Opinions from Others.
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Steam-Wagon Drivers.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1424] Sir,—I was interested to note the remarks of a "Driverless Owner" and " A.B.," in your issues of 29th April and lath May respectively. Both writers are right : there is, largely in consequence of the war, undoubtedly a shortage of drivers, and it is also a fact that many owners have been under the wrong impression that drivers are "lucky labourers."
Of course, an the other hand, many more owners have found, after bitter experience, that many of the so-termed drivers are, in fact, only lucky labourers," who should never have been allowed to handle a wagon—at any wage. Does not this argument only emphasise the fact that, in normal times, there must be a shortage of real drivers, of which class, I have no doubt, " A.B." is one I There should be absolutely no question that a good fitter-driver should have adequate pay for his position, and the false economy of many owners in the last few years should have disappeared by now in the results of their experiences. I still hope that some movement may be started.
say, between the A. and the manufacturers of motor vehicles, by which a man, after proving himself of all-round efficiency, should have conferred on him a certificate which should, to some extent, safeguard intending employers. A reasonable standard wage for such men ought to form one of the first and principal charges in the minds of all prospective purchasers and employers.— Yours faithfully, "STEAM." Manchester.
Should Passenger Traffic Bear a Tax If Goods Traffic is Exempt ?
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1425] Sir,—The remarks which I give below appeared in the leading article of your issue of 20th May.
"The petrol tax of lid. per gallon net is high enough in our judgment to meet every case of goods transport by internal-combustion7engmed units ; the licensed public-service vehicle, for passenger conveyance, may be forced by combination between local-authority powers to bear —as it can now afford to bear—a further mileage levy under certain conditions!'
I am exceedingly sorry to hear the opinion expressed by the leading journal connected with commercial motors, that a differentiation should be shown in the taxation. of passenger vehicles, as compared with goods vehicles, to the detriment of the former. Such statements on the part of our friends cannot fail to be widely repeated to our contusion. A moreunfair condition I can hardly conceive, and I have yet to hear a logical reason for such a suggestion. It would appear to me to be returningto the old railway-passenger tax, which hung like a millstone round the necks of the railway companies for 40 years, and which probably hindered railway advancement in the passenger business more than any other legal burden. We do not want similar unfair and vexatious burdens at the outset of the motor industry. When You state that the passenger-carrying vehicle " can afford to bear" an increased tax., I feel sure you have forgotten such provincial services as those which are run by this and many other similar companies.(we have 30 vehicles in ordinary times working in various parts of the country). Services such as these, linking up the towns and villages, should be encouraged ; they are doing most-useful and valuable work in opening uro' the country, but they will be strangled at birth if taxation on the same lines as that for the London buses is introduced.
I cannot state too clearly that the profits of such Carrier Service" country undertakings will not admit of further taxation, and allow such profits to be made as will attract capital for the enlargement of the business. The profits per mile of this and many similar organizations with which I am in touch are very small, the dividends—fortunately, hitherto, during the last six years, satisfactory—coming from the large number of miles run. The instance of London and the exceptional profits made by the London General Omnibus Co. are a very special ease; this cannot be repeated anywhere else in the country. No comparison at all can be made between London and provincial undertakings.
I certainly trust that no additional tax will be levied on heavy motors, but, if it is, it ought to be levied fairly. on both goods and passenger vehicles alike—electric, steam and petrol driven. There is no reason why a car loaded with three tons of groceries should not be taxed the same as a car loaded with three tons of passengers ; both do a similar amount of road damage, if any at all. Many ears indeed haul goods during the week and passengers at week-ends. Further, a differentiation must be made between city services and those in the country according to the profits made. Then, again, we must not be left in the hands of hostile tram-owning local authorities for licensing and taxation purposes. This is vitally important. I trust that the above point of view will be strongly represented to the L.G.B. Committee, and that you may see your way clear to give users the assistanceof your paper in this matter.—Yours faithfully,
Lowestoft. E. B. HuTcniszsoN.
[We are opposed to any increase of taxation whatsoever, except in rettwm for concrete, definite; and valuable consideration. _E D.1
Rubber or Steel Tires in Relation to Different Classes of Roads?
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1426] Sir,—The foremost matters in the minds of the commercial motor user at the present moment are the revision of the Heavy Motor Car Act and damage to roads. As an experienced road contractor and a large user of commercial motors. I should like to give you my opinions of the road question. There are very fekv roads—especially main roads— that are properly made.
