Night Storage Accommodation: "A Good Pull.-up for Carmen."
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The New Year opens with every promise of its creating new records in the motorvan indastry. Deliveries will be augmented, at and after the end of this month, from more than one of Great Britain's leading factories, and the completion of orders which were placed many months ago will occur with lessened delays—much to the satisfaction of all parties. A considerable proportion of output., as we have anticipated, will take its place upon longdistance runs, and will not be confined to circulation about fixed centres. This tendency to employ motorvans more largely upon trips of considerable. length is directly traceable to the dislocations which were caused by transport-workers' strikes in August last. Numerous producers and traders had then to rely solcly upon motor transport, but subject to the disadvantage that their arrangements were made on the spur of the moment. Although, as a natural consequence, many who were forced to hire vans had to pay inflated rates, the hirers were directly awakened to the unique benefits of the alternative and direct method of conveyance, with the general result that orders were freely placed by parties who had previously looked somewhat askance at the proposition that they should themselves become owners of motorvans. Large economies are being effected, and instances will be multiplied in the near future, in cases where the merchandise conveyed is-adversely rated under the general railway classification, but purchasers and would-be purchasers are realizing that motorvans can be employed with advantage even where no positive saving is apparent in respect of the
actual substitutions accomplished. The insurance value of their possessing road motors is not overlooked, and the arguments which this journal advanced at the time of the strikes have borne fruit in many quarters.
The year 19a will undoubtedly rank as the. one in the progress of commercial motoring which marks the rapid extension of long-distance haulage by petrol motors, quite apart from established motor-mail services and large numbers of house-to-house removals. The importance of the provisionof night. storage and other roadside facilities is, in consequence of the above-mentioned factors, not to he denied. We have looked forward for some lt months to the development of this demand, and we first outlined it in our issue of the loth November, 1910. Every city and town will require its depot for the housing and re-victualling of commercial motors, and it is our intention to give the utmost assistance to the programme with which we dealt in more detail three weeks ago (page 304 ante). The columns of " Opinions from others " this week bear fresh testimony to the necessity for assistance to owners at the hands of a responsible journal, because it is only by means of such a vehicle of publicity, working in conjunction with the Users Association, that suitable storage can be selected mid approved, and reasonable scales of charges fixed from time to time. We shall, before this page meets the eyes of our readers and supporters, have placed a proposal in this connection before the General Committee of the Commercial Motor 1Jsers Association. That scheme will concern the official recognition of individuals, firms and companies upon whose premises arrangements can he made for the right class of storage accommodation and supplies to meet all normal requirements of both owners and drivers of steam and petrol vehicles on the road. It will be obvious, on brief consideration, that the average private-car garage does not offer the necessary facilities for heavy vehicles.
No General Motor Legislation to be Brought in this Year.
Our contemporary " The Motor," in its issue dated Tuesday last, makes the authoritative statement that the Government will not bring in fresh motor legislation next session. It is believed, however, that the Home Secretary will accept responsibility for the passing into law of desirable changes in regard to endorsements upon drivers' licences. This definite pronouncement sets many idle rumours at rest, and we are not sorry that at least another year will be allowed to elapse before the Act of 1903 and the Order of 1904 are amended. We see no reason to press for their review yet awhile. The commercialmotor industry, notwithstanding incidental and local difficulties, is making good headway, and influential converts are coming into its ranks every week. Hence, in relation to the expediency, or otherwise, of pressing for the House of Commons to have an early opportunity to discuss fresh general legislation, which, whenever it comes, cannot fail to he highly contentious, we range ourselves on the side of those who think that it is undoubtedly better to let matters rest for the present. The interval before us can be occupied in collating evidence to support particular changes in the Heavy Motor Car Order which may be wanted to meet the commercial needs of the country, and to eliminate causes of friction between owners and the authorities. Our own (minion is that nothing will be done until after the Third International Road Congress has taken place in London next year. Owners of motorvans will, of course, be unaffected by the outcome of recommendations by the Horse-Power Committee which was recently appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as that committee is concerned only with the adjustment of carriage taxes, from which goods-carrying vehicles are exempted under Section 4 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act of 1886.
Shows.
A greater degree of latitude, under the terms of the exhibition-bond agreement which is in force between many important manufacturers, has been allowed by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and an increased measure of support has accordingly been forthcoming for certain trade and provincial shows—other than shows exclusively promoted for the display of motor vehicles. The Scottish Show, at Glasgow, and the North of England Show, at Manchester, have been recognized as the only all-motor exhibitions to which official support is for the time being to be accorded, and events point to the maintenance of that low total, having regard to the busy state in which the industry. now find itself. Various trade shows at the Agricultural Hall, London, such as the Brewers' Show and the Smithfield Show, and certain of the principal agricultural shows in the Provinces, have been marked by the usual attendance of manufacturers, and particularly of those who are identified with the production of steam-driven machines. The annual show of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, which for the year 1911 took place at Norwich, naturally received the greatest amount of such support, and motorvans were for the first time prominent there.
