News of the Week
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FURTHER COMB-OUT OF MAN POWER
ROAD transport figures among the many industries affected by the new comb-out of men for the Forces. It may be expected to release all up to the age of 30. The men concerned will be medically examined very soon, but before they are called up employers will be notified, so that the Ministry of Labour can be informed as to which men must be replaced by substitutes. These, where needed, must be either women, ox men above military age.
CONSTRUCTION AND USE REQUIREMENTS POSTPONED rr HE employment of solid tyres on certain vehicles and trailers was to have been prohibited from January 1 next, but the M. of W.T. has now made The Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment No. 6) Provisional Regulations, 1942, postponing this requirement until January 1, 1944.
Similarly, a servo braking system embodying a vacuum or .pressure reservoir need not be provided with a warning device until the same date.
HAULIERS MUST REPORT INFESTATION
HAULIERS are now required to notify to the nearest Food Divisional Officer any infestation of vehicles, premises or goods in ,transit or store. The terry " infestation " includes the presence of Insects, fungus, rats, mice and other vermin, 'plants or living organisms likely to cause damage or deterioration of food or forage.
Notifications concerning vehicles should seldom be necessary as to cure this trouble in them is comparatively simple. Open lorries can be washed down under pressure, loose parts, such as sheets, being removed and hosed separately. Boxvans or other closed vehicles should be well brushed out and sprayed with an insecticide.
Disinfestation of premises may be carried out by the haulier or his servicing firm. The . haulier must pay, in the first instance, but may be able to recover from some other party.
RESTRICTIONS ON GAS-BAG CONVERSIONS
THE Ministry of Fuel and Power announces that, in view of the fuel supply position, it will be necessary to restrict the use of town gas for road vehicles. No further supplies for new conversions can be made available in most large towns, and in only exceptional cases and on a very small scale elsewhere. Vehicles already operating on town gas will be authorized by the appropriate Regional Transport Commissioner to continue to use this fuel, provided he is satisfied that the work on which a vehicle is engaged is of national importance.
In the areas covered by the following list of gas undertakings a limited number of further conversions may be allowed, subject to the prior sanction of the R.T.C., to whom application for permission to convert should be made. The list is liable to alteration at any time,
Bedwelty Urban District Council; Pontypridd Urban District Council; Rhymney and Aber Gas Co.: Middlesbrough County Borough; City of Durham Gas Co.; Hartlepool Gas and ,Water ; Hough t on.le-Spr i rig Dia t r in t Class Co. ; Sunderland Gas Co.; Bishop Auckland District Gas Co.; Swinton and Mexborough Go, Board; Wath, Bolton and Thnrnscoe Oat Board;_ Castelord and Whitworth Gaslight and Coke Co.; Morley Gas Co.; Pudsey Coal Gas Co.; Hems. worth, Grirnethorpe and District Gee Co.; Royston and Brodsaorth Gas Co.
" SIMONDS " NOW A TRADE MARK
WE are advised that registration of VII the trade mark, " Simmonds," has been granted to Simmonds Aerocessories, Ltd., Great West Road, Brentford, In respect of its self-locking nuts. This fact is of interest4to our readers in view of the wide use made throughout the engineering and allied industries of the Simmonds Elastic Stop Nut.
SPURRIER FUND TOPS £15,000
THE growing total available to endow Institute of Transport Scholarships through the " Henry Spurner" Memorial Fund has now exceeded £15,000, which includes 59 donation's of under £5 each in a list of 347 individual contributions.
The Memorial Committee announces that a full list of chnors will be deposited with the Scholarship Trustees, and will be attached to the Trust Deed as a permanent record of the sources of support for the Fund.
NON-FERROUS METAL URGENTLY REQUIRED
MANY tons of non-ferrous metal 1V1 which are urgently required in this country for our vital war industries hdve to be brought thousands of miles by sea; in fact, the sources of some of them are now closed to us. This renders it all the more urgent that every attention should he given to the salvaging of such metals as copper, lead, tin, zinc, pewter, whitemetal, brass, bronze and scrap aluminium.
In a battleship there are 2,000,0001b. of copper, brass is used forswitches and other electrical apparatus, compasses, etc., whilst large quantities of zinc and brass go into shells and cartridge cases. A large bomber requires two miles of copper wire, much aluminium and anti-friction metal for engine bearings.
Concerns in the motor industry are particularly asked to search out all useless metal in these classes, including copper cable, electrical parts and fittings, sheathing, tube, wire and turnings.
All such scrap should be taken either to a depot provided by the local authority or to a scrap-metal merchant. GOVERNMENT 'INTERESTED IN METHANE FOR ROAD TRANSPORT
ATTENTION was drawn in the House last week to the progress being made with methane as an alternative to petrol. It was stated by Mr. T. Smith. Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Fuel and Power, that some local authorities, with sewage digestion plants yielding a surplus of this gas, were already using it in their vehicles.
Certain others were exploring, at the request of the Minister of War Transport. the possibility of installing the necessary equipment, which could now be made available.
Interesting experiments in the liquefaction of methane were taking place at one colliery, but Mr. Smith was unable to report any' developments in the production of petrol from mines refuse.
TIME LOSS THROUGH TRANSPORT • LABOUR DISPUTES
THE Minister of Labour, Mr. A. Bevin, in giving the number of labour disputes entailing the stoppage of work since the beginning of September this year, stated in the House of Commons, last week, that the figure for the transport industry was 14, involving 5,000 persons. The aggregate duration in working days of all disputes in the transport group was 1 I,000.
