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WHEELS of INDUSTRY

"The wheels of wealth will be slowed by all difficulties of transport, at whatever points arising, as a carriage is by the roughness of the roads over which it runs."—John Beattie Crozier.

LONDON'S WHARVES AND DOCKS.

Our original list of London's Wharves and Docks was published in Tee Commercial Motor dated November 10,

• 1933, but in response to hundreds ot requests this is now being reproduced as a guide in convenient booklet form, and will be published during the week commencing April .16, at the price of 6d. net, or by post 70.

Numerous additions and improvements have been made. The list now covers approximately 1,000 names, which are keyed up with the respective district maps, of which there are 10. In addition, a general map of the whole area concerned is included. Wherever possible, telephone numbers have been added..

A further feature which will add greatly to the utility of the booklet is a list of over 300 wharfingers, warehousemen, etc., with their addresses, telephone numbers, and the various wharves, etc., which they own. The text and maps now occupy more than 50 pages.

Morris Motors Trading Results The gross trading profit of Morris Motors, Ltd., during the year 1933 was £731.446, being a drop from £1,122,515 in 1932. After adding investment income at £119,514 and deducting depreciation, etc., at £388,412 and income tax at £102,546, the net profit for the past year totalled £360,002, the amount available for distribution being £583,287, after adding the amount brought forward.

The preference dividend accounts for £225,000, and the payment of a dividend of 5 per cent., tax free, on the ordinary shares accounts for a further 12100,000, leaving £258.287 to be carried forward. The ordinary dividend in 1932 was 10 per cent., tax free.

New Registrations Analysed.

In our issue for last week we gave the totals of new registrations for goods vehicles and hackneys in January, the figures being 6,889 and 243 respectively as compared with 4,234 and 171 a year earlier. Analysing the returns, we note that in the petrol goods class the chief advances were as follow, the comparable 1933 figure being given in parentheses :—Not over. 12-cwt., 1,192 (630) ; 12-cwt. to 1-ton, 979 (598) ; 1f-ton to 2-tons, 1,665 (1,295) ; 2-tons to 2i-tons, 1,381 (585) ; 2.i-tons to 3-tons, 368 (167) ; 3-tons to 4-tons, 221 (99). In the 1-ton to 14-ton class there was a fall from 651 to 606 vehicles.

A notable increase was shown in steam vehicles, 33 such Inaehins being registered in January last as contrasted with only one in January, 1933.

B20 Commencing with the current retttrns, the registrations of goods vehicles are divided into five distinct types, i.e., electric, steam, coal-gas, petrol and oil-fuel, etc., the same classifications being given for hackneys with the exception of steam. The authorities appear to be anticipating events in, connection with coal-gas vehicles, for no such registrations occurred in January in either goods or hackney classes.

In the oil-fuel class 160 goods vehicles and 33 hackneys were registered, whilst 10 goods vehicles and 12 trolleyhuses figure in the return for electrics. Petrol passenger vehicles showed increases in the 48-56-seater (49 as against 37) and 14-20-seater .(31 as against 26) classes.

Another Bid for Lower Taxes.

The transport committee of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce has decided to renew its representations for the reduction of the heavy taxation on vehicles employed within port areas.

Road Traffic Bill: Second Reading.

The second reading of the Road Traffic Bill has been put down for next Tuesday, April 10, the, day after Parliament reassembles. It is the intention of the Government to proceed with the Bill as rapidly as possible.

R.H.A.'s Growing Membership.

During February and March the number ot Applications for membership of the Road Haulage Association was 520 and 655, respectively, bringing the total membership up to 4,208. In March, 1933, the membership stood at 1,488, so that the increase on the year Nees 2,720. NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY CAMPAIGN.

The National Safety First Association, Terminal House; 52, Grosvenor Gardens, London, S.W.1, launched, on March 29, a national road-safety campaign. The plans for this consist of a combination of local safety activities with a publicity campaign based upon the Highway Code. Local organizations are being established in some a* centres where accidents are most numerous. • Week by week for six months some important point from the Highway Code will be selected and public attention directed to it by posters, articles in the Press and wireless notices, whilst the badge of the campaign, the red triangle, is being issued as a small transparency for at tachment to vehicles, and supplies are available at leading garages free of charge.

The first poster produced is an autographed message from-I-I.R.H. the Duke

of York; which points out that every day 600 people are killed or injured on our roads.