Steam Wagons and Tractors.
The year 1911 will for all time remain fixed in the minds of those who are associated with commercial motoring as the year in which steam-lorry builders effectively asserted their renewed intentions to compete with builders of petrol-driven vehicles, particularly in trades for which net. loads of about ai tons are customary. It has tended to become the fashion, though one to which we have not given encouragement, to look upon steam as a back number on the utility side of the movement, and to draw adverse inferences from the relative paucity of use of steam in private-car circles. The maintenance of sales of steam wagons by this country's leading makers is an absolute refutation of that erroneous idea, and we wish again to put on record our belief that the rubber-tired steamer—for it is to the commercial use of rubber tires that the revival is largely due—will hold its own for a large percentage of transport work. It is not in consonance with any suggestion of a relegation to out-of-date classification, that established makers should have put new models on the market during the year, and should already have found unprecedented demand for them. We may particularly refer to the new 34-ton Garrett steamer, seeing that it is the outstanding new production in the steam world for .the year 1911, and to the new Burrell five-tonner. The greatest number of steam wagons has been sold by Fodens, Ltd., of Sandbach, which company remains true to its old practice of building no internal-combustion machines.
Storage and Transport of Petrol.
Matters concerning the storage and transport of petroleum spirit threatened, on several occasions during the year, to reach an acute stage. So far as the Metropolitan area is concerned, the principal term of anxiety arose from insufficiency of facilities at the mouth of the Thames, particular rest rid ions upon conveyance by river and storage on landing, and the excessive and unintelligent regulations imposed by the L.C.C. Sir Marcus Samuel, Bart., in a memorable speech at the Savoy Hotel, on the 30th October last, protested against a chain of circumstances which then endangered, and which apparently continue to endanger, the maintenance of the huge supply for the Metropolis against likely contingencies. There is no question that the progress of commercial motoring during the year 1911 has rendered it vitally necessary that storage depots on a large scale shall be established up and down the country, both at ports and at inland points. It is gratifying, too, to observe the splendid progress which has been made in the matter of the installation of storage plant by the Steel Barrel Co., Ltd., of Uxbridge, because equipment of that kind enables the consumer to do his share.
Strikes and Their Consequences.
The strikes, during last summer, of carters and railway workers, gave an unanticipated impetus to an already-busy industry. The helpless state into which transport. interests were thrown caused the managers, principals and directors of many producing and selling undertakings to appreciate the importance of a sufficient fleet of road motors to enable them at least to deal with urgent traffic, and to provide thereby a means of avoiding total stagnation. Orders for hundreds of vehicles have followed strike experiences, and the principal railway companies themselves have not been able to resist the influences in question, for some of them are amongst the country's largest purchasers of vans and passenger vehicles. Many critics of motor transport, who had previously not troubled to look into the undoubted merits of that method of conveyance, and particularly to consider the unique feature of pointto-point delivery without risk of damage in transit due to shunting and other train shocks, and without risk of miscarriage through erroneous trans-shipment or other cause, were suddenly converted, to the lasting benefit of the industry, the substantial character of whose position has thus become better assured than ever before. We might in this connection particularly refer back to our leading article of the 24th August last, which we entitled " The Only Way."
Traffic Obstruction.
An active campaign has been pursued, by the leading motoring organizations, and with a considerable degree of success amongst these by the Commercial Motor Users Association, in regard to the unnecessary obstruction to modern traffic which is caused by drivers of slow-moving vehicles who fail to drive at all practicable times as near as possible to the lefthand kerb, and who habitually, contrariwise, keep on the crown of the road. With the co-operation of the Royal Automobile Club and the Roads Improvement Association, the Commercial Motor Users Association, following a deputation from its Committee to the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, placed in position upon a, number of lamp-posts in the main highway to the west, through Knightsbridge and Kensington, numbers of enamelled plates bearing the words " Drive near left kerb."
Another branch of valuable work, in this connection, is to the credit of the R.A.C. in the matter of the issuing by it of reflex "lights "—red-coloured lenses, to be carried at the back of slow-moving vehicles, which reflect the light from the head lamps of any motor vehicle back to the eyes of the driver of that vehicle. These reflex "lights" have been widely supplied at the nominal price of 2s. 6d. each, and the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis accepted 500 of them, from the Royal Automobile Club, for use on the cycles of all Metropolitan policemen. The Automobile Association has also given away 10,000 such reflex "lights" to ordinary cyclists.
