rare one No; it is the rule of the bad clearing-house, not the exception, and is considered smart business The rate paid to the haulier is deliberately withheld from the customer, because the latter noticed his rates were not paid, and I have seen documents altered by the 'Customer to the correct figure in red ink.
"The Sketch" says "that the bad clearing-houses are saon discovered, and those that act fairly and squarely reap the benefit," and whilst I submit that is the natural inference, in practice it is not so. True, the reputable house is inundated with lorries, but the difficulty is to fill them seeing that the bad house secures so many loads arid continues to find strangers to fill the breach. " The Sketch." states "the real bugbear is the private vehicle owner (presumably, the trader) who carries a return load for a song, and the irresponsible haulier who cannot see beyond his nose, ' but the former is only a drop in the ocean as compared with the latter. The last-named is the man who keeps disreputable clearing-houses afloat. The real bugbe-ar of thd whole situation is the haulier himself, through lack of eceoperation.
"The Skotch " informs us that certain clearinghouses have in mind the formation of their own fleets. Splendid! The sooner the better. Nothing will bring about the desired end of such clearing-houses sooner or better. Fe the hauliers what they may, I challenge any clearing-house to affirm and prove that it is compelled to form (presumably to own or fully to control) its own fleet because of a deficiency of reliable hauliers. There has been more than one attempt at clearing-houses " forming " their own fleets, and with disastrous consequences—for the actual vehicle owners.. Perhaps " The Sketch" was not informed of these experiments ! The slump in trade aside, there is absolutely no valid reason why the present arrangements of clearing-houses acting for traders and hauliers should not have worked satisfactorily. Indeed, to a certain extent it is working splendidly ; the illegitimate clearing-house is mainly responsible for the present deplorable position. If "The Skotch " can devise a scheme to obviate the present abuse of the road transport industry by combining and co-operating their forces, he will have achieved something really noble, and -earn the everlasting gratitude of the industry and commercial public generally, and nobody wishes him greater success than—Yours faithfully, London. CLEARING-HOUSE DIRECTOR.
Tar-spraying British Roads.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR. • P0S0j Sir,—I see that Mr. Sauzeddo has been stating that European (and in these he apparently includes British) reads are not only not so good as they were but they are now inferior to the average roads in America. If this be correct, our roads must be in a far worse state than we supposed. The trouble with our road-makers is that they do not tar the roads wisely or sufficiently. The general idea is a lavish spread of tar in the spring, With coarse shingle, road-sweepings, and rough flints thrown on haphazard. Naturally, every road user grumbles; the road wears badly under traffic, and, in that worn condition, has to withstand the winter. Of course, it goes to pieces and needs expensive repairs—which it does not always get—in the spring. -The correct way is to tar-spray the roads lightly in the early part of the year, and strew them with coarse gravel or chippings, and to repeat this light spraying and gravelling frequently during the summer. Then, during the fine days of late autumn, a heavier spraying should be given, to 'waterproof the surface and enable it to stand the winter's frost and wet. It would then be found that little or no repair was needed in the spring-time, and motor drivers and other road users would reap the benefit. As a motor driver. I know it is an annoying matter to drive over freshly tarred roads, but that is merely because the tarring is too lavish and the subsequent covering too coarse.—Yours faithfully, G. BASH, BARE/AM, CE., Acton, London.