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NEWS of the WEEK

27th January 1940
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Page 16, 27th January 1940 — NEWS of the WEEK
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STILL HIGHER WAGES SOUGHT BY HAULAGE WORKERS

AN application for an immediate increase in the wages of road haulage employees of A and B licence holders, on top of the wage increases to be enforced from January 29 under the Road Haulage Wages Order, nas been forwarded to employers' organizationS. The application has been submitted to these organizations by Mr. Ernest Bevin, general secretary of he Transport and General Workers' Union, and chairman of the workers' • side of the Road Haulage Central Wages Board.

In his letter to employers, Mr. Bevin states: " We propose dealing with this application through the machinery of the Road Haulage Central Wages Board . . requesting an early meeting of that body. . . ."

War Conditions and the Small Carrier

THE National Conference of Express Carriers has had under consideration the effect of war conditions on the operations of small carriers, as revealed in the replies to a questionnaire recently addressed., to members.

It is agreed that the Conference should use the information gained, and information from other sources, to make plans for such co-ordination of services as will help to reduce fuel consumption, whilst maintaining a high level of efficiency of service. It has, therefore, been decided that area secretaries should convene meetings of their committees to review the steps that have already been taken and to consider what others might he adopted to promote co-operation amongst members.

Examples of what may be done are (a) arrangements between carriers for collection and deliveries on alternate days, one carrier, for instance, operating on Mondays. Wednesdays and Fridays, and the other on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, each carrying the whole of the traffic available and crediting the other for the traffic carried by him; (b) carriers should avoid overlapping. e.g., on some short trunk routes one might undertake the trunking for others, who would retain their own collection arrangements; (c) empty running might often be eliminated by one carrier with a part load filling up with A similar load available from another; (d) carriers need not necessarily refuse traffic for places which they do not themselves serve when other carriers in the vicinity are able to handle it.

Conference Considering Coal Rates

THE Yorkshire Regional Committee of the Road Rail Conference, having resumed its consideration of road-rail rates-stabilization questions, is at the moment dealing with coal transport rates. "Further progress" is reported to have been made.

RATES AGREED IN THE WEST FOR W.D. HIRE

A GREEMENT has been reached, between the South Wales Area, A.R.O., and the D.D.S. and T. for the Western Command, on rates to be paid for the hire of vehicles to the military authorities. Basic figures for the hire of the bare vehicle, exclusive of supplies, driver, tax and insurance, are as follow;.---1 ton or under, £6 per week; 30-cwt., £7; 2 tons, £8; 3 tons, £9; 4 tons, £10; 5 tons, £11; 6 tons, £12. The complete agreement also covers scales of payment on account of drivers, tax, insurance, maintenance, petrol and oil, each of these being, of course, additional to the above, also rates for casual hire. We understand that it is the intention of the Western Command Headquarters to return all accounts which have been sent in already, and to request the operators concerned to send in newt accounts based on this agreement.

We shall refer to the full scheme, with comments by " S.T.R.," The Commercial Motor costs expert, in a, subsequent issue.

B.R.F. Fuels Committee

THE Associates Committee of the B.R.F. has recently appointed a special Fuels Committee, the membership including Messrs. W. H. Gaunt, C.B.E. (C.M.T.I.A.); W. H. Kent, M.B.E. (National Federation of Grocers and Provision Dealers Associations): J. M. Paynton (Drapers Chamber of Trade); R. B. Gadsdon (National Federation of Produce Merchants); P. Howling (National Chamber of Trade); and J. W. Stewart (Coal Merchants Federation of Great Britain). SAFEGUARDING .THE FUTURE OF SAFEGUARDING .THE FUTURE OF ROAD TRANSPORT " FOR the purpose of reviewing the present position of commereial road transport in this country, particularly'. with a view to making suggestionS to safeguard its after-war future, a special' sub-committee was appointed at the recent annual meeting of the •road; transport section Of the Leeds Incorporated Chamber of Commerce.

This step was the outcome of a discussion initiated by Mr. A. H. Butterwick, chairman of the Yorkshire Area of A.R.O., who was re-elected chairman of the section.

Mr. Buttenvick suggested that, in view of the present emergency restric-tions on road transport and the almost revolutionary changes that were taking place in connectiori with it, serious cona., sideration should be given to thoSe regulations and changes in relation to the future. It was desirable, that efforts should be made to formulate a comprehensive policy which would provide, • so far as possible, for securifig the progressive development ofroad transport after the war.

Tribute to District Transport Officer.

