"The Overseas and Dominion
Page 1
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Special Issue" of December Next.
Apropos the preparations which are in hand, in all departments at the office of this journal, for the publication and circulation of " The Dominion and Overseas Special Issue of December next, the date for publication of whieli has now been definitely fixed for the Sth of that month (the same week as that which was chosen for " The Overseas Special " of last year), we desire to invite the particular attention of our supportees to the vierhatim and unexcised quotation from " The Daily Mail '• which will be found at the foot of page 74. This testimony is peculiarly appropriate at the present time, and may xi ell be noted in addition to our recent extractt; from 'letters of correspondents and subscribers in the Colonies and abroad,
The Composition of Rates.
Lara.e numbers of traders have only the haziest conceptions of the manner in which railway rates are made up. They arc, consequently, less qualified to appreciate the value of point-to-point delivery by motors than ought to be the case. It, accordingly, affords us much pleasure to give publieity in this journal to the principal commits of a mest-interesting paper which was read a short time ago by Mr. E. B. Creasey, clerk to the district goods manager at the kings Cross Station of the Great Northern Railway Cll. One seldom finds a concise and succinct exposition oil a somewhat-intricate subject.; this one has the added merit of being at the same time thoroughly comprehensive. Motor carriers will be amused to read, in the opening paragraph, that it was at one time possible with ease to comprise the original list of railway tolls and classi fications " on a piece of foolscap." The expansion of carrying by railway, during the past 80 years. may be taken as a fair test. of what is in store for earrying by road motor. The huge organization of our railways has arisen from crude beginnings, and we believe it is still legal, although admittedly impracticable, for any trader to present himself, say, at Paddington, vitii his awn truck and his own locomotive, and, on tender of the requisite loll as set forth in the company's original Act, to act upan Iris right to use the permanent way.
Railway companies, it is pointed out, suffer from the disadvantage of the great difficulties which frustrate the ascertainment of the costs of working particular traffics. This is, no doubt, due to tile handling and hauling of mixed consignments and train loads. It will be at once realised that the same flaws in the matter of intelligent administrative control do not handicap motor carriers to anything like the same extent a measure of the superior control is, in fact, provided by the fact that railivay costs are expressed per train-mile, whereas road-motor costs are expressed per vehicle-mile. The nature of station and service terminals, and complexity of railway classification generally, next rece■ve attention, and some of the arguments which are advanced will appeal directly to motor carriers, all of whom know the value of simplification in quotations to customers. The heterogeneous nature of the articles and goods which fall ander any particular railway classification are dirinctly suggestive; for example, under Class 2, we ha chocolate. gunmetal and ropes. Multi-division of elassfication invites inn is-declaration by consignors, and there is lunch to be said for the proposal that rates should he upon a basis of, say, packing, handling and loading, with limits of compensation for loss. damage, mis-delivery or other liability. The inelination to evade the strict letter of the rate book is probably the root cause of the existence of what are termed " exceptional rates."
We cannot, here, give the space to summarize each section of Mr. Creasey's paper, but we heartily commend the first instalment, and the remainder which is held over for publication in our issue of next week, to every reader ivhir is eannect9d with a motor-haulage undertaking that carries parcels or goods. and to any parties who are prospectively contemplating interests of the kind. A study of its text will ample repay the time devoted thereto.
A Preposterous Bridge Notice.
The repainting of an oblong notice at the London end of the bridge which carries the road over the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Co.'s lines and works at New Cross has caused several correspondents to ask questions about its elfeat. We quote the wording of the notice: " Tii ov..iteis and drivers of Iocomotives.—Pursnant to the Statute 24 and 2.5 Viet., C. 70, See. 6 and 7. the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company do hereby give notice that this bridge is insufficient to carry weights beyond the ordinary traffic of the district, and that it is not lawful for the owner or driver of any locomotive to drive it over this bridge without previously obtaining the consent of the company, and that stringent proceedings will he taken against all persons disobeying this notice, and that such persons will be liable for all damage occasioned by such locomotive."
We can at once state that this anachronistic and ridiculous notice has, in any event, no legal application to heavy MOthr.5. It purports to be under a section of the Locomotives At of 1861, which Act was specifically repealed. in respect of lorries and tractors, by the Motor Car Act of
The bridge is strongly boilt, of steel girders support.'d upon brick piers, and it is a recognized stoppingplace for L.C.C. electric tramcars; in fact, three electric cars sometimes stop on the, bridge at one and the sanw time, and that while other traffic is also passing at each side. Owners and drivers of tractors or motor wagons need have not the slightest, hesitation about the use of the bridge. We understand that the notice in question has been in position for many years, and that it complies with the railway company's conception of its own technical protection against possible damage by any unduly-heavy traction engine or by abnormal loads behind such an engine.