OVERSEA MARKETS.
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Do the Products of the British Commercial Vehicle Industry Fill the Bill ?
IN CONNECTION with the annOuncement that the British motor industry is sending out a Commissioner to study the Oversea markets, it may be interesting to try to consider how far he will be in a position to tell people that the British commercial motor industry can unquestionably fill their requirements without. having to turn its attentioii to the rather lengthy process of designing, manufacturing, and testing new models especially for Overseas use. The question'is evidently somewhat contentious, and it is partly for the purpose of encouraging the expression of diverse views that this article is written.
Now in the first place, we suppose there is no one who would deny that the British commercial motor vehicle of lorry or van type is admirably suited for use wherever reasonably good roads exist. One could safely go further and say that the was has proved up to the hilt that the British heavy vehicle is unsurpassed in service under a great variety of extremely bad conditions.
It is safe to say that there are no reasonable conditions under which the British motor vehicles are inferior to the products of any other country. The British vehicle, as it is to-day, is the result of comparatively lengthy and wide experience. There is no country in which the use of the commercial vehicle, including the public service vehicle, has progressed so rapidly.
Even those who maintain that the British are the reverse of progressive in such matters need not think that they must either, deny, this fact or change their point of view. The . notable success of the commercial" vehicle in Great Britain has not been due particularly to' a progressiYe-tendeney, but rather to the fact that the country happens to afford the. best., possible nursery, for.the Products'of this industry. In Great Britain distances are comparatively short. Industrial centres are .very numerous. There is an immense amount of tritnapOrt to be done. RailWa,y rates have always been high.' CompetitiOn -by. canals has been practically absent.' An these 'facts have helped to _give the motor vehicle a chance of competing in 'haulage work up to the full measure of its capacity.
Another very important factor is to be found in the distribution of the population of Great Britain from • the residential standpoint. Our great cities tend not to become compressed near their centres to a degree comparable with those of most other countries, but tend rather to straggle out into the open. The density of the population of Paris is far greater than that of London. This means that the average distance between the shop, and the customer to whom goods have to be delivered, tends to be longer in Great Britain than elsewhere.
The existence of London has had a special influence of its own. Here we have the 'greatest 'city of the world, B.0 far as eohcerns the number of the population and we have also a city of comparatively low buildings surrounded by suburbs or dormitories extended very many miles out in all directions. The average Londoner lives a considerable distance from his business and a considerable distance, also from the main shopping centres. Thus, the great stores have all tended to use motor vans for delivery to their customers, the distances being-inconveniently long or impossible for direct delivery by horsed vehicle. The motor van, plying direct, has proved more expeditious than deliveries by rail with intermediate handlings.
Then, again, London does not lend itself to the completion of an absolutely comprehensive tramway system. The comparative narrowness of streets and the density of traffic in the central areas has rendered BS4 ,
this impossible. Consequently, London has an experience in the wa3, of motor omnibuses very many times greater than that possessed in any other town.
Altogether, then, the internal conditions of Great Britain have encouraged the use of commercial motor vehicle's. The result was, inevitably, the early production of practical types and the expenditure of much time and brains On the work of perfecting them.. At the time of the outbreak of the war, it was universally recognized that, as regards heavy motor transport, 'Great Britain had establishedan indisputable lead over all competitors.
Heavy British motor vehicles during the war have been used in numbers running into six figures. NO industry can have had greater or wider war experi
ence with its products. . .
At the same time, -there are limits beyond which it would be absurd to go in adopting the self-contained motor vehicle for use where roads are bad: There comes a point beyond which the self-ecintained vehicle is the wrong thing to use at all, and the tractor is the right thing. In any country, however complete its 'road system, there must sometimes "arise ''a needfor haulage which makes the use of the self-con,tained vehicle inadvisable. Raw material has. sometimes to be conveyed to and from points to which roads cannot be extended.
This fact; coupled with the previous existence in Great Britain of an industry devoted to the production of road locomotives and Ploughing engines, led to the manufacture of the steam tractor—the road locomotive in miniature. This is particularly a British type of machine and is very well suited for many Classes of heavy work, wherever water and coal or some other solid fuel -are available in abundance and in reasonably good quality. In Grefat Britain itself there has not been the same occasion as in Some other countries to develop the .internal-combustion tractor for peace-time purposes. Where roa,dt are practically non-existent and where water is . scarce and solid fuels rare, the internalcombustion tractor is, practically the only type of motor suitable for comparatively heavy haulage work. Had it not been for the war, it might have been reasonably argued that in this particular sphere the British industry had left a gap inviting foreign corn-petition. During the war, however, large numbers of internal-combustion tractors have been manufactured for the haulage of artillery. We have, in fact, got further and produced the type ofmotor most suited of all in existence to perform the roughest class Of service imaginable. Thus, so far as the general requirements of transport are concerned, the British motor industry is able to offer everything from, the light van for town delivery service up to the tractor for use in 'trackless country. In specialized directions, its production has been no less complete. Great Britain was the first country to realize the desirability of replacing the' horsed by the motor fire engine. The British industry brought about a revolution in the equipment of fire brigades, and British motor engines are to be found fire-fighting in all parts of the world.'
The municipal vehicle for street watering, .sweeping, refuse collection, and a variety of other purposes has Also been well developed. It would, we suggest, be impossible to mention any speCial class of service to which a motor vehicle can conceivably be applied and to which sonic type of British vehicle could not be successfully put.
Thus, • we arrive at the conclusion that, from the point of view. of the Overs-ea markets, Great Britain is able to offer everything that can be required.