Answers to Queries: Application for a Commission in the A.S.C., M.T.
Page 19
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[2815] (Waltharnstow).—You should apply formally to the Secretary, War Office, S.W., for the necessary forms to enable you to lodge an application.
They Have a New Two-ton Burford For Hire.
[2816] (Liscard),....It is advisable, especially at the present time, to base any charges on a revenue per mile run, both loaded and unloaded, of not less than 10d. for a two-tonner. Many contractors will not touch it under is, per mile rim, with an added charge of at, least 55. an hour if there are exceptional delays, or if the work is less than 50 miles a day.
Current Earnings for Four-toasters.
[2817] (NE. Lanes.).—You should earn, at the present time, as nearly as possible 2s. per mile run, with it four-ton lorry. This is to cover exceptional delays in distribution at Manchester, and you should Stipulate riot more than three deliveries at the outside. If more deliveries are undertaken, the lorry will have to miss its back load, or not complete the double journey in the day. If you can arrange by contract to load both ways with regularity-, and are guaranteed against shortage of loads in either direction, it would pay on the basis of is. 6d. per mile.
Petrol Not at Is. 4d. Per Gallon.
[2818] (Somerset).—The sheet of running costs was taken out a little more than two years ago. It is obvioesly necessary to alter the price of petrol in ratio with present-day costs.. If you have made that correction, we consider that our figures will suit your case, except that, if you will only be running about 160 miles a week, you will find that certain of the fixed charges will be much higher in their incidence—for example, driver, proportion of rent and rates, proportion of insurance and interest. We have not published a list of the principal motor-lorry manufacturers, accompanied by any details of their types, since August., 1913, in list form. A representative list of the leading manufacturers is contained in our advertisement pages-from week to week. We do not contemplate getting .out a further complete list now.
Damage by Projecting TramraiIs.
[2819] (Glasgow).—We have taken a legal opinion on the matter, and it is to the effect that owners of commercial vehicles are entitled to recover in respect of damage sustained through the failure on the part of the owners of a tramway undertaking to keep the rails in proper condition, and proceedings have been taken in the past. Unless a tramway is laid and maintained in accordance with the provisions of the Act conferring upon the owners the right ° to lay the tramway, such tramway is a nuisance'if it causes damage to or interferes with the rights of the users of the highway, and if rails are not kept in proper condition the person who suffers damage is entitled to recover on the ground that the owners of the undertaking have caused a nuisance. We note that you are concerned with certain routes outside Glasgow.
Has Work Offered for Five Months.
[2820] (Huddersfield).—It will not pay you to buy a motor lorry, on the strength of an offer of work for five months, unless you see a prospect of obtaining further work for it. or course, if you can obtain a sufficiently-high rate of freight for five months, to enable you to write off, say, one-third of the purchase price of the lorry at the end of that time, it might even pay you to take the risk. There are no recognized transport rates. In the early days of motor transport, say 14 years ago, the practice was to cot the railway rate by the amount of the cartage at one or both ends. Nowadays, however, owing to recognition of the fact that road transport provides advan tages which the railway cannot give, such as quicker delivery and better condition of goods on arrival, the rates by road are frequently higher than the c. and d. rates by rail. We have mailed (free) a standard sheet of working costs, and we recommend you as a contractor to see as nearly as possible double the revenue per mile run, reckoning both light and loaded mileage together, as the costs which are there shown for an owner who furnishes his own loads.
Petrol-lighting Systems.
[2821] (Burnley).—The dames and addresses of makers of petrol lighting systems are :— County Light, Ltd., St. Stephen's House, Victoria Embankment, S.W.
International Air Gas Corporation, Ltd., 26, Victoria Street, S.W.
Strode and Co., Ltd., 48, Osna,burgh Street, N.W.
Produce-gas and Electric Vehicles.
[2822] (Cape Town).—Experiments were made in i Paris, about five years ago, n the matter of a commercial motor of the type which you mention. N‘Te believe the system was abandoned on account of the high consumption of water per mile run, which requirement in a measure counterbalanced certain advantages that were contemplated. If you wish it, although our Paris correspondent is now with the French Red Cross, we shall try to get him to find out something for you. There would, of course, be delay.
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The other part of your letter s answered thus :— Edison Accumulators, Ltd., 2-3, Duke Street, St. James's, S.W.
General Vehicle Co., Ltd., Imperial House, KingSway, W.C.
Mossay and Co., Ltd., 45, FIorseferry Road, S.W.