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Opinions from Others.

3rd May 1917, Page 16
3rd May 1917
Page 16
Page 17
Page 16, 3rd May 1917 — Opinions from Others.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

The Editor invites correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be on one slue of the paper only and typewritten by preference. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility for views expressed is accept& The Overcrowding of Tramcars. .

. • The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

{19a4j Sire—With reference .to the straphanging which goes on daily morning -and night, in public vehicles, is it not about'time that strong measures were taken to put a stop to a practice which is likely to lead to serious accident, to saynothing about its discomfort ? Take, 'for insta,nce, a loaded tramcar, with people inside straphanging the whole length of the ear and people on the top standing up, where they have not even a strap to support them. With the cars swaying about, as they do on a worntrack, and espeCially where there are sharp turna, the -miracle, is that they do flat run off the lines; being so top-heavy. Along Rosehery Avenuot_for example, right away from the Holborn Town Hall well on towards the Angel (both Up and down), I find the permanent way in a yery bad state of'repair, particularly so in some parts. Just before and after passing the wafer works the sen.sation on the car is somewhat similar to that of a ship at 'sea. The " fun" is often enjoyed by those on top, but the danger is apparent all the same. Poohably there are very many other spotS in London which just ust as bad. Evidently the whole of the permanent way wants relaying and with new lines, the present ones being worn quite fiat ; in places the metals are hollowed out by the action of the pressure of. the magnetic brakes acting -upon them. What a prospect for the L,C.C.' traface I—Yours faithfully,, • Hackney. OBSERVER.

The Purchase of Tractorsa•

The Editor, THE Commando', MOTOR. .

. [1465] Sir,—Since the inauguration of the national Ploughing scheme of the Government, we have found a marked* disinclination on the part of farmers to purchase tractors. Not that they are unconvinced of the merits of tractor cultivation, nor desirous of availing themselves to it, hut solely because thy do ,not know what the GOvernment is going to do, and, like the last Government, they are "waiting to see " what the Government is going to do for them. We have heard it said on more than one occasion: "I am going to wait and see what the Government is going to do for the farmers. If the Government is going to plough my land for 17s. an acre, I am going to let them do it and keep my Money in my pocket." Now in view of the extreme importance of tractor cultivation for the autumn season, by reason of the shortage of both horses and men, this attitude is bad for the country and had for thosewaiting, and it rnsy therefore be of value at the present time if we say that we have been in communication with.. the Department and, whilst no official pronouncement has yet been made on the subject, we have, it from' the highest authority that the present, scheme of communal working of tractors will come to an end on the 1st May. and that the few tractors which the Government owns will in future, 'be employed solely for the breaking up & grass land preparatory to its cultivation in the autumn.

We understand that it is not the intention of the Department to repeat the soheme next autumn on its present lines, a,nd from what. We have been able to gather, whilst nothing definite has yet bsen decided on, we understand that what cultivation may be done for next autumn—if any—by the Government 'machine, will be for the smaller farms and not for those With sufficient_ acreages to justify employment of a trartor as a regular part Of their.farm eqiiirrment.. It Will. therefore, he seed that there is nothing to 1150.

be gained by ordering tractors at the earliest possible, moment ; because thesapply Of there is not unlimited,lthe.transportafion Of them under present conditions isIslow, and the value of them to-the owner greatest ifthe has the machine on hand to follow up theabarvesters immediately. Even were the intentionof the Government to repeat the scheme on its present lines, we would point out that the total number of tractors which could possibly be available by autumn is very small in the aggregate, in comparison with the acreage requiring cultivation; so that but few farmers could obtain their services, and the majority of those waiting for the Government to do their work for them Would most certainly "get left."--Yours faithfully,

THE POWER FARM SUPPLY CO

Coventry.

The Ford Permit,

The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[1466] Sir,—Mr. J. Ross MacMahone's letter, pub, lished in your issue dated the 12th April, is undoubtedly a strong, well-considered', and wellrexpressed opinion on the Ford tractor business. If the facts as stated are accurate, and'no doubt they are, the whole thing is a positive scandal, and fully justifies Mr. MacMahone's strong comments, and the actioat he suggests. The only thing wanting is a leader strong enough to carry through the preliminaries, and to secure tfie reception df a properly constituted deputation by the Premier himself. It would he 'quite useless interviewing may leaser light. Could you not, as an entirely impartial authority, bring about the meeting?

