Stronger Bridges.
Page 1
Page 2
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
When the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act of 1909 was before the House of Commons in the form of a Bill, it was wholly due to the energetic action of the Commercial Motor Users Association that words were inserted by which the Road Board was empowered to spend money upon the improvement and strengthening of bridges. That action, obviously, must prove of perennial and not fleeting benefit, because motor-transport interests in any particular case are like the value of a chain, dependent upon and measured by the weakest link. Support on both sides of the House may reasonably be claimed and expected for the new Bridges Bill, and this should be ready for introduction in January. The contents of the Bill cannot be regarded as contentious, and they merit backing on a non-party basis. We shall hope to see that advantageous position accorded to the measure next session. There has been no undue haste over its drafting, which has been the outcome of various meetings of the C.M.U.A. and S.M.M.T. Joint Committee for the formation of which the writer was responsible. Thanks to valuable assistance at conferences from representatives of the County Councils Association, the War Office and the National Traction Engine Owners and Users Association, the draft Bill, as will be found in due course, hits the happy mean between the ideal and the possible. It is largely to the credit of Messrs. H. Howard Humphreys, W. Joynson-llicks, M.P., and T. F. Woodfine that such material progress towards an acceptable compromise has been rendered feasible. Power to initiate improvements is sought.
Any move to alter Bridge Law has clearly to be taken upon only the best advice and in concert with some of the strong parties who are certain to be effected by changes. In that taking counsel with the County Councils Association has been one of the. initial steps, we feel that progress towards the ultimate goal of " bridges everywhere as strong as the contiguous highways" has been set in motion during the year 1911. How long it may take to win the whole campaign, only those who are accustomed to war with old-established vested interests can well imagine. It is quite certain that isolated victories are of little account, and that more than one fundamental amendment of the existing law has to be achieved by combination. Such combination is an accomplished fact, and it remains to steer the product to a place upon the Statute Book. All subscribers to membership of the Commercial Motor Users Association can rightly feel that they are bearing their share in these vital matters.
The 1912 Parade.
New members and old are reminded that entries for next year's C.11.I.U.A. parade should be lodged next month. The necessary forms have been ready for some weeks, and conies may be had from the Secretary of the Association on application. We give this reminder, in view of the fact that all entries tendered after the let January will he charged at additional fees. Many owners can enter before then.
The patronage of the King has again been granted, and there is already good evidence of continued support for this annual gathering. Numerous intimations, we learn, have reached the Association from makers and traders who intend to contribute to the general and special funds, in which connection it has been resolved to impose certain uniform limits. A distinct section will probably be set apart on the parade ground for vehicles which are registered under the War Office's newscheme, whilst it may be well to note also that the County of London (Territorial) Association has confirmed its vote of £10 for allocation between drivers who are enrolled for service. Other official recognition is anticipated, as well as the opportunity effectively to mass the competing machines. The new feature of advance engineering inspection and marking, at the owners' depots and prior to parade day, has been universally approved, and there is no question about it that this procedure will enormously simplify proceedings on the 12th June next. It will also secure efficiency in the judging, and eliminate the risk of oversight.
Van Deliveries and Country Resi. gr dence during the Winter Months.
The regularity of motorvan delivery has removed from winter residence in the country the reproaches of discomfort and uncertainty. Ask the hotelkeepers who no longer have to close down, or the boarding-house keepers and proprietors of small country clubs. Why is this ? The answer, a common one now to many other queries, is—because of the motorvan. Localites which accepted a state of comparative seasonal isolation and stagnation, from November to March, not many years ago, find themselves blessed with new life and new custom. The motorvan is the fourth "boon and blessing to men," if we may borrow a couplet. It takes out, daily, from London's great stores, supplies of fresh meat, fruit, vegetables, etc., etc., to points which would otherwise remain classed as remote and inaccessible. Men and women whose constitutions demand a choice of diet and touch with London's call upon the world's gardens can have both, nowadays, in residences where nobody but the confirmed lover of the country stayed in pre-motor gloom. Life, in fact, for them and for many others, has become supportable in many a fair spot within 50 miles of London town, solely because the motorvan, following in the wake of the motorcar
which has aided to social obligations, has in supplementary fashion ministered to their material needs. The resurrection of country life in wintertime, at places where hunting did not keep it going spasmodically in any case, is a noteworthy tribute to the value of motorvan delivery.
Neglect of Colonial Correspondence and Orders by British Traders.