Motoring developments, in the course of the year under review, have undoubtedly made it clear to any reasonably-minded individual, that the increased differences of speed, between horse-drawn vehicles and motor vehicles, as compared with differences between slow-moving horse-drawn vehicles and horse-drawn hansoms and carriages a few years ago, are such as to render some change imperative. It is not fair to he community that drivers of market-gardeners' carts, coal carts, and other obstructive vehicles,
should choose the centre of abusy London thoroughiare to go to steep, or to consider for minutes on end whether or not they will draw in when the road is called from them. Just as a motor driver is under the Act of 1903 required to bear in mind traffic that may '' reasonably be expected to be upon the highway," so, in all equity, should sleepy wagoners be legally obliged to pay regard to the fact that motor traffic is reasonably to be expected practicany at all times. Of course, we admit the existence of cases where horses cannot, owing to excessive camber or other circumstances, be driven nearer to the kerb than perhaps four or five feet, and we should be quite content were exceptions of that nature the only causes for complaint by motor drivers and owners.
The annual reports of the Traffic Branch of the Board of Trade, two of which happened to be issued during the year, have directed attention to the importance of the " Drive near left kerb " movement, and have done much to establish further the undoubted obstructiveness of tramcars.
Transport Contracting.
Carter, Paterson and Co., Ltd. the Eastern Motor Wagon Co., Ltd., McNamara and Co., Ltd., Pickfords, Ltd., E. W. Rudd, Ltd., and Thomas Tilling, Ltd., in London, and numerous motor contractors in the Provinces, have enlarged their fleets during the year which has now ended, and numbers of them have large additional amounts of rollingstock on order as we write. We have reason to believe that there will be no more extensions of the horse departments of representative carriers, and that energies will in the future be increasingly concentrated upon the motor side. We must content ourselves, in regard to the year's progress, with the further comments that motor-mail and other important classes of contracts have been greatly extended and multiplied, but that the element of competition, coupled with the greater incidence of wages, does not leave an unduly-secure margin of profit, and certainly no margin which can cover laxity of management or inexperienced control. For these last-mentioned reasons, rumours about entirely-new concerns for the undertaking of motor transport on a huge scale should be received, as we have many tunes indicated in past years, with all reserve. The motor-contracting business is one which as a general rule requires a connection to be built up gradually. Existing haulage relations cannot he upset in a few weeks.
Various.
This review has already extended to a total of space occupied in excess of that which we allocated to it at the beginning. Notwithstanding our efforts to secure reasonable condensation, five pages of the last issue
of the old year were devoted to it, and we now feel than we cannot do otherwise than group together certain remaining topics upon which it would give us pleasure to write at greater length in other circumstances. We therefore briefly summarize, at the risk of omissions more or less serious, a number of 1911 happenings of which supporters of this journal may care to be reminded.
Auxiliary trades, in sympathy with the enormuua increase in vehicle and tractor turnover, have shown, during the closing months of the year, a tendency for supply to lag behind demand ; co--operative societies have relied more and more Upon motor delivery ;. the fire-engine branch has been assisted by reason of purchases on account of private owners, for the protection both of industrial works and country houses ;• motorbuses, whilst reduced in total weight, have not tended in the direction of smaller units, except for country services, but the practical safety of these vehicles—in spite of one lamentable accident in the North of England—is now admitted ; events in the motorcab world provided several interesting legal decisions concerning licences for men who are acquiring vehicles on the hire-purchase system, the status of a driver, fraudulent conversion of receipts, and. other points; long-distance trips by motorvan have been adopted in many fresh instances, and increasing. traffic has led to a demand for good lighting systems, of which we may usefully mention those which have been perfected by Allen-Live rsidgeand Vandervell ; overseas developments have resulted in our appointment of many additional exclusive correspondents to this journal ; obituary mention of pioneers has concerned Mr. Edwin Foden, of Sandbaeh, and Mr. Alfred Holt, of Liverpool ; the Royal AutomobileClub, in whose new and palatial premises the 0.M.U.A. is housed, transferred its establishment from Piccadilly to Pall Mall : business in railcars and rollers has gone ahead satisfactorily ; tire costs have steadily fallen, the Society of Motor Manufacturers andTraders has established a special section for tire manufacturers, and the steel-rubber tires by WoodMilne, Ltd., of Preston, have made good their debut ; trailer tramcars have not yet been sanctioned for use in London, but the L.C.C. is seeking powers to get permission to use them, whilst many evidences of tramcar "distress " have been forthcoming at congresses and other meetings of tramcar engineers and managers ; the tubes in London have maintained their fight -for passenger traffic with unflagging ingenuity, and have had recourse to the fitting of a moving stairway at Earl's Court, the pumping of °zonated air to relieve underground atmospheric conditions, and a flood of advertisement propaganda in the shape of novel posters, whilst they are now trying to "nobble" their worst competitor.