HONOUR was paid last week aiy 'group of leading commercialvehicle operators and association officials, at a dinner in Manchester, to Mr. A.1, Soper. It was given for the purpose of expressing general appreciation of his official work as district transport officer (Manchester) and, previously, while he was chief clerk of the goods-vehicle licensing department, also to oiler best wishes for success on his transfer to Reading, where he has been appointed chief clerk to the Traffic Commissioner of the SouthEastern area,

The toast of the chief guest was handled by Sir Joseph Nall, M.P., and Mr. W. Farnorth (secretary of the C,M.U.A., Manchester), tributes being added by Mr. R, Hindley for the A.R.O., and Mr. S. Cooper, of the C.W.S. Mr, Soper, in response, thanked those who had endeavoured to ease the intricacies of his duties.

Black-out 20 m.p.h. Limit THE Minister of Transport announced, in the House of 'Commons on Tuesday night, that it was the intention of the Government to introduce, as from February 1, a speed limit of 20 m.p.h. for motor vehicles during the hours of the blackout, on all roads in built-up areas, where there is at present a limit of 30 m.p.h.

The new maximum speed limit will be brought into force through an Order under the Defence Regulations, which is to be presented to Parliament without delay. He believed it would be welcomed particularly by commercial-vehicle operators.

Captain Euan Wallace warned pedestrians that they, just as much as motorists, had special responsibilities during the black-out hours.

In order to bring home to them their duty the Ministry of Information would; it was stated, at once undertake road-safatraarripaign be prOpagaecta' through the Press; the radio and the , cinema. .

• , In the main the Minister's announcement was welcomed.. by the House, although some members regarded the imposition of a reduced speed-limit as a further unnecessary interference with the rights of the motoring public.

Memorial Service for Mr. R. J. Sykes

AVERY large and representative gathering of members of the newspaper and advertising professions assembled at St. Martin-in-the-Fields on January 23, for the Memorial Service to the late Mr. It J. Sykes, Chairman and one of the Founders of the London Press Exchange. The address was given by the Bishop of London..

COMPANY COMPANY REGISTRATIONS LOEi1N ]939

ACCQ11' PINO Jo -statistics prepared lar Jordan and :Sons, Ltd., 118, Chancery Lane, Loadona 479

• public companies and 10,398 private coinpanies were formed in. 1939, •_ the • former having an aggregate capital of £8,790,648 and the latter go11,009;810. The number of companies in both alasses is lower than for 1938, although the capital of the public companies is slightly higher. — Under the heading of " motors," three public companies and 515 private Companies were registered, the aggregate capital of the latter , being, 1,269;300; the total number of the taaa classes represents a 27 per cent.

decrease on the figure for 1938, ,

PERSONAL PARS

• MR. R. P. BEDDOW has been appointed secretary to the British Electric Tractiod Co., Ltd., to fill the vacancy caused by the recent retirement of Mr. Thomas Bower.

MR. H. J. SEED, of MCSSI-S. Leach and Seed, MaudsIay commercialvehicle dealers, of Manchester, was on Monday re-elected, at the annual general Meeting of the East Lancs. and Cheshire Division of the Motor Agents' Association, delegate on the Commercial-vehicles Section General Committee at headquarters in London.

C. BANKS was, on January 17, at the annual dinner of the National Tyre Distributors Association, elected President for the ensuing year. He is managing director of Banks Equipment, Ltd., motor tyre factors, of Fitzwilliam Street, Bradford, and has had considerable experience in the manufacture and maintenance of commercial and private motor vehicles. both at home and overseas, as well as in the construction of tyres. He was the engineer responsible for the system of fleet maintenance adopted by • Messrs. Holdsworth and Hanson, in connection with which we wrote an article entitled Organizing Fleet Maintenance on an Economic Basis,' which was published in our issue of May 6, 1938.

Traffic Movement, Ltd., in Action

TIT-TE rapidity with which Traffic

Movement, Ltd., has gone into action is a hopeful augury of its future success. Although only registered on January 8, it has already been given authority to organize the handling of considerable blocks of traffic, including the country-wide movement of livestock.

The foregoing is all the detail at present available concerning what may, in time, prove to be the biggest scheme ever handled by a single road-transport organization. We understand that the Wholesale Meat and Provision (Defence) Association and Traffic Movement, Ltd. (Associated Road Operators subsidiary company) are working jointly on the scheme.

This particular part of the scheme, the movement of livestock, came into operation on Monday of last week.

The Collection and Acceptance of

Goods

l‘AISUNDERSTANDING has arisen, Min some quarters, as to the result of the paragraph which appeared, under the above heading, on page 458 of our issue dated December 23. Apprehension has been aroused that this is a preliminary step towards an attempt to coerce hauliers into conformity with the Railway Companies' closing times for collection and delivery, namely:— collection, 4.30 p.m. (Saturdays. 12.30 p.m.); acceptance at goods depots, 5 p.m. (Saturdays 1 p.m.).