The National Safety Congress will he held from May 9-11 at the Park Lane Hotel, London, and will be attended by hundred of delegates.

Amongst the subscribers are : Ministry of Transport, £5,000; Automobile

Association, £1,000; Omnibus Owners Association, 250 guineas; Commercial Motor Users Association, 100 guineas.; Transport and General Workers Union, 50 guineas.

The Future of the Steam Wagon.

At the 14th ordinary general meeting of the Sentinel Waggon Works, Ltd., Mr. P. C. Young, C.B.E., chairman and joint managing director, presided. After referring to present-day legislation and its effects, the chairman went on to say that he did not think that the preference which lighter vehicles now enjoy will prove permanent. Be said he would be surprised if one of the steps taken to-make the roads safer is not concerned, with the limitation of weights carried by all commercial vehicles.

Moreover, he added, the congestion in industrial centres and on arterial roads serving them must inevitably be made more acute if taxation and regulation encourage the use of two or three smaller vehicles to do what might be done by one large machine.

He thought that some day the pendulum will swing back and the heavy vehicle, particularly the steamer, will receive more official encouragement. He does not think that there has heen official biaS against this type, but regulations and taxation have not given the steamer as good a chance as was perhaps intended. "NORTHERN GENERAL " REPORT During the year 1933 the total revenue of the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., was £554,448, as cona trasted with £572,674 in the previous year. The net profit at £148,831 was more than £10,000 higher than that for the previous year. A sum of 863,000 is set aside for renewals and out of the balance it is proposed to pay a final dividend of 6 per cent. on the ordinary shares, making 10 per cent. for the year, leaving £31,187 to be carried forward, as against £20,261 brought into the accounts.

Scottish Association's Changed Title.

Some time ago the Scottish Tramways and Transport Association changed its title to the Scottish Road Passenger Transport Association, but it was only at a special general meeting of the Association, held in Glasgow a few days ago, that the amended consti tution was finally approved. The objects of tte change are to broaden the basis of membership and to include associate members. It is claimed that the Association is representative of passenger road-transport interests in Scotland.

Addresses on the New Act.

Mr. S. W. Nelson, clerk to the Traffic Commissioners of the West Midland area, will speak on the Road and Rail Traffic Act on April 17, at 7.30 p.m., the meeting being at the showrooms of Wales and Edwards, Ltd., Morris House, Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury. Mr. S. M. Macadam, vice-president of the C.M.U.A., will be in the chair. He will also occupy the chair on the occasion of a meeting in Coventry on April 12, at 7.30 p.m., at Parkside Garage, Ltd., when Mr. F. G. Bristow, Secretary of the British Road Federation, will speak on the Act.

Another meeting on the same subject will be held on April 9, when the speaker will be Mr. W. Donaldson Wright, Assoc.M.Inst.T., vice-chairman of the Road Haulage Association ; this meeting will be held at Messrs. Morris Garages, St. Aldate's, Oxford.

All these meetings have been arranged by Morris Commercial Cars, Ltd., in conjunction with the respective associations.

Oswald Tillotson Rearranges Its Depots.

With a view to obtaining greater efficiency, Oswald Tillotson, Ltd., Burnley, has recently decided on a rearrangement of its various depots to give centralized supervision in the principal zones of its territory as an A.E.C. wholesale distributor.

In future, all A.E.C. operators in the Yorkshire area will have • their vehicles serviced from the company's depot in Preston Street, Bradford, this being under the management of Mr. C. F. Calvert. Day and night facilities are available and, in emergency, parts may be despatched at short notice by express van.

Mr. A. H. Thomas is being transferred to the Manchester depot, as the company's sub-depot in Sheffield has closed down.

The Burnley service department is now under the supervision of Mr. Norman Hort and the shops have been reorganized.

The Manchester depot at Ashburton Road, Trafford Park, will function as previously, but in view of the increasing number of A.B.C. vehicles now operating in the Liverpool district special service arrangements have been inaugurated at the depot at 65, Tithebarn Street.

Aberdeen Traffic Superintendent Dead.

The death has occurred of Mr. Charles Symon, traffic superintendent of Aberdeen Corporation's transport department. Mr. Symon was 43 years of age and joined Aberdeen tramways department in 1912, being appointed to his present post in 1927. PERSONAL PARS.

