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Agricultural
Page 80
Page 81
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Haulage in Derbyshire
A County in which Nearly 10,000 Farmers Prefer to Employ Roadtransport Contractors. Motor Operation from a Railway Centre
THERE are 448,839 acres of farmed land in Derbyshire. Of that amount, 75,242 acres are under the plough. The foregoing acreage is comprised in 9,342 "agricultural holdings of over one acre each," that being the official designation of a farm, according to the' returns of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Anyone acquainted with the conditions of agriculture will draw certain conclusions from the above figures. It will be observed that the proportion of arable land to total acreage is one to six. That means that the bulk of the farming Is devoted to the production of milk and the breeding of livestock.
Demand for Road Motors.
Promthe point of view of road haulage, this circumstance is important, because it indicates the probability that there will be a considerable demand for road transport (a) for the conveyance of the milk from the farms to dairy centres, (b) for the movement of cattle and livestock generally, and (c) for the carriage of cattle foods from distant towns. The last-named activity is more pronounced during the winter months.
Two distinct classes of haulage are involved. There is long-distance transport, concerned with the conveyance of foodstuffs, which, in the main, are imported and have to be brought from the ports, and shortdistance haulage, for the movement of the milk and livestock. How these branches of the haulage industry are carried out in Derbyshire may best be indicated by reference to the operations of some of the contractors.
Mr. L. J. Rix, of Stevenson Transport, Ltd., which has headquarters at Liverpool, but has a branch at Derby and, in fact, is engaged in enlarging its sphere of operations in Derby, tells me that Derby itself Is not a good centre for long-distance haulage, for a reason which, on consideration, becomes obvious, inasmuch as it is an important railway centre. Most of the big business premises are on railway property and it is difficult, if not impossible, for a haulier to obtain the bulk of the traffic of any individual concern. Loads are, in consequence, intermittent.
Mr. Rix's interest in the agricultural activities of the county is confined almost exclusively to the conveyance from Liverpool and Hull of oil cake and grain for feeding stuffs His deliveries are, for the largest part, made to cattle-food merchants and corn dealers, who distribute to the farmers. Most of the vehicles of Stevenson Transport, Ltd., are Scammell 12-tonners and 14-tonners, and these, of course, are economical machines for this class of haulage.
Mr. 0. K. Napper, of Chaddesden, Derby, specializes in long-distance haulage and a considerable proportion of his activities is in connection with agriculture. Particularly is that statement true if vinegar be included as an agricultural product, which, indirectly, it is. Some idea of the extent of his agricultural interest may be gathered from the fact that, during the winter, he carries weekly 300 tons of maize and wheat from Liverpool, Hull and London to Derby.
For this work, four MercedesBenz oil-engined vehicles are used. One is a 10-12-ton six-wheeler and the others are 6-tonners, each of the latter being operated" in conjunction with a 6-ton trailer. Mr, Napper's experiences of the operation of these vehicles, from the point of view of economy, are so notable as to make it well worth while for me to digress a little from the main purpose of this article and refer briefly to them.
The average rate of fuel consumption, Mr. Napper tells me, is 12 m.p.g. with oil costing 4-id. per gallon, including the penny tax. He obtains 60,000 miles of use from his tyres, and one has covered 100,000 miles and is still in service.
Low Maintenance Costs.
The cost of maintenance is remarkably low. The engines are resleeved at about 55,000 miles and the all-in cost of this operation on a six-cylindered unit, including new sleeves and the fitting of Specialloid pistons, is only £56. Moreover, the lorry is off the road for only a day and a half while the work is being carried out.
Mr. Napper keeps a service set of sleeves and pistons available. On Friday night dismantlement of the engine is commenced, this operation being particularly simple because of the construction, which incorporates individual heads for each cylinder, and on Sunday morning it is reassembled and is ready to start again.
The lubricating-oil consumption is about 31-4 gallons per six weeks of running, the sump, which contains approximately that quantity, being emptied and replenished at sixweekly intervals, and practically no oil is added in the interim. The weekly mileage per vehicle is from 1,000 to 1,300.
Mr. H. King, of Lodge Lane, Derby, is principally concerned with the cartage of livestock, although he does a certain amount of general haulage. He operates two Manchester 35-cwt. lorries, one of which, having nearly served its turn, Is shortly to be replaced. The bodies on these vehicles are of the demountable type capable of being used for general-purpose haulage, for the conveyance of cattle or for the cartage of sheep and pigs, in which case an upper floor is fitted.
He tells me that _there is ample work in this branch of the haulage business. Livestock has to be carted from farms to markets and from markets to other farms or to slaughter houses. In the summer season there are agricultural shows to be visited and, in the winter, fatstock shows. Most of this haulage, naturally enough, is comparatively short-distance work, but not all of it The average mileage is 360 per week.
Loading and Unloading Animals.
A difficulty that occasionally arises in connection with the handling of this class of transport is that the haulier is sometimes expected to load and unload the animals without assistance. If there be what Mr. King aptly described as a " wild " one amongst the load, the terminal delays may extend to several hours, for which it is rarely the case that any allowance is made in the rate fixed for the work.
The views of the cattle-food merchants and corn dealers are not without interest with reference to the haulage of agricultural products. Mr. W. G. Brown, principal of probably the largest concern of this description in Derby, well known as the maker of the proprietary food product Barley Kernels, only occasionally accepts loads of feeding stuffs by road, those occasions arising when the individual order is less than the 10-ton load which is the railway companies' minimum limit ' of consignment for its special rates.
Mr. Brown finds that, in the case of larger consignments, the railway companies' special rate, assisted by the 15-per-cent. rebate on consignments of agricultural produce (this rebate is paid for by road hauliers out of the petrol tax) is so attractive as practically to compel him to resort to rail transport. In conjunction with this service, of course, there is the railway companies' large railhead-distribution scheme. Mr. P. Roome, a retail corn merchant, is one of those who obtains his supplies from this railhead centre, using a Morris-Commercial 30-cwt. vehicle and a Morris 5-cwt. van for that purpose. Incidentally, he expressed satisfaction with the service that he was obtaining from these two vehicles.
Competing with the Railway.
Finally I reach a haulier w*ho is competing directly with the railway companies in offering just those facilities for storage and distributionwhich are proving so attractive to corn dealers. Mr. Arthur Harrison combines in his activities long and short-distance haulage, and the storage and local distribution of foodstuffs.
He has eight lorries, as follow:— four Karriers, one a K10 model, one a K7, and two Y types ; two Bristol 6-tonners, a Dennis 4-tonner and a Cornmer 4-tonner. The biggest vehicles are used for the long-distance haulage of foodstuffs—oil cake and grain—from Liverpool and Hull. The others are employed for farm-to-farm collection of milk and its delivery to local dairies. An indication of the extent of his activities is afforded by his statement that, during last winter, he regularly carted weekly 1,000 tons of foodstuffs into Derbyshire.