OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.
Page 28
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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, preferably, typewritten. The right of abbreviation is reeerved, and no responsibility for views expressed is accepted.
Quotations by the Ton-mile.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
127111 Sir,-1 was very interested in the article in the issue of The Commercial Motor for December 4th, as I have already run up against one or two snags when quoting for ton-miles and have come to the conelusion that it is certainly much the simplest from all points of view. to quote a round figure per mile. My main reason for going for the cost per ton-mile was that I felt that, excepting for a bad lorry, an average figure per ton-mile would have covered mostly all load deliveries whether by steam wagon or 2-ton lorry, but I find the variation, except in the steam wagon, is greater per ton-mile than per mile and, therefore, if one wants to get down to as close a figure as possible, working on en average, the cost per mile is better to work from.
The trouble is, of course, that it is quite impossible to say what the mileage will be per week.
' I also wish to thank you for the article in your November 13th issue with regard to depreciation pointing out that you should deduct the tyres from the cost of the new vehicle before starting to depreciate; this is a detail that had completely slipped my mind, as I had always looked on the charge for the tyres from the point of view of building up a HUM for paying for the new ones, rather than to be actually paying for the tyres .you had on the vehicle. This is a point that I should imagine many other people miss.
Another matter that worried me, and I am afraid I had not completely absorbed your operating tables, was that I had always treated depreciation as a standing charge, because in our books of account we always wipes off a certain amount from the vehicle per year, whether it has run or whether it has not, so that from that point of view it is a standing charge, but in my own books that I keep I have not filled up iny accounts since the strike, because in certain cases the vehicles had been slack for six months and I had not known how to treat the depreciation in this period. Also our wages have to some in the running costs, as the men are paid so much per hour and the hours vary per week, so the wages are not a standard figure, but do, as it happens, vary with the tonnage delivered, which may or may not be also with the mileage.—
Yours faitlI[illy, 'FRE — COAL CO., LTD.
What is a Stage Carriage ?
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
12712] Sir,—I notice that in your article respecting public service vehicles in The Commercial Motor you stated that to your knowledge a stage carriage has never been defined.
Sec. 4, Metropolitan Public Carriage Act, 1869, does not appear to have come to your notice. It defines it as follows: "Stage carriage shall mean any carriage for the conveyance of passengers which plies for hire in any public street, road, or place within the limits of this Act, and in which the passengers or any of them are charged to pay separate and distinct, or at the rate of separate and distinct fares for their respective places or seats therein."
A special regulation of the Secretary..of State was also made and is as follows: "In pursuance of Sec. 3 of the London Cah and Stage Carriage Act; 1007, I hereby Order that all Acts and Orders relating to stage carriages in London shall apply to:
" (1) Every carriage using a tramway or light railway : " (ii) And every carriage constructed in the form of an .omnibus, char-k-bancs, wagonette, cab, or other B40 vehicle which is intended or used for the conveyance of passengers and which plies for hire in any street, road or place, and in which the passengers or any of them are charged to pay separate and distinct or at the rate of separate and distinct fares for their respective places or seats 'therein, and which on every journey goes to or comes from some town or place beyond London."
It would therefore be seen that the latter definition could be made applicable under Sec. 45 of the Town Police Clauses Act, 1847, and under which proceedings were taken in the recent prosecution. • No mention is made in the other article as to the situation of the window at which the tickets were taken. If is abuts on the public footway then, to my mind, the conviction was correct, as the first part commenced in a public place, It would appear that, if passengers entered private premises, booked their seats and entered the 'vehicles on those premises, it would obviate proceedings, but this, of course, is only my opinion. .
I beg to • state that I am not a coach owner or interested in any way other than through reading the articles and thought that probably the definitions given would be of interest to you.—Tours faithfully, X.Y.Z.
[We thank our correspondent for this reference to the section in the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act of 1869, which we confess, eluded Our recent search, when we were looking to see if, in any of the Highway Acts, a stage carriage had been defined. We found many, references to what were not stage carriages which of . course,is legislation by inference. The Metropolitan Public Carriages Act obviously only applies . to the Metropolis.—En.,
C.M.] Cleaning the Air.
The Editor, TEE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[27131 Sir,—In the issue a The Commercial Motor for December 11th under "Running Upkeep and overhaul," we note certain remarks quoted by your correSpondent "F.S." in relation to the necessity for air cleaners on farm tractors.
We should, ourselves, go farther than this and draw attention to the necessity for air cleaners on all forms of air-petrol-driven road vehicles—for it must be remembered that air is just as much a necessity for the petrol engine as is petrol. The petrol passing into a carburetter is invariably filtered, lest this instrument be obstructed in its operation, whereas many use air as they find it—without any attempt at cleaning or purification.
It seems to .us extraordinary that, whilst every wearing part of the motor road vehicle is most carefully protected from Oust and grit, the cylinders, those very large wearing parts, are generally left totally exposed to the air.
We, ourselves, believe that by the end perhaps, of 1929, cylinders will have come to be treated with, the same degree of care and protection as. other, perhaps less important, working parts.—Yours faithfully,
London. Simms MOTOR UNITS LTD.