Nothing of the kind is intended. In actual fact, the point arose in the course 16 of a discussion, by the Road and Rail Central Conference, of details of the working of the suggested and widely criticized scheme for the co-ordination of road and rail in connection with long-distance haulage during the war. It was pointed out that, without some conformity in these times, difficulty and confusion were bound to arise.

The railway chairman, Mr. A. E. Sewell, merely stated those times in response to a request. The road members stated that there would be some difficulty in complying with the times, but agreed to do their best to do so. In view of the fact that the co-ordinating scheme has not been put into operation the need for application of this principle does not arise. REPORT ON ROAD RESEARCH

TEIE annual report of the Road Research Board has just been published at 3s. 6d. It describes the work of the Road Research Laboratory during the year ended March 31, 1939. During that period the laboratory site has been enlarged by 16 acres. This has made possible the construction of a special skidding track, 2,000 ft, long. It will also form a useful calibration surface for, the machines used for studying non-skid properties.

There is an increasing nnmlaer of full-scale trials on public roads which have accompanied or followed laboratory experiments. For example, tests on the use of acid to reduce slipperiness of smooth concrete have been continued on a full scale, and the method is practicable and cheap.

In co-operation with the British Road Tar Association, an attempt is being made to relate the durability of tar under road conditions to the results of tests made in the laboratory.

The range 'of bitumens under examination in co-operation with the Asphalt Roads Association has been extended to include some abnormal materials.

Skidding tests have been carried out at speeds up to 70 m.p.h. The results indicate that the sideway-force coefficient decreases at higher speeds.

A start has been made on an investigation by means of a cathode-ray oscillograph of the stresses caused in road materials by moving vehicles. FUEL SPECIFICATION FOR GAS PRODUCERS

AN impetus should be given to the growing use of producer gas through the publication, by the Producer Gas Fuels Committee of the Coal and Carbonisation Industries, Research Station, 9, Rickett Street, London, S.W.6, of an official specification for suitable fuels, The Committee is under the chairmanship of Mr. H. Lindars, and represented on it are the Mining Association of Great Britain, the gas and coke industries and the low temperature carbonisation industry. There is also a link with the British Coal Utilisation Research Association, as Mr. Lindars is chairman of the council of that body.

Apart from technical improvements in the design of producers, to which the Committee is giving every encouragement, the greatest need is for an abundant supply and adequate distribution of suitable fuels at moderate cost. Operators are reluctant to consider any wholesale change over to producer gas until they know that they can rely upon supplies of fuel of the correct quality. The new specification provides assurances on this point, whilst the Committee is taking steps to meet the desire of operators for a uniform policy throughout the country as regards price and distribution.

Those desiring particulars of supplies should communicate with the secretary of the Committee at the above address.

Yorkshire Distributorship Appointment A WELL-KNOWN commercial

vehicle dealer in Bradford, the Thornton Engineering Co., Ltd., has been appointed main distributor for Vulcan commercial vehicles and Tilling-Stevens battery-electric vehicles for Yorkshire.

Enness Gas Producer in the Midlands

THE appointment is announced of

Tailby Motors, Ltd., Charlotte Street, Birmingham, as distributor for the Enness gas producer, for an area covering Birmingham and the Black Country. The company informs us that it is opening a department to deal with the sale and fitting of these units, and that demonstration vehicles will shortly be in operation. ARMY SEEKS POLICE AID TO STOP CONVOY SPEEDING AILITARY authorities are complainIVIing that convoy drivers are doing damage to the engines of new lorries, by exceeding the speed limit, before the vehicles arrive at their destination. This was revealed at Leicester County Police Court on Wednesday of last week when two drivers were each fined 30s. and had their licences endorsed for exceeding the speed limit earlier this month on a Leicestershire road, A police officer said that there were between 20 and 30 lorries in the convoy and the police car was unable to catch up with the leaders.

The two lorry drivers summoned were alleged to have travelled at speeds between 40 and 48 m.p.h.

The drivers said that their orders were to keep up with the leader of the convoy and they pleaded that because they had been held up by traffic lights they had to accelerate quickly.

It was stated by the deputy chief constable of the county that, in view of the damage done to lorry engines by speeding while on convoy, the Army authorities had asked the police to try to put a stop to it.

Livestock Carriers Joining A.R.O.

BECAUSE many livestock carriers are joining A.R.O., it has been proposed that a separate section should be formed in each Sub-Area to cater for this class of activity. At a meeting held, a few days ago, in Cambridge a provisional committee for Norfolk was formed, and it is proposed to hold as many joint meetings of livestock carriers as possible, so as to get such committees functioning throughout East Anglia.