Lancaster Corporation has appointed Mr. W. j. H. Penman, transport manager to Perth Corporation, as

transport manager.. There were 75 applications for the post.

Following the formation of two sections (goods and passenger) of the North-eastern Division of the Commercial Motor Users Association, the following officers have:been-appointed for the goods 'section :--1Chairman, Mr. G. E. -Gilbey, of Wakefield, who is also chairman of the division; vicechairmen, Mr. J.. Wallis, of Birstall, one of the vice-chairmen of the passenger section and vice-chairman of the division, and Mr. H. Goodwin, of Bradford.

Mr. H. M. Barker, who for the past 22 years. has been in the service of the Vacuum Oil Co., Ltd., has been appointed to the board of the corapany. He joined the Vacuum concern in 1912 as a salesman and, later, was successively appointed branch manager in Ireland, Smith Wales and the West of England. In 1921 he came to London as marketing manager for the company, a position he held until last year, when he became manager of the industrial department.

In his new position, Mr. Barker will be responsible to the board for the industrial side of the company's work and-for the control of sales in Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield and Cardiff.

Sixty-three applications have been received by South Shields Town Council for the post of transport manager. which was rendered vacant by the resignation of Mr. J. Austin Baker. Five applicants have been placed on the short list as follow :— Messrs. H. W. Ashby, tramways maintenance engineer, Hull Corporation; W. Berry, deputy transport manager, Halifax; E. R. L. Fitzpayne, chief technical assistant, Edinburgh Corporation transport department; H. C. Manley, deputy and rolling-stock superintendent, Bournemouth Corporation; and W. H. Snowball, rolling-stock superintendent, Sunderland Corporation transport department.

New Transport Legislation in Ulster.

The Government of Northern Ireland has obtained the services of Sir Felix Pole, chairman of the Associated Electrical Industries, Ltd., to advise the Cabinet in the drawing up of a new road-transport code for the six counties. The Government has stated that, in due course, it intends introducing a Bill.

A circular issued last week by the Ministry of Home Affairs intimates that Sir Felix will visit Northern Ireland this month, when the various transport interests and associations representing local authorities will have an opportunity of discussing road-transport problems with him. CLASSES IN HAULAGE CANVASSING.

Grosvenor Agencies, Room 328, Coastal Chambers, 172, Buckingham Palace Roaaitondon, S.W.1, are starting a training scheme for educating young men in canvassing for the various classes of haulage, so that when they are employed they will possess the experience necessary for obtaining suitable work for the vehicles owned by their employers.

Students will be under the personal tuition of Captain E. H. B. Palmer, 0.B.E., who informs us that two leading road-transport concerns have alreaay undertaken to consider his students whenever vacancies arise, whilst he will himself retain the services of a certain number on salary and commission if they have shown reasonable ability.

The syllabus covers a week of theory and three weeks of practical work, for which the fee is 10 guineas. A postal course has also been arranged.

The New Legislation : Help for Lawyers.

Butterworth and Co. (Publishers), Ltd., Bell Yard, Temple Bar, London, W.C.2, has just published, at 30s. net, a valuable work entitled " Road and Rail Traffic Law, 1984," by those wellknown barristers specializing in transport matters, Messrs. R. P. Mahaffy, B.A., and G. Dodson, B.A., LL.M. Part I gives the text of the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933. Part II summarizes all the judicial decisions given on the Road Traffic Act, section by section, and so forms an invaluable supplement to the authors' textbook on that Act. Part III is virtually a continuation of their 1931 volume, "Rules and Orders under the Road Traffic Act, 1930," and contains, as well as details of all later Orders, relevant sections of the London Passenger Transport Act, 1939, and the Finance Acts, 1930-1933. The new book, therefore, is intended mainly for lawyers and the secretaries and legal departments of big transport undertakings.

Papers Before a Scottish Association Conference.

The titles of the papers to be submitted to the annual conference of the Scottish Road Passenger Transport Association, to be held at the Atholl Palace Hotel, Pitlochry, from May 24-26, are as follow :—" Recent Legislation Affecting Road Passenger Transport." by Mr. F. G. Bristow, C.B.E., and "Economies in a Changing (Road Passenger Transport) World," by Mr. R. B. Herbert, A.M.InstT., manager of the Greenock Motor Services Co.

