A MANY-PURPOSE VEHICLE.
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Opportunities of Continued Service Operating from a Village.
T0 TRAVEL along in the same old groove ir bad business, especially in these difficult times. Generally speak. ing, the towns are well provided with transport facilities, but there are many opportunities for developing rural transport, and a ma. idea appears to have been struck,b-y a father and. son 'Working as the :Merton Light Transport. Co. at a little village in the West Aiding Of Yorkshire: Realizing' that there .Orenot sufficient opportunities • for • a full time haulage : .contraietor sin a coniparatively limited area; _..Messrs. Riley and Son, of Norton, near,13ingley„have taken advantage of the -adaptability of the motor vehicle; t.irid have a. different. class of work to do for almost every day of the week.
Transport work iscarried • dn in Genjunction with a greengrocery and fruiterer's. business, and the Ford lorry that has been obtained is seldom idle. On two days per Week the work of .a
country carrier is undertaken. Light goods are brought from..the neighbourlug towns, shopping commissions are undertaken for 'those villagers who are unable to • visit • the centre, and goods 'Orel-lased at any time during the week are left at i.recognized collection depots and delivered in the. village. In addition to the carriage of goods,: a limited number of . passengers . is carried, the vehicle being registered as a: hackney carriage. ,Passengers .are, only carried on market days, two sets of seats being affixed On those occasion's, .the goods being placed on the roof of the.tab and behind the seats. At week,ends a full complement of seats -is fitted, however, • and regular journeys are made between the tram terminus at Iceighley and the Bradford cars near Ringley,four Miles away. Single tickets are issued on the latter journey, but, for the market-day journeys, only return fares are accepted, to obviate any loss caused by light running.
This does not complete the week's work, however, for the vehicle is used for the carriage of produce-. froin the . 034 . Bradford fruit market in connection with the greengrocery business, and, later, for the sale of fruit in the streets. Doorto-door hawking is always considered to be. a lucrative business, as -unproductive districts'ean be avoided and the sales'man has Oct to -wait for custom, but go-es in search of the most likely customers. A motor vehicle allows him to do this to the best advantage. Rent and rates upon expensive shop premises in popular thoroughfares are unknown to the -motor tradesman, and he can tap a wide district from a village where rates are low. Messrs. Riley are at an advantage here, because: they have populous districts on either hand and, causequentiy, they have some choice in the matter. In this case the motor vehicle givea the advantages of the town dweller to the country folk by providing rapid transport of goods and passengersto arid
from the inclutrial and shopping centres. Further, it gives additional advantages to the town dwellers, by providing more economical shopping facilities at their own doors.
The speeding up of transport and of livfng throughout the country has made considerable difference to the country carrier, and the owner of the moclecit, horsed vehicle has :few chanCes of Bur, viving now that the motorvan has gained. so much popularity aniongst all elase s of residents in the villages and smaller, towns, but the experience • 'of Messrs. Hiley and Son shows that even more can he done in this direction than merely the work of carrying 'passengers
and goods. Country carrying alone is somewhat spasmodical,. as it depends so mach upon the Markets, and it may well he combined with other means of obtainMg a livelihood..