A Doubtful Point.
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N -VIEW of thegrievances of motorists and the
general public against the behaviour of the occupants of a certain number' of heavy vehicles improvised to carry passengers, some interest attaches to a question recently addressed to the Minister af Transport. This question was, whether motor char-a-bancs required to ho licensed, and whether similar conditions were 'imposed on motor lorries roughly adapted to carry parties of excursionists.
A further enquiry was as to whether the utilization for passenger transport of motor lorries not intended for the .purpose, is receiving consideration by the Ministry. The answer to this second enquiry was in the affirmative. As regards the first, it was pointed out that vehicles plying for hire have to be licensed by various authorities, but, it was stated, that motor lorries do not require to be licensed, even though used occasionally for carrying excursionists or holiday makers, unless they ply for hire.
The accuracy of this last reply appears to ins to he open to question. A trade vehicIe'has been permitted to use the roads without payment of a licence duty, provided that it was constructed and adapted solely for the carriage of goods or merchandise. Thus exemption has, on occasions, been refused in respect of 'vehiclesconstructed to carry samples of goads, and also a traveller to show the samples. . The one .acknowledged exception to the rule used to be that a farm cart might he used for taking people -to church on Sunday morning. It is not at all clear that justification exists in the law for the statement that motor lorries used for carrying excursionists are privileged as against hackney carriages not necessarily plying for hire. We have our doubts as to whether the owner of a motor lorry, allowing it to be used by holiday makers, and taken to task for so doing, would be.able to justify himself in the eyeS of the law. The authorities may choose to shut their eyes to occasional breaches of the law, but will certainly cease to do so if any laxity leads to a public nuisance.
Overloading—Once and Often.
WE HAVE SEEN it suggested recently that overloading on one occasion is liable to do just as much damage as habitual overloading. There is, of course, a certain amount of truth in the argument, inasmuch as, if once a. strain has been caused by overloading, the harm has been done, and a repetition of the offence, will, at the most,
cause the harm to become apparent rather . more rapidly. In the particular case of tyres, overloading may, of course, lead to the elastic limit .being passed , and the nature of the tyre ruined. The same thing may happen in the case of the metal portions of the structure. Metal, when subjected to stress, gives before it to some extent, but if the stress is not excessive, there is a return to the normal statedirectly itis removed. Every stress caused by inequalities of the road or by the efforts of the engine to move the vehicle is, 'of course, increased if the load is excessive, and the point may • be reached on the first occasion of overloading at which the metal of some part is so much stressed that, after the removal of the load, it still remains distorted.
On the other hand, the argument that one overloading is as bad as habitual overloading' is dangerous. It is inclined to lead to the conclusion that, if the mistake has been made once, DO further harm will result from its repetition. This, of course, is not correct. A stress may be imPosed on a piece of metal for a certain length of time or for .a certain-number of times without permanent harm being done, but if his stress is imposed tune and again, although it is not excessive in itself, 'its repetition may prove excessive, and the structure of the metal may be altered and ruined. The metal, in fact, becomes tired and brittle. nits, frern the point of view of engineering principles, as well as from that of practical experience, it is `clear that repeated overloading may do damage when a single case of overloading has, fortunately, resulted in 'no particular harm.
Owner-drivers as Carriers.
THERE ARE now a considerable number of men who have entered the motor-carrying business by the purchase of a single vehicle. The venture is a risky one, but, if arrangements for regular work have been made in advance, it may prove successful. Many owner-drivers in this line of busi-s. ness have, however, only succeeded up to the point of paying their own wages as drivers. They are apt to make the mistake of omitting to -reckon the driver's wages in their costs of operation because these do not represent amounts actually out of pocket. Suppose, however, that a man invests a -capital of £600 in a vehicle and, driving it himself and making no allowance for wages, shows a profit of £.3 a week, he cannot claim to have achieved success. His skilled labour, if hired to someone else, ought to represent at least this sum, which, in that Case, would have been increased by the interest on his
capital had it been judiciously invested. Another common error is to make no or insufficient allowance for the depreciation of the vehicle. The omission of this important item means that the tithe will come when the original capital will have disappeared, the vehicle being no longer fit for service, and there will be no reserve then with which to purchase its successor. These are among the points which anybody contemplating going into this class of business must bear in mind when those who are already in the business inform him of results which, at the first blush, may seem to be entirely satisfactory.
