A "M.of M." Census of Steam Lorries and Trailers.
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The Ministry of Munitions on Tuesday of last week made the following announcement n-- "All persons (other than railway companies) 'owning or having in their possession or under ;their control any steam-driven highway lorries or trailers in Great Britain shall. within 14 days from yesterday send to the Deputy Director-General of Railway Material Licences, Ministry of Munitions, Whitehall Place, London, S.W. 1, returns containing particulars with regard to such steam lorries and trailers."
The call for this census is due to one or both of two factors: the need foroiore steam transport in France, which we gather is the 'primary cause ; the growing difficulties of the fuel situation at home, which we believe is a secondary cause.
Steam lorries have done splendidly in France. They have in some respects outclassed their petrol rivals, although not in direct competition. Steam, of course, cannot be used in areas where the issuing columns of smoke, at or immediately after stoking, and oceasionally at other times, disclose the whereabouts of any individual vehicle or a convoy. . Work at the bases' and work in connection with road construction, has always fallen to the lot of the steam wagon. More recently, as some of our readers may be aware, the steam -wagons have been used, with suitable winding gear arranged upon them, in connection with .particular phases of aerial activity and .observation. Further demands for services from steam wagons are being made, and we fealait is our duty to warn
• owners up and down the countrytthat additional impressments may soon become the rule.
We had ourselves received, a few days prior to this announcement, semi-official inquiries as to the likely requirements per week bf steam wagons and tractors as regards coke and coal. We'thought it expedient to suggest a figure in the vicinity of 7500 tons a week for the two types together, believing it tothe advisable to make allowance for the consequences of both bad road conditions and the lack of .opportunity to maintain the machines in normal running condition. It appears that tractors are not for the present to be recorded, although the reason for this partial action is not apparent. . The Commercial Motor Users Association is, we gather, keeping in touch with possible developments, and it will no doubt make any necessary representations to the Coal Controller, Mr. Guy Calthrop, in due Course. It will take some time for the results of the census to be collated. Summaries will then have to be prepared according to districts. Coal distribution will undoubtedly be one of the acute industrial difficulties of the coming winter. It is as well, therefore, that there should be preparations in advance to ensure reasonable'adjustment between rival claimants. Owners who do not at once register the indicated particulars may have occasion to regret it. They are required to do so not later than the
9th July. ,•
Motorcar Costs in the Services of Public Water Suppliers.
The Metropolitan Water Board uses a number of motorcars for the conveyance of both officers and workmen between its various depots and offices, as well as for urgent repair work to its mains. The economies which the use of these cars permit are considerable, as compared with any alternative means of i conveyance. It s in fact, admitted that equivalent work cannot be is, in cheaply or quickly by any other means, and some of it not at all without the employment of motors. We are able to publish (page 395) several analytical tables from the official proceedings of the Board. Theseare arranged to show the details in an informative way. The important point, from our point oPview, is the average extent of the necessary increase of running costs, having regard to war conditions of maintenance and supply. The additions are 'well within bounds, and of no real moment in relation to ‘the,value of the service S rendered and the work done. The decrease of mileage, for 1917 as compared with 1916, naturally affects the incidence of weekly outgo on wages, and all fixed charges, in the inverse ratie.
Insufficient Strength of Private Bridges Carrying Highways.
The notorious insufficiency of many canal and railway bridges, which bridges caary highways over the private works of'-iihich they are, in most respects an integral part, is one oi'ythe pressing matters which will of necessity engage the further attention of the Legislature in the near future. The, weak highway bridges of this country, now by law admitted to be beyond, remedy by resort to any existing powers of compulsion, are a riienace to the industry of the United Kingitom. They .are a positive danger and impediment to national defence.
We have frequently drawn attention to this unsatisfactory,state,of affairs, and,there is,no question that the Commercial Motor Users Association, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the Association of British, Motor and Allied Manufacturers, and the National Traction Engin: Owners and Users Association, to mention only a few interested national bodies, will have to agree upon some course of joint action if the weak links in the country's chains of highway commnnication are to be strengthened.
'A particular highway, as matters stand, may have ample strength up to the approaches of a particular bridge, aid the whole value of that highway, from the national standpoint, be effectively nullified by the existence of the weak link across 'seine piece of private property. Severance of the land is one thing : severance of a public highway, by the effective interposition of a weak bridge, a very much more serious one. No payment can compensate the na.tiop for the latter. It means tliat a private undertaking, be it canal or railway, with such a weak structure over ".4., is depriving the community at large of a publio
Insufficient Strength of Private Bridges Carrying Highways—con.
benefit, and sometimes of a means of frustrating the enemy's plans, and doing so, although perhaps not deliberately, to its own financial advantage. We are glad to see that the Chester City Council, at its June meeting, on the motion oi Councillor H. F. Brown, unanimously adopted the following resolution:—
" That the Association of Municipal Corporations be requested to confer with the County Councils Association, and with such other bodies and persons as they think fit, and -to report what should be done in order that the railway and other bridges, the weakness of which at present makes large sections of our highways useless for motor traffic, shall be reconstructed or strengthened in accordance with modern requirements."