Several Colonial correspondents have complained to us of the inferior treatment which they receive from British houses, in respect of replies by return mail, compared with their experiences when they address themselves to American or German houses. From the standpoint of new trade' which generally affects all future trade, protests of this kind deserve to be prominently mentioned. Although the letters which we have selected for reproduction directly concern suppliers of commercial motors and their accessories, we may fittingly ask many in our growing circle of owner-readers to apply the hint to their own export practices. We quote : From Canada.—" Trade over here in commercial motors is beginning to become very active. British makers, however, arc not tackling matters as they should. They appear to think that it is of no importance to reply quickly to inquiries from this side, and to put the correspondence on one side until it suits their convenience to deal with it. They evidently give a preference to that which is under their noses '—I mean business with customers in the ' Od Country.' Do they realize that Canadian business houses generally make a note of the steamer which will carry a particular letter to England, and another of the steamer by which the reply should come ? When that reply does not arrive for several weeks after it is due, they become disgusted and deal with American manufacturers. It is a pity that new trade should be lost by thoughtlessness of this kind. I should, perhaps, call it neglect."
This is a matter to which attention has previously been drawn in THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
From the British West Indies.—" For the last year I have been running a garage here, and my greatest difficulty has been to get prompt delivery of goods from England. I am, therefore, now writing to ask you if you would be so good as to recommend me either a reliable wholesale manufacturer from whom I could get everything I require, or a buying agent. The difficulty I have experienced has been to get goods shipped to me by return mail. The goods that I mostly require are tires, and the usual motor accessories. It is not advisable to keep tires in stock, on account of the climate, and customers are for ever trying different makes of tires, so that I am compelled to order them only a few weeks before they are required, and, unless they are sent out by return mail, which means five weeks after the order has left me, my customers are greatly dissatisfied, and I lose their business. I enclose a list of some of the orders sent this year, with the dates of orders sent and the dates of goods received. I think this will rather surprise you, and, of course, you will understand it is strictly private. I must say that there is no comparison whatsoever between the English and American firms, the latter in promptness and courtesy to their clients leaving British firms far behind."
We are not prepared to endorse this general denunciation of British houses, and we know that we can insure for this subscriber that he will be able to avoid such troubles in the future.
In home correspondence, business men do not like to be kept even 24 hours beyond the right time for a reply. Is it not worthy of observance, that
Colonial inquirers note down the dates upon which answers are due, and that they adjudge the maker or trader at this end to be more or less good or bad according to the promptitude or dilatoriness which characterizes his mailed response. Trade is brisker now, we know, but nobody can afford to prejudice future turnover by apparent indifference.
Cab-rank Telephones.
The Lighting Committee of the Borough of Marylebone thinks more of the beauty (sic) of its lampposts than of the amenities of life in the area under its jurisdiction, These men of light have made a fetish of lamp-posts bare and unadorned. So long as that conception of the ideal is unimpaired, they care not how fresh needs may give cause for change, or that ratepayers in particular streets may have to whistle hard for cabs and endure the discordant notes clue to other people's blowing down bits of metal with holes in them. London's one cab-rank lamppost telephone, which is in the main Kensington highway, has reduced the nuisance of cab-whistling and has established itself as a real boon to the neighbourhood. The men of light in Marylebone are not interested. Let would-be hirers of cabs whistle away, say they in effect, or let them walk along in the rain, quietly, until they reach one or other of the cab-ranks. A delightful instance of self-satisfied bumbledom, say we. Perhaps some of these men will be sorry, one election day, if the suffering residents and the deprived taxi-drivers combine to turn sufficient votes another way?
The Overseas Annual.
We are gratified by the receipt of many kindlyworded letters anent the Overseas Annual. Without exception, references to it have been complimentary, whilst their frequency, both oral and in script, prove to us that the matters of its compilation and distribution are of real concern to our supporters. So far as regards the former, we will be content to state the four principal sections that have been adopted:
Section L—Standard and special types of vans and lorries (petrol and steam), standard steam tractors, municipal vehicles, fire-brigade equipment and ambulances.
Section 2.—Motorbuses, motor chars-k-bancs, motorcabs and other passenger-carrying motor vehicles, including hotel-buses and estate cars. Section 8.—Agricultural motors and tractors, railcars, portable power and lighting plants, pumping sets, contractors' rolling-stock, etc. Section 4.—Tires, wheels, taximeters, mileage recorders, magnetos, engines, tools, accessories, components and all " supply-department " requirements.
The scheme for this year's mailing has been varied. It will differ in many respects from that which we have followed since the publication of our "Indian and Colonial Supplement " of the 23rd March, 1905. Whereas, in past years, apart from the valued cooperation of the Shell Transport and Trading Co, in 1909 and that of several leading steamship lines in 1909 and 1910, we have to a large extent worked from "the London end" in selecting names, we shall this year, as was announced in the leading article of the 13th July last entitled " Our New World Girdles," use mailing lists which have been compiled on the spot by our own correspondents. Large numbers of these verified lists are now in the hands of the business department of this journal, and others, from the more-distant colonies and countries, will reach us by mid-December. After the necessary comparisons have been made, so that duplication with old lists may be avoided, we shall have not fewer that 4,000 new names of live firms, houses and individuals to whom "The Overseas Annual " for 1912 will be dispatched.