Long Journeys and Short Hauls.
THE SCHEME of the Automobile Association for the establishment of representatives throughout the country to _act as clearing house officials is a distinct step in the right direction. It follows closely upon the formation of the Association of Road Transport Clearing Houses, and evidently we are now approaching the time when individual and localized efforts will be reinforced by the -Central Organizations which are so obviously necessary before the problem of return loads and the elimination of waste mileage can be properly solved. It is, of course, recognized as a general principle that road transport has the advantage over the railway for comparatively short runs, but that the reverse is the case for long journeys, especially if large consignments have to be handled. There are, however, a fair number of special cases in which firms are well justifiedin using motor vehicles for long through runs of a hundred miles or more. There would be still more such cases were it not for the difficulty
of obtaining return loads. Suppose, for instance, i that a firm n Birmingham wishes to make fairly regular deliveries at Derby, Sheffield, and Leeds; this might meanthe employment of 3 ton lorries on the through route. Perhaps one of the three tons of load would be taken off at Derby and -another at Sheffield. A return load from Leeds might not be available. .
The result would be in average load of two tons on the out journey and nothing on the return journey, giving an average of only a ton of useful load out and home. If, by the assistance of clearing houses or some other similar organization, a ton of goods could be picked up at Derby for conveyance to Sheffield or Leeds, another ton at Sheffield for delivery at Leeds, and a full load for the journey home, the cost per ton mile would be not much more than 35 per cent, of what it is at present. Moreover. the loads booked up at intermediate points would generally be destined only for transport over comparatively short distances, in respect of which the railway rates would be high and the delays, if rail transport were adopted, very considerable. Thus, the fa,ct of vehicles being run over long through routes by firms which happen to need them for that purpose is, with suitable organization, destined to provide a cheap and expeditious means of transport for firms only requiring occasional haulage work over distances which are recognized as coming well wIthin the scope of road as against rail transport.
Road Transport and Industrial Revival.
IN CONSIDERING the question of damage to roads which may be done by vehicles engaged in the transport of the country, considerable attention has been paid during the discussions on the Finance Bill, and on other occasions, to the share which the transport industry should bear in paying
for this damage. . . ,
Apart altogether from the benefit a country derives from rapid and economical transport, motor transport has been a. boon to the community in a ina.nner which is seldom realized by our legislators, and has been the direct means of bringing into our local 'exchequers huge SUMB of money annually. Instances of what is meant can be found in all parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire and of Lancashire. When the industrial system, which we know to-day, was first evolved from the system under which cottagers made their fabric, much as they do in the scattered homesteads in the rural districts of Scotland and Ireland, water power was 'used te drive the machinery, and mills and factories were erected in close proximity to the streams which run down from the Pennines. With the coming of the railways and of steam power, many of these water mills were deserted, and have remained deserted until recent years, simply because the transport problem was such a handicap that owners could not compete with the
mill owners in more favourable positions. Even when turbines were installed, sufficient economies could not be effected to pay for slow road transport With the introduction of rapid and cheaper transport, most of the mills in these out-of-the-way places have been restarted, however, and in this way not only has production been increased, but the derelict mills have been entered on the rate book again, and,in respect to them, local rates and taxes are being paid simply because , of improved transport facilities.
This is an item on the credit side of the balance sheet to which regard is not always paid by financiers, amateur or otherwise, but which might with advantage be emphasized on occasion by those interested in motor transport.