W HEN I told my friend, Mr. J. Steele, of Datchet,
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that I wanted a talk with some hauliers in the Windsor area, preferably those who are interested in agricultural haulage, he advised me to visit Reading Market.
" Come along on Saturday," he said, "and I will meet you there and introduce you to a few of them." I followed his advice and, as a result, met a friendly and knowledgeable crowd of hauliers.
My first introduction was to Mr. W. C. Cook, who, I gathered, is a sort of honorary secretary to the local hauliers. The meeting was in the auction ring, where a stentorian-voiced auctioneer, by force of personality as tant thing," he said, "is to keep the unladen weight below 2i tons. Speed is essential in this class of work and I have designed these bodies myself, with that object in view.
'This," he continued, waving his hand towards the auction ring, " is where we meet our customers. We bring the animals in for some of them and we take them away for others."
" Ah! " I said. "Return loads every time, eh? "
"Yes," he answered, "but there is the waiting time, you must remember . . but let me introduce you to some of my haulage friends, Mr. F. C. Bowyer, Mr. E. B. Choules, Mr. C. A. Hicks, they're all here and would be glad to have a talk with S.T.R."
"Concerning this problem of waiting time," I said, "over what radius do you work on this haulage? "
" About 15 miles," said Mr. Cook. " Nearer 25 miles," said Mr. Hicks.
" I don't think so," said Mr. Cook. " We do get a fair number of journeys of 20-2A miles and some longer than that. but I still think 15 miles is the average, if you take into account the number of short journeys we make, sometimes only in and around the tr.mn."
" Well, put it another way," I said. " What is the average annual mileoge of your vehicles? "
" A total of 35,000," said Mr. Cook. " Only 25,000, for me," said Mr. Hicks.
" " said Mr. • Cook, " but a lot of your mileage is with horses."
" What difference does that make? " I as ked
" There is more waiting time with horses,"said Mr. Hicks. " A good deal
of my 1%ork is taking inimals to meets, point-to-points and races. That means that I may pick up a horse or several horses in the morning, go to the meet or race, wait until the event is over and then come hack again. " I use the same vehicles for horses as I do for cattle, and I have detachable partitions which enable me comfortably to take three horses at a time. These may he for two or three different customers and I might pick their animals up at about 10 o'clock, take them to the meet at 11 a.m. and then bring tln-in hack in the afternoon. The distance out averages 20 miles, but varies considerably.
" I attend the South Berkshire Hunt, the lIampshire Hunt, the Vyne, but also go as far afield as Salisbury
and Wincanton. For long distances, the practice is to take the horses down the night before the event and come back the next day."
" But that doesn't keep you busy all the year round, does it? "
" Not hunting, of course, but after the hunting come the 'point-to-points and after that the races, and then around again. I have quite a lot of business in connection with Northolt pony races."
"Then you do not do a great deal of cattle haulage, Mr. Hicks? "
" A fair amount. For one thing, there is little hunting on Mondays and Tuesdays and that is when I do other haulage, and then, of course, I have four vehicles and they are not necessarily all engaged on horse carrying.''
" What are these vehicles, Mr. Hicks? "
"I have two Dennis, a Commer and a Dodge and they are all under 50Cwt. unladen."
"How do you make up your bigger annual mileage, Mr. Cook? "
"I can best explain that by telling you what goes on in this market," he answered. " You see, this is one of the few towns where we have markets five days a week and sometimes six days. • "To-day.' he continued, " most of the stock in the market is dairy cattle and a fairly big proportion of cows with calves. The average length of haul is 15 miles and the maximum up to 25 miles and sometimes 30 miles.
'Now, on Mondays the market is usually set apart for fat 'stock from farms—bullocks, sheep, calves and pigs. These we would collect from farms distant up to about 25 miles or so with occasionally longer leads, but after the market the bulk of the deliveries will be to local abattoirs, with some to Slough, Maidenhead and Watford.
"Tuesday is a blank day—although there are exceptions—and we usually take advantage of that to do miscellaneous haulage for farmers.
The Days for Pedigree Stock.
"Wednesday and Thursday are devoted, as a rule, to sales of pedigree stock. Most of these animals come from the South of England. so far away as 150 miles and 80 per cent. of them come by road. We do not do much of that work. The stock is mostly brought to Reading by hapliers from the district whence the cattle come. They, however, only take back the unsold stock. The animals which are disposed of in the market are delivered by local hauliers, sometimes over great distances; so far away, for example, as Scotland, , " Friday is devoted to store cattle, mainly Irish, and nearly all of them come by rail, either from Liverpool or Bristol. After the sales are completed, deliveries are made by local hauliers up to about 40 or 50 miles, quite a considerable quantity going to London."
