OPINIONS and QUERIES APPROVAL OF ROAD _TRANSPORT ENGINEERS' INSTITUTE I
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HAVE no hesitation in putting my name forward as a person very interested in your scheme for an Institute of Road Transport Engineers.
I feel that road transport, in all its branches, requires very great skill and technical knowledge. There is a Law Society, an Institute for Accountanth, aMedical Association for doctors, and these people cannot prae, tise unless they hold the necessary qualifications; why should not road transport be in the sane category?
I am convinced that the chaos we have experienced in road transport would have been avoided if operators had seen licensed by 'Regional Transport Commissioners on the production of satisfactoryevidence that they were members of, say, the Institute of Transport. You have, therefore, my blessing and _support in this venture, one of many that you have taken up ori behalf of Our.
industry. • M. C. VICKERS, Operating Manager. (Fbr Northumbrian TransPort Services, Ltd.) Gateshead-on-Tyne, 11. • CONGRATULATIONS TO CAPTAIN STRICKLAND, M.P.
THROUGH the medium of your journal I would likt•-. the opportunity of congratulating Captain Strickland, -who is one of the few champions' of the individual roadtransport contractor, on the amount of public interest his recent questions in the House have aroused; for there is no doubt that the lack of appreciation shown for this service for its part in the war effOrt is appalling.!
No doubt Mr. Noel Baker considered the answer to the quegtion put to him regarding vehicles running empty from Lcndon to Manchester as satisfactory as his previous answers, but we in the buSiness are not at all convinced.
• We have been led to understand that all railway wagons have been pooled, with theintention of reduc ing empty mileage, • but surely it would not have been necessary to have run these wagons through empty to Manchester, assuming that the 10 road vehicles in ques tion had been loaded with the 80 tons of wire; thereby saving the fuel and rubber which were wasted. I would submit that these wagons could have been utilized to advantage in the Midlands, for at this time collieries were actually standing by for railway wagons.
If we consider how vital coal is to the war effort and that during November of last year the output was down by 1,750,000 tons (chiefly, I submit, due to railway difficulties), the resultant loss of man-power on the collieries, the effect on road transport dependent on the collieries' output, loss of production in armament factories, etc., we can visualize that the war effort is being retarded to an alarming extent; so alarming, indeed, to those who have relatives fighting, that one's mind is extremely disturbed.
Further, as a practical haulier residing in the coalfield and knowing the conditions of -the coal mines, I
submit that if the collieries were adapted completely for
road transport as an auxiliary to rail transport (and this ,could be done at a very low expenditure in a few
days), and an appeal made to individual enterprise as in the case of the blitzed docks, this crisis would have been avoided. .
Reverting to the case instanced by Captain Strickland regarding empty mileage, we operators know that this is not by any stretch of the imagination an isolated case,
and although Mr. Noel-Baker (in reply to Mr. A. Edwards's recent question regarding comparative percentages of empty miles before and under the Road Haulage Organization) regretted that the information was not readily available, I am sure that, on request, he could be supplied with ample statistics by operators.
In conclusion, I respectfully suggest that these anomanes should not be allowed to continue, and the powers that be would show a patriotic gesture if they would openly admit that the Road Haulage Organization is a miserable failure, and release the industry from its shackles. R.M.M. Markfield.
HELP FOR ROAD TRANSPORT CAFES E were very interested to read the article on page 364 of your December 24 .issue, suggesting that local authorities should' help transport cafés.You have mentioned an establishinent on the main Gainsbon:?ugh Road and its difficulties With the -police and the local council. This is not an isolated experience and we Would like to suggest that the details' should be forwarded to the Ministry of War Transport for attention.
Road-transport drivers have to face, in these days, sufficient difficulties without this irksonie problem, and where a persbn has been prepared to adjust her business to meet the needs of the industry we feel every consideration "should be shown by the authorities.
H. R. NICHOLAS, National Officer.
(For Transport and General Workers Union.) London, S.W.1.
[We appreciate your great interest in this matter and your
corroboration of the statements contained in our leading article. We have, as you suggested, forwarded the correspondence to the M.O.W.T„ and asked for attention to be given to the matter.—ED.
OIL OR PETROL-ENGINED • 30 M.P.H. LORRIES I HAVE been very interested in the series of articles by
S.T.R. concerning the use of oil or petrol-engines for 30 m.p.h. lorries, and I must pay tribute to the impartiality with which he has set forth the pros and cons of the two power units.
There is, however, one statement in the second article that I would like to contest; that is, the assessment at
• i£80 of the scrap price of the Oil-engined vehicle. At no time has a current oil engine itself been worth so little, even without the chassis around it. The reason I submit is as follows:---A modern oil engine could, pre-war, after even several hundred thousand, miles, be brought back to new condition for about £100. The owner could then purchase -a new petrol-engined lorry and fit the oil engine -to it. The sale of the petrol engine would cover the cost of reconditioning the oil engine, therefore the owner would be in possession of his second oiler for the price of a petrol lorry, without even the additional cost of overhauling the oil engine.
I wish your progressive paper every success.
T. G. SLATER, M.I.M.T.
Leicester. (For Ford and Slater.) [I am obliged to Mr. Slater for his criticism. Those readers
who are inclined to select the oil-engined vehicle will be confdmed in their views by this additional argument in its favour. Those who at present prefer the petrolengined vehicle will derive fresh food for thought and, possibly, will come to reconsider their choice from the point he makes.—S.T.R.]