We understand that this resolution is now before the Law Committee of the Association of Municipal Corporations, and that the next step will probably be the establishment of touch between this important association and the above-mentioned national motoring and tra,nsport bodies. We are indebted to Councillor Brown tor the opportunity to reproduce (page 395) the memorandum which he drew up on the subject, and upon the succinct wording of which we take this opportunity of congratulating him.
Farming by Motor: Make-believe v. Reality.
We are pleased to find fresh evidence of interest in agrimotors amongst our readers. The latest proof is in the form of numerous orders, which are reaching the .offices of Temple Press Lta. (7-15, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.C. 1) for the new publication entitled " Farming by Motor." This useful book, addressed to the farmer more particularly, is published at Is. 8d. post free, or it may be ordered from any bookseller or newsagent at Is. ed. net. 'feeders who prefer to order it locally will probably do well to mention that the wholesale agents are E. J. Larby, Ltd., and the publishers Temple Press Ltd.
The general situation, as regards farming by motor, is increasingly seen to be one of difficulty. Agrimotors of the right kind are coming into the • country all too slowly, and, when they get here, their effective use calls for persistent attention to details of maintenance and supply. The labour is forthcoraing, as a rule, but les retention, as much as the provision of regular work for the men under existing climatic conditions, remains a matter of interDepartmental strife. Nobody knows when the erstwhile " M.O.M." tractors will begin to arrive from America. We do not expect them this year.
We have been taken to task for our recent forecast that the cost of ploughing by agrimotors promises to go up to 22 per acre. We wish it were otherwise, but we cannot take back the figure. It has already, in fact, been exceeded. The smallness of the realiekl acreage with the independent agrimotor does not yet give a divisor which is high enough to enable the all-in cost, under present and likely conditions, to be lowered. We, of course, include in it maintenance and depreciation of the agrimotors themselves and of the implements which are used with them, the cost of supplies, and the. growing commitments for supervision. The figure IS a high one, in relation to farming costa in the suborning days of so-called Free Trade, in that it is not far short of double the price which ruled for years for a quarter of wheat. The price of wheat is, however, quite high enough to bear the inclusive cost which we have indicated, even though the average yield falls so low as 3i quarters per acre. We, as yet, see no fvidence that the average performance per tractor per year will exceed 250 acres of ploughing. The immediate problem is to get more tractors into the country, and not only tractors of one class or 020 make. The Ford tractor has yet to prove itself in the United Kingdom, and to overcome the wellproven faults of small-diameter wheels. It may, when the first 6000 are in work here, or sooner, be found wanting in other points, such as the distribution of weight between-the two axles. There are real grounds for apprehension hereartent British soil likes big wheels, and we cannot afford, as a country, to put all our eggs in one basket." Proved and satisfactory makes of agrimotors„ at least one of which bears the imprimatur of official Commissions of the French Government, should be brought over here, from America, in large numbers, at once, in-stead of their being either kept in New York, or preferentially shipped to France. Why have such excellent agrimotors as the Bull been ignored for so , long at 72, Victoria, Street? Is it due to error, to ignorance, or to perversity It is no advantage to anybody for judgment to be passed upon a branch by reason of past records. It does not help to live in the past, any more than merely to hope for the future without taking appropriate steps to put matters right. Now is the accepted time for this country, in the matter of varying the direction of the Food Production Department. This department has been on its trial for sonic months, with results which are seen to be disappointing. It has largely lived, in our opinion, in an atmosphere of make-believe. It has, within our knowledge, vetoed at least one make of tractor upon records which concerned tractors of the same name, but of obsolete types. Such a mistake, of course, may occur in any Government Department, as it may in any business, but it is highly significant, and obviously regrettable--if not lamentable—that hundreds of fanners in this country are crying out for tractors the while delivery through the Food Production Department is vetoed instead of sanctioned in respect of a known and successful motor plough, of which make—the Bull, to wit—several hundreds are ready to be shipped from New York, together with their ploughs, and concerning which the records are unimpeachable. Who is responsible for this policy of obstructiveness at the Food Production Department for the United Kingdom? We understand that the facts are now before Colonel Allen, and we think he is a man who can be trusted to make good the _sins of commission and omission which concern this product of one of the most successful and reliable steel works in the United States—that of the Minneapolis Corporation. We are not concerned in any way with the interests of an individual manufacturer, but we are very directly concerned, in more ways than one, with the hindering of food production in this country, the while tractors which cannot be delivered are ordered, thus keeping up the policy of make-believe; and turning a blind eye upon the realities of the case.
. The steam-cultivation branch of the Food Production Department of the Board of Agriculture is working on business lines, because it is in the hands of practical men. A man with knowledge of the land, and above all with a knowledge extending to years instead of months or weeks, is wanted to bring. the " agrimotor push" side to like success.. An agricultural expert of standing should be appointed without delay, on the staff of the department. If this is not done, we fear a distinct addition to the risk of famine by which this country will in varying degree be confronted hereafter as regards cereals. Steam ploughing and cultivating sets are doing all that can be accomplished, a-nd arrangements have been made for additional effectives in this category. No arrangement, of which we have knowledge, can excel the productive efficiency on the steam side, but steam cannot do the whole work. New agrimotors are wanted; but they are wanted in such numbers that it need not be sought by theorists to crowd into 40 days and 40 nights the ploughing which is the normal work of such a tractor in a whole year. ,Let us throw over make-believe once and for all.