C.M.U.A. Fourth London Parade.
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Owners of motor vehicles and tractors within ronning distanee of London are requested to make a 11:1Ih-■ ui the 2Ist May in their diaries. That is the date which has lieen chosen for the fourth annual parade in connection with the scheme of the Commercial 'Motor Users' Association tor the promotion of goal driving. Announcemoms are due next week, with regard to prizes and other details. and it is confidently believed that this year's gathering will in all respects excel anyof those which have preceded it, A new rendezvous has bec iichosen.
W.s expect to find that special "group" a \vurds will be added in respect of the most-representative collections of machines of any one make or type. hut that suggestion
is one which requires careful discus...ion. ft, t pprovn Ot1 Id 1.1101.4 certainly impart an added interest.
Danger Underground.
The public: urgency of habitual and practised overerowdbig. which. condition has been common for so long a peri:d in the curiebes of London's shallow and tube railways. us likely to give rise to active measures of protest hefore
Fartliir to 011 r brief reference of last Iseek, when we asked if it w:es right that this scandal should be left to the tender mercies of the " common informer," we are now n1d to state that the highest legal opinions will shortly be sought with a view to the minimizing--if not the actual elimination—of the gross and dangerous overcrowding which a long-suffering public has had to cud tire up to the present date. Much discomfort is, we know, experienced inside the carriages, at crush periods, but what might we not write concerning the grave risks to life and limb that are involved by the " overflows " upon the platform spaces. We are unaware whether the Board of Trade has any knowledge of the capacity of the gates and their fastenings to withstand human pressure from within. but that factor is certainly one which everyday occurrences prove should find a place in the list of matters to which authoritative consideration and control are given. The Board, possibly, thinks that its duties to the public ate well discharged on its making inquiry ,iffer a serious accident has happened. If that be so, we must differ. At the moment, apparently, it is quite in order that unduly-short trains are tun, with their packed supercomplemerits of "strap-hangers" and "platform-clingers." Is it really nobody's business to take notice of these glaring departures from the ordinary rules which exist in respect of tramcars, omnibuses, and passenger vessels? Have the London underground railways an open charter under which they may with impunity disregard safeguards which, elsewhere, in spite of at least an equal desire to cut down working expenses and to earn dividends, are uniformly imposed by the responsible authorities.
ILaundry Vans. It is nearly five years ago since this journal issued a Jsiiecial number about motorvans for Lanni:fries. The diflieultv, in comparison with the preparation of other special numbe;:s of like eharinder, eras to find a xa triples of satisfied 11.'441”; in that line if trade. To-day. is recurring instances of testimony in our pages show to be the ease, there is a widespread recognition of the fact that an up-to-dale laundryman must own one or more motors. There are, of course, laundry undertakings which are short of funds, and whose proprietors, -from one or other of several causes, have to " get along 5011 1 elmw " without the best equipment for collection and delivery. The small man, very often, can more properly boy new inside plant. and we are the last to urge capital expenditure in a direction which may provide an inferior saving or return to such an individual. It is. however, at a time when a good Laundry Exhibition is about to open its doors at the Agricultural Hall, not inappropriate that we should give a little space in these eolumns for the purpose of driving home to la ii ndrymen the necessity for road-motor assistance. Just as they have displaced the old hand methods within their works, so are they lave to face with the occasion for anidlier preference of medianical over animal power. Many large hotel, institution and shipping orders can alone be secured, in face of existing competition, by the laundries wlmse mann:lee:lents are ready to complete their service with despatch, and it is in these connections more particularly that the speed and high load-capacity of the motorvan tell. Not only is the time element of importance to the enstomer, but and this aspect of the situation is often overlooked—there is generally a marked saving in overtime wages upon the ;jobs themselves. We would impress upon all laundrymen these two facts: appreved types of motorvan can now be safely depreciated at so much per mile run, instead of at a fixed sum per annum; the inclusive depreciation, maintenance and running costs of a good on.>-tna vim, given 250-300 miles of service per week, are usually on the low side of 5"id. per mile, and those distances may safely be covered in a couple of days if desired. We invite comparisons with horse-van costs for loads of one ton, and we know that they are greater. Then, apart from the actual cheapness per mile of the motor, one. has to the good all the advantages of increased range, reserve for busy periods, the unique feature of a delivery service well able to crowd all the mileage into two or three days each week—to which we have briefly alluded above, and which would " kill " any horses, extra advertisement, absence of call for labour when the van is not wanted (including holidays and Sundays), and extreme cleanliness. Seeing that the uncertainty of earlier years has gone—we refer to the incidence of depreciation, and that there are so many permitted references to laundries which have become " motorized," we are obliged to conclude that it is only the starved concerns which will now seek to conthrice their trade without its modern adjunct. We would urge prospective buyers to make a wise choice.