How the Magistrate Has Dealt' with the Eight-wheeler.
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THE difficulty has always faced the pioneer of a new type of vehicle that the schedule of licences under the Finance Acts does not provide the requisite categories for it, and the question of its classification for duty purposes becomes a matter for dispute. Technical progress must always be in front of the law, but it should not be allowed to be hampered by the fact that the legislatu.re is unable to foresee mechanical developments. The fault lies in not admitting that fact and providing for it by giving the Minister of Transport power to consider any new type of vehicle and to give it a status which shall tide over the position until the next Finance Bill is drafted.
At present the designer and manufacturer, in the course of working out and constructing a new type of vehicle (rendered neeessary, let us say, by a development in some other industry—such as a rising demand for heavier castings for new high-power electrical plant), find that the vehicle, when constructed, will not fit Into any of the recognized categories. Unwilling to abandon their enterprise and say that the other industry must remain stagnant because transport is unable to convey the new machinery that is required, they make the new vehicle, put it on the road and await the prosecution that inevitably follows. The decision of the court must be somewhat a matter of chance when the question is of a highly technical nature and capable of being answered equally correctly one way or the other, according to the point of view of the magistrate, and we hold that such a position is unsatisfactory.
The simple way out of the difficulty is, as we have said, to give the Minister of Transport power to consider any new proposition that may be submitted to him and to allocate it to an existing class for determining the licence duty that shall be payable or to give it a temporary status under a new category. The case which has just been heard in a Manchester court, had such an arrangement been in force, would have been unnecessary and, moreover, would not leave the makers and owners of a special type of vehicle (in this instance an articulated eight-wheeler) in the air and wondering what is to be done with a means of transport which is urgently wanted but is now
declared to be illegal. The magistrate's decision was seemingly affected by prejudice, for he inveighed against vehicles that carried heavy weights, some of them emitting great clouds of steam. The vehicle in question was propelled by an internal-combustion engine, so that there was no steam to be emitted, and the modern highway is constructed to withstand the imposition of much heavier weights than were being moved in this case, whilst the speed was reasonable according to present-day considerations. Moreover, the load was not being transported for the fun of the thing, and there is always the Extraordinary Traffic clause of the Highways and Locomotives Act of 1878 to deal with any case of damage to the highway.
The Steel Industry as a Subject for Safeguarding.
TN the next issue of The Commercial Motor we ...propose to deal fully with the question of the safeguarding of the steel industry and its effect upon the interests of inland transportation. Finished steel to the extent of four million tons a year is imported into this country, and is used in a constructive programme of wide range. Shipping interests are concerned with the freight upon this extensive import, and for that reason are adverse to the imposition of any new conditions that may encourage increased home manufacture of the metal at the expense of the imported article. Users, again, will not unnaturally offer opposition to any measure that may be expected to increase the cost of what to them is their raw material.
We shall be able, however, to point out that one ton of ingot steel involves the use of six tons of ore, coal, lime and stores, and therefore that losses in one direction would be more than balanced by gains in others, whilst the reduced amount of tonnage hauled by the railways represents a substantial loss of revenue. The production, marketing and handling of 24,000,000 tons annually of these raw materials for steel-making would be an important factor In the condition of employment in this country, and road transport must inevitably feel the reaction. Because of the large issues at stake and the far-reaching effett of such a substantial change as would be brought about by the imposition of a safeguarding duty, steel is an important product to consider, and the Government, in consequence, is giving it very careful study from every angle.
The Risk of Fire with Tractors.
RECENTLY there have been several instances of conflagrations occurring in sheds, barns, etc., through back-fires on tractors setting light to a portion of the fuel.
Apart from the danger arising from such fires, they tend to detract from the popularity of the tractor as an efficient means for assisting the agriculturist. In this country it is quite difficult enough to obtain anything like .a ready market for the agricultural tractor, without perturbing the farmer because of the extra risk involved.
In our opinion there is little excuse for turning out a machine in which it is possible for a back-fire to ignite any portion of the fuel. A gauze of fairly close mesh and of a size suffi.:. cient to prevent any risk of throttling the mixture and of baffling back-fires to such an extent as to cause it to be blown out would obviate the risk. No doubt there are other ways of solving the difficulty, and we commend the matter to the attention of makers and concessionaires of such machines employed for agricultural purposes.
In the meantime, it may be as well to point out to tractor users how such trouble may be prevented on existing machines. Back-firing in the carburetter is usually the result of two conditions, these beinc,b sticking-up of the inlet valves and a weak mixture at starting. The first can only be obviated by keeping the valve stems and guides clear of carbon and gummy deposit, whilst the Second can usually be avoided by closing the air shutter.
It must not be thought that a back-fire necessarily means conflagration. In fact, it is only occasionally that it does result in this, and then usually because the carburetter has been flooded excessively or is leaking.