BY-LAWS IN N. WALES.
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Endeavours to Restrict the Operations of Motor Chars-a-Bancs. ;
WHILST in several parts of the .countrn motor char-i-banns proprietors are visualizing their &raneements for next season's trade, the county councils are also focusing attention as to what should be done to keep the motor char-i-bancs in its "proper place." On these bodies there is always a good number of people who seem to have a "bee in their bonnets," and whose. statements have to be accepted with the proverbial grain of salts yet, having the power, seern to delight in making the position of the motor char-A.-banes proprietor decidedly
uncomfortable • Efforts are being made in the North Wales district to secure the adoption of uniform by-laws for motor Vehicles plying for hire in the counties of Anglesey and -Carnarvenshire. A conference hae been held at Bangor o'f representatives of the public bodies in both counties, at .which it was pointed out that the by-laws of the various authorities were out of date, and it would be no use the Bangor people drawing up new by-laws if they did not apply generally. A car plying for hire in Bangor would be outside its jurisdiction one mile from the Town Hall, and a car going from Bangor to Beausnaris, in Anglesey, would have to pass through districts administered by five authorities. There has frequently been overcrowding on the bases, and more than one inquest has been held, said the Town Clerk of Bangor, as the direct result of the motorbuses being overcrowded.
A Beauinaris representative drew attention to the discrepancies in the charges fcr the hire of private oars-. In Beaumaris the charge was from 1s. to Is. 6d. a mile, while in another part it was over 3s. a mite.
Vehicles, it was said, were growing to extraordinary dimensions' and the suggestion was made that the sizes should be restricted. It was decided that, "In view of the extended radius over which large hackney carriages (buses, etc.): travel at the present, time: it is desirable that.all local authorities in Anglesey and Caenarvonshire should unite in drawing up bylaws which shall govern the principles upon which such carriages shall be hired, and to regulate their use." A committee of five from C,arnarvonshire and four from Anglesey was appointed. to frame by-laws.
Attention was drawn to the growing dangers of large heavy made Omnibuses and chars-a-banes, and suggestions were made that chars-a-banes should be forbidden to use narrow lanes that there should be a classification of motors, fazes, and the numbers of persons that may be carried. Speekieg of motor Chags-n-bancs, Dr. Woodhouse said that these heavy cars with their solid tyres, travelling up to 30 miles per hour, caused a 20 per cept. increase in the cost of road maintenance. An enormous number of complaints were being received of a speed at which these vehicles travelled. Drivers, he thought, should not "be flanked by passengers; they Should be alone, and no one should be able to converse with them. Drivers should net be permitted to smoke. Touring oars should he restricted to a seating capacity of 14, and -then they could be run on pneumatic tyres.
In. reply to this the Mayor of Bangor pointed out that it would be unfair to local" owners to restrict their cars to 14 n12 paesengers and to allow cars to come into the town from places outside the Princi polity with over 30 passengers. . A resOlution was adopted that in addition to the question of by-laws, the committee be asked to consider and report upon matters which could not properly form the subject of a by-law and which bear upon the question of motor traffic generally with a view to making representations thereon to the Government department concerned.
ONLY A RUMOUR.
A Bootle Councillor says that Horses are Cheaper than Motors.
THE surprising statement -was made at the October meeting of the Bootle Town Council by a critic of the work of the Motor Vehicle and Cartage Committee that horse haulage was more economical than motor transport for short distances, and that certain firms had accordingly replaced motors with horses.
Wherever this gentlentan obtained his information is hard to say, for in the course of inquiries made by a Commercial Motor representative in the district, not one scrap of has been forthcoming to substantiate this extraordinary contention. On the other hand, there is every indication that motor transport -during the next few months will grow from strength to strength, and that even those firms who have been most conservative in their transport arrangementg will find, taken on the ground of economy alone, that mechanical transport has everything to commend it.
