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A Lower Scale of Vehicle Taxation • Must be . Demanded.

28th February 1928
Page 43
Page 44
Page 43, 28th February 1928 — A Lower Scale of Vehicle Taxation • Must be . Demanded.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THE need is urgent for a. revision of the scale of taxation of commercial motors of all classes and the facts must be placed before the Chancellor of the Exchequer in time to allow hi ln to take powers under the Finance Bill of 1928 to intro duce the necessary changes, so that they may come into -force on January 1st next. The increases imposed under the Finance Act of 1926 were a great 'mistake and ,were strenuously opposed by those who were qualified to foresee their evil effects. Professedly, they were made in the interests of the railways, but the railway companies have shown that they are quite capable of looking after themselves and that they can organize to present to Parliament a -case of considerable strength for the grant of extended powers to employ the roads in addition to their tracks for the conveyance of merchandise and passengers. There are many who profess their belief that the railways will succeed in their application for these powers and, in the circumstances, it is right that the added impost should be removed, for it is a handicap upon enterprise and constitutes an artificial position, under which it cannot be possible for the two forms of transport to work out their

separate destinies. • •

We are among those who believe that competition IS a vital element of success, as it provides an urge and an incentive to greater efficiency, which, in its turn, is a direct encouragement to business. The more efficient is transport the greater will be the development of traffic. The bringing together of producer and consumer is yet in its absolute infancy. Many products are scarcely known a day's journey from their place of origin, and it is the modern combination of far thing advertising and of efficient transport facilities that is bringing, and can still further bring, buyer and seller together. Traffic can be increased two-fold or three-fold with little or no dif ficulty and within a short period, and even at two-fold the railways would be as well off for traffic as ever they were and road .

transport would be making a respectable living, for it has been shown that the mere establishing of the necessary facilities induces people to travel. The motorbus is an example of this law, the operation of which has been observable within the memory of the present decade.

Competition, however, must fail of its purpose if one of the opponents is equipped with a drag of unfair and repressive taxation. The falling off In the number of licensed steam wagons in 1927 was the first effect of the new scale of taxation, and let it be remembered that every steam wagon put out of service means loss of employment to British engineers, coal miners and general workers.

There is another move towards the reinstitution of the import duty on petrol as a method of taxing motor vehicles. It has clearly been shown in they life of the present Government that such an import duty would-be a new weapon of taxation which the 'Chancellor of the Exchequer would be glad to wield. It is not desirable that he should be given new weapons. Rather should the yield of taxation be reduced, so that the Government may be encouraged to institute economies in administration, and we hope that this line will be pursued with vigour by everyone interested in road transport.

Haulage by Tractor in Lieu of Horsed Transport.

ONE still hears rumours in some quarters of a contemplated return to the employment of horsed transport for short-distance hauls and where the effects of traffic congestion are making themselves felt to a severe degree, but it is wellnigh impossible to discover authentic cases of returns so made; in fact, all figures relating to the employment of horses appear to show that their number is steadily decreasing. We have on many occasions drawn attention to the fallacy of making such a retrograde step which, instead of relieving congestion, would merely serve to augment it into a condition of chaos almost impossible to conceive. It is the horse, noble animal though it is, which does so much to impede other and faster traffic and which shotild be banned from our busy thoroughfares and dock areas. In that event congestion would really be relieved to a considerable degree. On the question of cost we have yet to be convinced that the horse can compete with the powerpropelled vehicle or tractor, even for comparatively short-distance work where waiting is not unreasonably long, and this applies particularly in the ease of the small petrol tractor either hauling a trailer or equipped as a tractor-trailer sixwheeler. Such outfits can be operated at an extraordinarily low cost, particujarly where one tractor is employed in conjunction with a number of trailers, so that one or two are always loading or unloading while the tractor is dealing with the transport side. This is known as the shuttle system and is being employed extensively. The subject is dealt with very fully in the article which occupies our centre pages, and we should advise all those who are still employing horsed vehicles to consider very fully the points raised. We would also welcome the experiences of other users of tractors, both with regard to the peculiar adaptability of tractor, and trailer outfits to specific classes of work and to the comparative costs of operation.

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