The only roads suitable for towns—where the traffic is continuous and heavy, and where repairs would be a great draw-back are (1) the wood-paved road, which must be made with specially-selected creosoted deal blocks, for places where silence is required or, at least, as little noise as possible, and (2) the granite sett paved road, made with good hard setts specially dressed on top face. Each stone should be deeper than it is wide, preferably 4 ins, wide by 6 ins, deep or 4 ins, wide by 7 ins. deep. This granite sett paved road is the only kind of road that rubber tires will not damage. It is also economical because it lasts longer than any other road—when properly laid. Suburban roads should be made with good hard granite—not too small—the hardest it is possible to get, and bound in with fine material of the same nature (not dirt and mud, which is usually the custom —hence an abundance of dust)—the whole to be formed upon a good sound foundation and rolled in with a 10-ton or 15-ton steam-roller, Even a road of this class will be damaged by rubber tires, but not to the extent our roads of to-day are being damaged.
Most of our main roads halie good foundations, and a hard stone put on the fop would stand the steeltired motor traffic—steel tires roll rather than damage a road. This brings to mind the old-fashioned way local authorities had of making roads. They used to. cll spread the stone loosely air the road and allow the traffic—mostly iron-tired vans in those days—to pass over it and roll it in, a man being employed occa
• .sionally to rake over the ruts. As one portion of the road became bound in, the authorities would put a pole across to divert the traffic to the still loose portion of the road uritil the whole was virtually rolled in. Even up to a few years ago, if a water trench was filled in, the local authority always left it for the traffic to consolidate.
Rubber tires would not have the same effect, but would throw the material all over the place. This fact was recently brought before my notice upon a piece of wood-paved road which had just been laid and where the traffic consists chiefly of private cars and motor buses. As soon as it was laid a coating of crushed ballast or grit was placed over the surface. After standing for a while the traffic was then allowed to pass over same. The idea of the ballast or grit was that the traffic would grind it into the wood paving and thus put a preserving coat on the latter, but what really happened was that the rubber tires simply picked up the grit and threw it into the channels. None of it was driven into the wood paving, and what was not thrown to the channels went away in the rubber tires. What was really wanted in this case were steel-tired vehicles over the road.
Any road that is made of the right material upon a proper foundation—which I believe all our main roads and by-roads (with few exceptions) possess--would stand the use of steel-tired vehicles without damage or injury—even if the back axle-weight of the vehicles did on occasion exceed 15 tons.
If it was a question of which would stand the strain the better, road or vehicle, I should say it would be 100 to 1 on the road—overloading of vehicles is going to ruin the owner of same, not the road.
I once had occasion to hire a steel-tired motor wagon to a firm of asphalte road contractors. They had a road which was marked with traffic and had become wavy, and they wanted the steel-tired wagon or the day to run oontinuously up and down the road. I may say that they had the wagon for two days, and the contractors informed us that it was meet sue
cessful. The driver considered it the funniest job he and ever had—rolling a road with a steam wagon. '.che only road that a steel tire has a tendency to damage is the sett paved road. if not made of a good hard granite sett and properly dressed and laid, steel tires are likely to chip pieces off the corners of the setts. Rubber tires would not do this. As I have said before, this is the only kind of road which rubber tires do not injure.
Another fejt was brought to my notice the -other day. A road had been coated with granite, and whilst it was being rolled in with a 10-ton roller, the surveyor of this particular borough noticed that the roller was smashing and grinding the stone up: He immediately took the 10-ton roller off and• put on a 6-ton roller to finish off the road. What is the good of a road like that to an 8-ton vehicle—Supposing the back axle-weight not to exceed eight tons. I might point out that the borough surveyor in question was handicapped by the fact that he could not—owing to the war—obtain the stone which he usually uses and which is much harder, and had been compelled to use an inferior stone.
Roads must be made to suit the traffic ! Why are we replacing flint roads with granite roads ? Simply because modern traffic has made it necessary for the roads to be .made more durable. It is the duty of the Road Board and other authorities to look for and use the hardest material obtainable.
The Dorset County Council found that their roads were going to pieces—not on account of the foundation but owing to the surfacing .material which was being used and the different kinds of traffic with which they had to contend—motor wagons, chars-a.banes from Bournemouth, etc.' through the New Forest. What did they do ? Immediately looked round.for a good hard broken granite as large aspossible (another mistake made by our. suburban surveyors is the use of granite which is too small), found it, and although it put them to a greater expense for the first year or two, they are now reaping the benefit by having improved roads under their control and a minimum of upkeep.—Yours faithfully, Greenwich. GEO. F. Fay, JUN.
We note these views of experienced hauliers and road4nakers. We write Editorially on the Brat page of this issue_Ehd