FEARS OF " RAMP " IN FILM • TRANSPORT.
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Anomalies in 'film-transport costs, owing to different bases of charging, were referred to by Mr. S. Grimshaw at a meeting of the north-western branch of the Cinematograph Exhibitors Association, at Liverpool, last Friday.
Mr. Grimshaw stated that some theatres paid for film transport on the reel basis, others per feature film, others per week, and there was a fourth group of cinemas which remunerated the carrier on the basis of so much per visit. Hence, in the town where there was a large cinema running a seven days' programme, there would be only one delivery of films per week, and the cost of carriage would be lower than in the case of H. small theatre, which had a change of programme twice a week.
" According to expressions of opinion I have heard, the question of film carriage is likely, if it has not already commenced, to develop into a bit of a ramp," said Mr. Grimshaw. It seemed that the railways were endeavouring to recover film traffic from road transport. If they succeeded, it was possible that eventually they would impose extortionate charges.
The situation required to be carefully Watched, because, on the other hand, the road-transport concerns might unify their interests, and the effect on the exhibitor might be just as bad as if the railway companies had a monopoly of the traffic.
The general council of the Exhibitors Association will consider the situation at its next meeting.
• Licences Revoked and Suspended.
The South-Eastern Licensing Authority has suspended the A contract licence of .Mr. B. G. Foot, of the Post Office, Longhair], Dorset, for two weeks from May 31.
Mr, E. W. Faux, of Mepal, has had a contract licence revoked by the Eastern Licensing Authority.
Big Glamorgan Coal-oil Plant.
Oil-from-coal plant is being erected at Werritarw Colliery, Pencoed (MidGlam.), on a scale to absorb the whole output of the colliery and several surrounding pits. The undertaking will be under the control of the South Wales Coalite Co., Ltd,
This will be one of the first of a number of big-scale oil-from-coal enterprises to be developed in South Wales in ensuing months.
• New W.O. Transport Post in Nottingham.
The War Office has taken possession of 5, Derby Road, Nottingham, and has there established offices for the district inspector of supplementary transport (Eastern District) and his staff.
'Major V. S. Holden, MC., is the district inspector. He has stated that his department is to take a census of various types of commercial vehicle that could be commandeered by the War Department in a time of national emergency. The new scheme, he said, has taken the place of the former arrangement by which subsidies were paid to various big concerns on condition that they maintained certain types and numbers of vehicles, which could be transferred immediately to the Government when required. • PERSONAL PARS.
MR. T. P. EASTON, transport manager to Newcastle-on-Tyne City Council, who has undergone an operation, is making satisfacthry progress towards recovery.
Our congratulations to MR. T. B. KEEP on his recent appointment as managing director of Petters, Ltd., Yeovil, the well-known manufacturer of oil engines.
MR. F. G. BRISTOW, C.B.E., general secretary of the Commercial Motor Users Association, is representing the Association at the Ninth International Chamber of Commerce Congress in Berlin, at the end •of June.
To fill the vacancy in the Electricity Commission, Caused by the death of SIR JOHN BROOKE, C.B., the late vicechairman, the Minister of Transport, with the concurrence of the President of the Board of Trade, has appointed SIR CYRIL Huacomn, K.B.E., C.B., at present permanent secretary to the Ministry of Transport, to be an electricity commissioner, and, upon the retirement of SIR JOHN SNELL, G.B.E., at the end of the year, to succeed him as chairman of the Commission.
Sir Cyril Hurcomb, who has had much transport experience, and was president of the Institute of Transport for 1935-36, will, we learn, take up his new duties early next month. DOES WAGES REPORT SHOW RAILWAY BIAS?
Speaking at a meeting of hauliers at Inverness, Mr.-T. Worsley, secretary of the Scottish Joint Conciliation Board, expressed approval of the report of -the wages committee of inquiry.
There was, be said, a suggestion that holders of C licences might be divided into two classes. Whilst the committee specified a distinction as between local tradesmen delivering their own goods, and other ancillary users who carried long-distance traffic on their own behalf, it might be more clearly defined by saying that the one class did not . interfere with the railways and the. other might be likely to do so.
It was' hinted, Mr. Worsley continued, that operators of the second class might at some stage require to convince the Licensing Authority of the need for -their services, and of the inadequacy and unsuitability of existing transport, . before. they could obtain licences. This was a clear indication of the need fOr organilation in the industry. " A further .Point in the report was that a central board, sitting in "LonclOn to deal with all aspects of the industry, was proposed for the whole of Britain. If that proposal were carried into effect, the present Scottish Board would disappear. Scotland might resent' that step. Such an objection, however, would not be peculiar to Scotland, as . it was impossible to imagine the great industrial centres of the north 'of England relegating, with ready acceptance, the whole of the negotiating powers to London.
Another American Record.
During 1936, more than 28,000,000 motor vehicles were registered in America, this constituting an all-time record—even for the United States,
New Postal Garage in Birmingham.
On Saturday last, a new Post Office garage was opened in Commercial Street, Birmingham. It has been constructed for accommodating those vehicles used on postal and engineering work in and around the city. Some idea of its size can be gathered from the fact that 180 vans can be housed on the 50,000 sq ft comprising the main garage. The layout includes a workshop for maintenance and repair work, paintshops and stores, and a feature is that sleeping quarters are available for postal van drivers whose duties are broken during the night.
Municipal Transport Chief to Lecture Abroad.
Mr. C. Owen Silvers, general manager of the transport department of Wolverhampton Corporation for over 20 years, is to lecture before the Royal Swedish Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research, at Stockholm, on the subject of trolleybuses, a type of vehicle of which Swedish passengertransport concerns have had no experience. Mr. Owen Silvers is this year's president of the Municipal-Tramwaya and Transport Association.