" What are rates for cattle haulage like in this part of the world, Mr. Cook? "
" Our charges are based roughly on the basis of Is. per loaded mile."
"But you cannot make it pay at that," I objected, "unless you are fairly sure of return loads."
" I agree it would not be profitable if the total earning per journey be only Is. per loaded mile," he answered, " but you see, that amount is charged sometimes on each of two or three pickups, and if you take that into consideration, as well as the fact that there is a reasonable percentage of return loads, you will agree that the return is not too bad."
" Is there much rate-cutting? " I asked.
" We're fairly free from that sort of thing on this market," said Mr. Bowyer. "Practically all the hauliers with agricultural interests are included in this friendly little group and we work on the principle of co-operation, helping one another and agreeing upon rates, instead of wasting our energies in unnecessary cut-throat competition. There are about 13 or 14 of us, one with four vehicles, another with three, and so on, most of them being owner-drivers, and if anyone has more than he can handle he gets in touch with others of the group and we help one another. The members of the group are all located within eight miles of Reading and there is little difficulty in getting into touch."
" What is the extent of your interest in haulage, Mr. Bowyer? "
" Well, I have four vehicles, one on cattle haulage and three on milk haulage, all Commers. .
"The vehicles for milk haulage are of special design, semi-insulated, inasmuch as the walls and roof are double, with air space between. I carry solely for F.C.M. Dairies, the loads comprising bottles and churns of tuberculintested milk. Most of the deliveries are •
to hospitals and nursing homes in London and the collections from 42 farms, all within a 25-mile radius."
" Do you do a big mileage with these vehicles? "
" They do about 180 to 220 miles per day. The newest Commer, bought last November, has already covered 55,000 miles. One of them has run 300,000 miles and the cylinders have not yet been rebored."
The Effects of the Royal Show.
" How has the fact that the Royal Show is to be held at Windsor this year affected the work which comes to you and your colleagues? "
Here, Mr. Steele took up the tale. "It has not meant any serious loss of business," he said, "because whilst we may have lost orders for distance journeys, these have been compensated for by the fact that many local exhibitors, who usually send their beasts by rail to the ' Royal ' when it is distant, are having them conveyed by road this year."
Mr. Steele went on to tell me that he does quite a lot of work in connection with shows all over the country. He has found that his vehicles, which are painted attractively and distinctively, bring him a lot of inquiries and, subsequently, orders. He likes to confine himself to good-class work and finds that if he does so he can get good prices. He speaks favourably of the Dennis 50-cwt. forward-control chassis. and usually covers 500 miles per week with his vehicles.
He has found a simple way of solving the problem of the wheel-arch in a livestock-carrying body. He slopes the rear portion of the floor from the back edge to the top of the arch so that, in effect, it is a continuation of the ramp. This forms the rear compartment and there is a step down in front of the wheel-arches into the front compartment, which can be entered by a ramp from the side.
He has designed a rather ingenious trailer. Its particular purpose is the conveyance to shows of a " four-inhand " coach and a small gig. The trailer can be fitted with detachable sides and used for the conveyance of animals when it is not required for its normal purpose.
No Loss of Condition by Road.
. A factor of importance when comparing road and rail for conveyance of cattle, and one to which Mr. Steele has paid a good deal of attention, is that when animals are conveyed under favourable conditions, as by road, the moving can be done without any loss in the quantity of milk which the animals give. Milking cows taken by rail often lose considerably in this respect. Mr. Steele has actually had cases where the quantity of milk given by the cows has increased after he has moved them.
Inoone case he moved 100 cows between morning and afternoon milking times and there was no diminution in the quantity of milk they gave.
"You know," said Mr. Steele, "a good deal depends upon the driver. In my opinion, it is far better to get hold of a man who can handle cattle and train him to drive a vehicle than to try and make a lorry driver into a cattle drover."
This little informal conference closed on the note of a general agreement that cattle haulage was a specialized trade, calling for experts— both in management and in driving— and could justify good rates. The idea, suggested by Mr. Steele, that there should be a minimum of 5s. per beast was sheartily endorsed by all present.