Body-fittings Agent Required.

A well known Midland concern, manufacturing fittings, cold pressings, stampings, etc:, requires an agent for the Birmingham-Wolverhampton district, excluding Coventry, to sell window winders, destination indicators, adjustable seaNttings, etc. He must

B22 understand, and have a good connection with, the body side of the trade, and the agency should be of considerable value. Letters, addressed "Agency," care of the Editor, will be forwarded.

1498-1934—A Long Transport Record.

It seems almost inconceivable that any transport concern of to-day should be able to trace its history back as far as the reign of James IV of Scotland, yet there is evidence that the Shore Porters Society of Aberdeen was in existence well before the end of the 15th century. The Shore Porters (then called " Pynotu-s ") are first mentioned in the Aberdeen borough records in 1498 as a body recognized by the community to intromit with all imported and exported merchandise.

In 1636 a severe test of strength was imposed on men wishing to join the Society. Their essential duties consisted of loading and unloading vessels and carrying goods between ships and merchants' booths. Early in the 19th century the porters had practically a monopoly of passenger carrying and used a team of sedan chairs.

A writer in 1887 records the intimate association of the shore porters with the removal of furniture, in which work they had nearly a monopoly, until the advent of the big carting companies.

By •reason of its long association with transport, it is interesting to learn that the Society makes use of motor lorries, and it recently placed a repeat order with Albion Motors, Ltd., for the 3-ton, forward-control, platform lorry illustrated on this page.

Motor Vehicles in Finland.

The number of motor vehicles in Finland at the end of 1933 was 34,793, the figure for the end of 1932 being 35,078. The numbers of lorries were 10,039 and 9,820 respectively, and of buses, 1,306 and 1,214. HULL BRANCH FOR THE C.M.U.A.?

A suggestion that the Northeastern division of the Commercial Motor Users Association should establish a branch in Hull was made at a recent well-attended meeting. Two prominent Hull operators strongly advocated the idea, which the meeting definitely supported, and Mr. G. E. Gilbey, chairman of the division, who presided, promised that the matter should have careful consideration The meeting was one of the series which the division is holding in various parts of Yorkshire, and Mr. Gilbey mentioned that many requests had been received for similar meetings to be held in the smaller towns.

Addresses were given by Mr. D. I.

Sandelson, solicitor to the division; Mr. A. R. Jones, manager of the insurance department and a member of Leeds City Council, and Mr. Harry Clark, organizer to the. division Equipment Makers' New Manufacturing Arrangements.

Important changes in the production, sale and servicing of Newton garage equipment and Rotax electric tools have recently been made. These comprise the transfer of the manufacture of Newton garage equipment from Taunton to larger -works with greater productive capacity at Rotax, Ltd., Willesden Junction, London, N.W.10.

All Newton equipment and Rotax tools will now be manufactured in the same factory and will be handled by a co-ordinated sales organization which will trade as Rotax, Ltd., and operate from well-equipped offices and showrooms at 319, Regent Street, London, W.1. A self-contained service department has been established at the Willesden works, and after-sales service can, of course, also be obtained for Newton equipment and Rotax tools at all Lucas-C.A.V. Rotax depots.

AGRICULTURAL VEHICLES: INTERESTING TAXATION CASE.

A curious case was heard in Dunfermline Sheriff Court, last week, when a fruit merchant was charged with having used a lorry for the conveyance of fruit while it was licensed only for agricultural purposes. The trader hawked agricultural produce, the lorry being licensed at £13, but on one otcasion a small quantity of apples and oranges had been conveyed, thus rendering the vehicle liable to a higher rate of taxation, than that which had been paid.

The prosecutor stated that the lower duty applied only when the vehicle was used to convey the produce of, or articles required for, the agricultural land occupied by the owner. It was an offence to employ the vehicle to carry goods or produce bought from someone else. A fine of £1, to cover expenses, was imposed. NEW FODEN DISTRIBUTOR IN THE NORTH-WEST, G. W. Smith and Co„ Ltd., Wellington Road South, Stockport, has been appointed a distributor for Fod=n oil and petrol-engined vehicles for a large territory, embracing Cheshire, North Wales, etc. • Mr. Duncan T. Jet Nell, a representative of Fodens, Ltd., will make the Smith establishment his headquarters for six months. He has been in the motor trade for 30 years.