PARKING SCHEME FOR LONDON TROLLEYBUSES
LONDON Transport's bus parking scheme in Central London is to be extended to trolleybuses. As from Wednesday last, 76 trolleybuses on 19 routes are being parked at depots near to the points in Central London where the 'vehicles set down their morning loads, instead of returning to their " home" depots in the outer areas and then coming into town for the evening peak traffic, In this way 260,000 fewer miles a year will be run and substantial quantities of rubber and coal saved.
"TRANSPORT GOES TO WAR " : NEW M.O.I. BOOK
EEVERYONE interested in -transport should purchase a copy of "Transport Goes to War," which is the official story of British transport during 1939-42. It is issued for the M. of W.T. by the Ministry of Information, and is available at all bookstalls at Is, Its 84 pages are replete with excellent illustrations covering all forms of transport. The railways, of course, get a large proportion, but road transport is by no means neglected. The book treats excellently with the extraordinary changes which have had to be made. Much transport has had to be concentrated in areas which, hitherto, had to deal with but little freight. Transport from the ports has been entirely revolutionized, whilst in the early days huge evacuations of children and old people were carried out, and now passenger transport has become completely subservient to more essential needs.
Some of the pictures included give striking examples of the effects of the blitz. STEAM VEHICLE LITERATURE WANTED
AN quirer is anxious to obtain a copy of a book entitled "A Manual of the Steam Wagon," which was published by The Commercial Motor" over 20 years ago at 2s., and if any reader has one available, would he please communicate the fact to the Editor. He is also desirous of obtaining any literature relating to steam road vehicles, and, in particular, to the products of Charles Burrell and Sons,
Ltd., of. Thetford. If it be sent marked "Steam Vehicles," care of the Editor, we shall pass it on.
BID TO STABILIZE CHARGES OF REPAIRERS
REVISION of Yorkshire repairers' charges for the towing of brokendown vehicles to their repair depots is suggested by the Bradford Section of the Motor Agents' Association. The Section has asked the committee of the M.A.A.'s Yorkshire Division to formulate a scale of charges to be applicable in the divisional area, in viewof the varying increases which individual repairers have made on the pre-war scale of charges.
NORTH-WEST REGION OPPOSES GENERAL " CURFEW " rHERE is little likelihood of the 1 North-West Regional Transport Commissioner, Sir William Chamberlain. imposing a night "curfew," or other drastic cuts, on the bus services in the Manchester area. Although the region flanks areas where a 9 p.m. " curfew " is to be imposed, transport officials consider that a uniform hour of finishing, apart from being impracticable, is uncalled for. Progressive pruning is favoured.
At the Transport Commissioner's headquarters, an official said that to draft a different time-table for every local circumstance would be better than imposing one rule for all Manchester Corporation services have been pruned so successfully since the outbreak of war that 150,000 miles of petrol-bus transport are being saved each week.
TRAM CONVERSION HELD UP BY SUPPLY PROBLEMS
DECAUSE of supply difficulties,
Bradford Passenger Transport Department has deferred the switching over of its Wibsey tram route to bus operation, and is repairing the track so far as that can be done in present circumstances. The department's Stanningley service, which has just been converted from trams to motorbuses, is being operated with vehicles loaned by the London Passenger Transport Board and Leeds Corporation, under a Ministry of Transport order.
B.E.T. INTERIM DIVIDENDS
ON account of the financial year ending March 31, 1943, the directors of the British Electric Traction Co., Ltd., have declared the following interim dividends:-6 per cent, cumulative participating preference stock, 3 per cent. actual (less income tax); 8 per cent, non-cumulative preferred ordinary stock, 4 per cent. actual (less income tax); deferred ordinary stock, 16 per cent. actual (less income tax).
HAULIERS' NEW H.Q.
THE road-transport contracting concern of H. G. Morgan and Son, Ltd., advises us that its headquarters are now at The Royal Garage, 48a, Gillingham Street, Victoria, London,
S.W.1. • PETROLEUM BOARD VEHICLES USE PETROL WITHOUT COUPONS IN a Parliamentary question, last lweek, Mr. A. Edwards asked the Minister of Fuel and Power what class of officers in the Ministry, or connected with the Oil Fuel Board, were allowed to obtain petrol without coupons. Mr. Geoffrey Lloyd, Joint Parliamentary Secretary, denied that any officers of the Ministry of Fuel obtained petrol without the surrender of coupons. In the case of the Petroleum Board, no officers obtained petrol for their own cars without coupons, but vehicles operated by the Board in connection with its business were allowed to draw petrol at the Board's own depots without the surrender of coupons. Although no coupons were used, in these circumstances, a strong check was kept on the use of petrol by the Petroleum Board.
ABSENTEE CONDUCTRESSES • THREATENED WITH PRISON VINES on six conductresses employed 1 by Glasgow Transport Department were imposed for absenteeism and lateness at Glasgow Sheriff Court, last week. Sheriff Macdiarmid stated that if this continued he would treat women in the same way as men and send them to prison. Four women were fined ES, two others being fined 43 and 41 respectively.
EIRE TRANSPORT .POOLING SCHEME DELAYED
THE Eire Government had hoped to puf its new plan for pooling transport into operation on November 1, bat a postponement has had to be made and December 1 is now given as the possible date. The scheme is first to be tried out in the North Mayo area, but details regarding the distribution of commodities remain to be settled.