Complaint Against R.H.E.: Hauliers Win
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LICENCE variations were granted to two hauliers by the Northern Licensing Authority last week, to enable them to carry roadstone from the Longhoughton quarry of the Northumberland Whinstone Co., Ltd., to the Tyneside area. Objections were lodged by the Road Haulage Executive, whose representative was told by the transport manager of Northumberland Whinstone, Ltd.: " Your. service to the Tyneside area is not satisfactory. I can. never get a definite promise from the Felton depot when I inquire in the previous afternoon for vehicles required the followitig day. If a promise is made, it is not kept. We never know how many vehicles will turn up, if at all."
J. Renton and Sons, Ltd., Wooler, and Messrs. C. Thompson, Embleton. wished to haul road and building materials and agricultural lime up to such distances as to enable them to carry for the quarry. Their applications were heard together, as the two businesses were associated. It was stated that their vehicles ran to Newcastle each day to collect coal and passed the quarry on their way. The nearest R.H.E. depot at Felton was 17 miles from the quarry.
Mr, F. Braidwood, for the Amalgamated Roadstone Corporation, Ltd., the owner of two other quarries in the district, also supported the applications. He stated that the company had difficulty in obtaining vehicles from the Executive, whereas independent hauliers either fulfilled their promises or said that they had no lorries available.
M. A. W. Balne, for the R.H.E., said that he was unable to pass comment on the application, as his only witness was a relief manager at Felton, who could not assist, because he was not familiar with the working of the depot.
COACH OPERATIVES' WAGE AWARDS
COACH crews in Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire benefit by wage awards agreed upon by the executive committee of the South-west Provincial Joint Industrial Council. The minimum wage for employees working on private excursions and tours has risen from ff• 3s. to £6 8s. lod. for a five-day week and to £6 10s. for a six-day week.
On stage-carriage services, drivers' rates start at £6 4s. for a 44-hour week. rising by 2s. after six months and again after another six months. Conductors' and conductresses' scales are 4s. less than those of driyers
SALES 213 PER CENT. UP
THE chairman of Birmid Industries, Ltd., Lord Burghley, states in his report that group sales in the 12 months ended July 31 last were 211 per cent. greater in value than in the previous year.
" Increased material costs, especially metals, account for some of this, but the volume of production has also risen satisfactorily. The general rate of progress is shown by the fact that the sales value for 1951-52 is nearly double what it was five years ago in 1947-48." he says_
FARMERS' PREFERENCE
/X RESOLUTION that farmers were
better served by private hauliers than by British Road Services was passed last week by the finance and general purposes committee of the Gloucestershire branch of the National Farmers' Union. It was stated that prbduce was damaged more often by B.R.S. and that more claims were now submitted in one week than in 20 weeks with free hauliers.