My views are entirely stronger than my name, or any support I could possibly. render, so I will simply

sign myself as—Yours faithfully, INTERESTED. Willesden Green.

• Matters have moved since tath correspondent wrote. Ford anti Britishmakers are now combining forces._En.]

Canadian or American Tires ?

The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[1467] Sir,—The letter of Ur. E. Avery, in your issue of the 19th April, does not quite cover the ground I opened up in my communication of the 29th March.

It is not disputed that, the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber. Co. (Great Britain), Ltd., is a British conapany, but the point I wished to bring out was that it is a company formed to sell in Great Britain and elsewhere the goods manufactured by the Goodyear Tyre , and Rubber Go., of Akron U.S.A. I would go further than that and suggest tilt, although the said company has .endeavoured.to convey the impression in its advertisements and otherwise that the Canadian and not the American factory supply the tires they sell here, such is not the case, except up to a limited extent. , I am informed, indeed, that not less than 90 per cent. of the Goodyear tires _sold in this, country have been of U.S.A. manufacture. Can Mr. Avery deny this? It is not sufficient to say that they are going to do so-and-so in the future. Let the future take care of itself. I was speaking of the position of affairs at the present time. Mr. Avery only confuses the issue by saying that, as a rule, the Goodyear tires. are "purchased " from the Canadian factory, though a little later on he talks of our American factory/ Now no en,e objects t6 a foreign concern selling their goods in this country. What it is only fair to

object to is its giving the impression that they are Empire goods when they are not. • At a time like the present it behoves British manufacturers to look closely into such matters. It seems hard upon them that, while they are being taaed up-to the hilt, paying huge. income and excess profits tax and munitions levy, companies formed to exploit the good a of a foreign factory are able to achieve a huge turnover in this country.

I am obliged to Mr. Avery for inviting mato go over and 'examine the stocks of -Canadian tires at the company's Chelsea and other warehouses, including their provincial "ones, and I am sufficiently interested in the matters I have broached to inquire in a sporting. way whether he would be willing to pay a sum of, say, :-1:50 to a war charity if it were found, on independent examination, that mere than 50 per emit. of their stocks originated from the United_ States; paying a, similar sum if it turned out otherwise.—Yours faith

fully, A. C. BultNI,EY, The New Weight Proposals for London Motorbuses—Will the Provinces Follow Suit?

The. Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.

[1468] Sia—Bombehells of one sort or another are our daily portion, of course, in these days. Last week's examples were for the doctors and the motorbus world,

I valued your constructive (Es-mission, in last week's issueof THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR, of the new Scotland Yard proposals. I anticipate that after peace is' declared I shall again go back to motorbus factories, bat not in the Metropolis, What I want to know is whether these proposals are likely to foreshadow similar drastic weight-cutting elsewhere than in London. It must be remembered that Scotland Yard's lead, -overriding thetordinary L.G.B. weight regulae tions, was not widely bellowed in the Provinces when the stipulations which in London produced the B type

were proposed.' •

The actual amount of saving, which can still -be effected is, I feel certain, a not very important one, unless the safety of the machine is to be imperilled. I notie.e the Commissioner -is Careful not to prophesy' what it may be, nor to euggest what it should be. Few people other than the Associate& Equipment Co. and the National Steam Omnibus Co. are in any way concerned with these new suggestions for London, .unless it be held that, the tendency will spread. If so,wO must put our thinking caps on at once. • I shall be glad to hear what is the opinion of other people interested in provincial -public-service passenger service.—Yours faithfully, "-Now IN OTHER PUBLIC SER,vi0B.7" R.O.O.C., Pall Mall.

[Letters on this topical subject from mt. E. a Killin and other cormspomlents are unavoidably held over.— En.]

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Organisations: Scotland Yard
Locations: London

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