Bootle is one of the few municipal authorities with a Motor Vehicle and Cartage Committee, whose function is to co-ordinate the requirements of the various" Corporation committees and arrange for transport. Councillor J. J. King • alleged that there was a loss of 2980 during the last nine months on the working of the committee. He moved that the committees of the Corporation be at liberty to engage outside team labour and cartage in all cases where the nest is below the charges fixed by the Motor Vehicle and Cartage Committee lot the use of motor vehicles for the same class of work.
The statements of Mr. King were vigorously denied by the chairman of the committee, Mr. J. Scott, who said that the firms alleged to have decided on revertiog to horse traffic scouted the sug7 gestiou. On the .estimates of the Corporation treasurer, there wield be is profit of 2600 on the first year's working of the committee; whose system he was prepared to run himself bv takiue over the whole of the vehicles. Their difficulty was that once a motor left the garage they had no control over it. To enable the .service to be administered efficiently he suggested that all the committees of the Corporation Should be instructed to send their requirements to the Vehicles Superintendent, who should be respansible for the regulation of the traffic and the carrying out of the cartage work.
This propoeat was adopted, and Mr. King's idea of a reversion conditionally to horse cartage defeated by a big majority. One cmincillor gave the finishing touch to the discussion by observing that if the motors could not be made to pay, better than the horses and carts abicn had been hired by the. Corporation for years, then those in charge ought to be scrapped before the vehicles.
-CAB CO-OPERATION.
Taxi Owners Associations of Liverpool and Manchester Link_ Up.
THE LIVERPOOL Motor Hirers Association is now affiliated with the Manchester Taxicab Owners As:cc-1.ation, and at the monthly meeting of the former organization, Mr. Greenhalgli, tho general secretary of the Manchester Association, was given a cordial welcome. There was a large accession of new members. The Liverpool secretary (Mr, C. 'Trafford)" suggested that both essoeiations should appoint a sub-committee to keep the membersinformed of what was going on in the respective centres. The chairman (Mr. R. Dunn) said that more comradeship was needed in their trade, and a small badge would enable them todistinguish the cars of fellow members on the read. He submitted a design, similar to the one recognized by the Manchester Association, with the exception that it bore the Liverpool coat of arias and the initial letters of the Liverpool Motor HIM'S Association:, The Liverpool Association, added Mr. Dunn, would now be linked up with Manehesten Loudon, Bolton, Blackburn, Altrincham, and Oldham:
THE AUXILIARY RAIL.
The Stronach-Dutton Loco. Tractor for Transport in Difficult Country.
OME weeks ago we published an
account of the Stronach-Dutton road-rail boo-tractor, the joint invention of Brigadier-General R. S. Stronach and Major F. Dutton, A.M.I.E.E., Motel-Transport Superintendent, Union of South Africa Railways. It was therein stated that arrangements were being made to give a public demonstration, of the tractor, under conditions, as difficult as could be devised, in the vicinity of Aldershot. These arrangements, have now materialized, and tke loco-tractor can be seen at work almost daily On a 1 in 12 gradient, by anyone interested, who should, in the first place, communicate with Mr. F. S. Lees-Spalding, secretary of the Read-rail Loco-Tractors, Ltd., 1, Dover Street, Piccadilly, London, W. 1. Major Dutton, we understand, left England on October 15th, for South Africa.
Recently a trial of the loco-tractor was made in Uganda, in the presence of the Governor and other officials, and several influential members of the commercial community. Dragging . a load ofsome 6,500 lb., the tractor "went beautifully"' (according to the Uganda Herald), and the' distance to Kampala, about four miles, was covered in some 12 minutes. At one part of the journey there was a gradient of 1 in 20, a.nd over this the tractor .and its load did about 10 miles an hour, without a hitch from start to finish.
"Thus, in a simple way, has come about what will, in all probability, prove to be the solution of the, transport problem in the Protectorate, for if the tractor . will do only half what is claimed for it, the results will be far-reaching indeed.
. . We understand that His Excellency. is satisfied with the trials, and as the general public arein agreement, arrangements are being made to get the necessary, material here as soon as possible. As two tractors, we learn, can be delivered in .England in six weeks, in a comparatively short time we should be getting busy, and relief from the congested condition of the transport begin to make itself felt, thus marking another milestone in the progress .of the Protectorate."