A general meeting of livestock carriers is due to be held to-day (January 27), at the Castle Hotel, Norwich, when the appointtnent of Mr. W. A. R. Mallon as chairman, Mr. J. W. Leggett as vice-chairman, and Mr. F. G. Waters as honorary secretary to the provisional committee will be confirmed.

Extension of Haulage Plans for A.R.P.

Shelters

WE learn that A.R.O., acting in conVV junction with the railway companies, has arranged that the small type of A.R.P. shelter is to be carried by hauliers at the same rates as those in force for the standard shelters. It should be recalled that, when the distribution of steel shelters was being discussed, A.R.O. met the railway companies and came to an agreement concerning the rates at which road hauliers should deliver these shelters from railhead to destination.

That arrangement has worked to the entire satisfaction of all parties. Indeed, it has been the means for bringing many hauliers, who previously were bitterly opposed to the railways, into amicable relations with them. The distribution of the shelters has found, and is continuing to find, lucrative employment for hundreds of hauliers throughout the country. HAULIERS HARD HIT BY MEAT CONTROL

HAULIERS have been hard hit by the controlling of the fat-stock markets. A Dunfermline haulier states that he and many of his colleagues have lost the work of conveying the stock from market to slaughterhouses and the meat from slaughterhouses to butchers. They can only depend on conveying stock from farm to market.

" It seems unfair that this work should be taken away from us," one

I-IN Wednesday last, the Associated O Co., Ltd., Southall, Middlesex, oRened a new sales and service depot, in Brook Street, Nottingham. This will replace the company's present premises which have been occupied by the area manager and his staff since 1931. In the ensuing nine years sales of vehicles in the Midland territory controlled from Nottingham have grown considerably.

Plans for acquiring a new building were formulated in peace-time, and, despite the outbreak of war, the work of adaptation—once the premises had been chosen—was pursued without interruption. This, in itself, is a reflection of A.E.C. current policy, which aims at maintaining the closest contact with operators, and meeting, so far as possible, their need for service facilities and spare parts.

An advantage of the new Brook Street depot is its close proximity to Nottingham's general bus station, from which services run to all parts of the Midlands, and to the L.N.E.R. and L.M.S. stations.

The building itself covers over 80,000 sq. ft., which makes it the largest of A.E.C. 's provincial depots. The main repair shop takes up more than half the floor area and contains an illuminated pit lined with glazed bricks, drilling and grinding machines, a press, engine lifting tackle, and equipment for injector testing, etc. It has work benches for seven mechanics and fitters, and an entrance of sufficient height to allow the passage of a double

deck bus. , A 18

stated, " especially when we have been doing it for years. We have not even had an opportunity of tendering for the work."

New Lodge Plug List

A NEW list of Lodge sparking-plug recommendations has just been

published. It gives the types most suitable for the majority of the leading makes of commercial vehicles. Copies can be obtained from Lodge Plugs, Ltd., Rugby.

With the eventual acquisition of a towing wagon, the new depot will be in a position not only to bring in any defective vehicle, but also to undertake all general repair work on the premises. Major engine overhauls will not normally be carried out, but replacement engines will be available while operators' own power units are in the hands of A.E.C.'s chief service station.

Increased floor space has enabled the spares stores to be enlarged and laid out to better advantage. A runway and lifting tackle have been installed. . Half of the front part of the building is absorbed by a showroom covering an area of 780 sq. ft. Adjoining the showroom are a stores office and a reception room. The upper floor is used exclusively for administrative offices.

The new depot will serve an area of the Midlands and Eastern Counties in DEATH OF PIONEER YORKSHIRE HAULIER

THE death is announced of Mr. Tom Richardson, managing director of T. Richardson, Ltd., haulage contractor, of Brookroyd Garage, Batley, Yorkshire. He founded this concern some 20 years ago, and had considerably extended the business since taking over Brookroyd Garage about 16 years ago. Mr. Richardson died a relatively young man, having attained the age of only 48 years.

which, to-clay, there are over 1,000 A.E.C. vehicles in service. At least seven of the municipalities operating their own transport—Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Chesterfield, Burton-on-Trent, Leicester, West Bridgeford and Nottingham — employ Southall-built buses or trolleybuses, and the last two mentioned have 100 per cent, A.E.C. fleets. There is, additionally, a number of large passenger-transport undertakings with fleets of A.E.C. vehicles. Collectively, too, the goodsvehicle operators in the area own a big proportion of A.E.C. machines.

At the opening of the premises, on January 24, there was on exhibition an A.E.C. four-wheeled double-deck chassis of the latest London Transport R.T. type, and an A.E.C. Mammoth Major eight-wheeled goods chassis, both with six-eylindered oil engines.


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