Hands Across the Sea: We Hear - from the American Motor Industry.
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We have been pleased to receive letters from not a few friends in the American motor industry apropos the recent entry of the United States into the great war. President Wilson now clearly has behind him the great force of a united public opinion throughout America, to which end he no doubt worked with deliberation and sureness, if with a mentality which was not wholly understood in the United Kingdom. We content ourselves by making two extracts from our correspondence by the last U.S.A. mail:— " We have just had the pleasant and inspiring experience of welcoming the British and French Commissioners, ahd I am glad to say that nothing could have surpassed the enthusiasm and spontaneity of the public acclaim with which they were everywhere greeted. Nothing like it in this country has occurred during my lifetime. We are lost in admiration of the splendid way in which Great Britain has met the stupendous situation, and we realize only too well that she has been fighting our battles as well as her own and her Allies:" "Fifth Avenue is a glorious sight with flags, and amongst the American emblems are many French and English colours. The Union League Club has a tremendous American flag flanked on both sides by smaller flags of all the Allies. It really looks fine. I suppose in a degree we are going through the same as England went through, and, although we are slow to be aroused, conditions have changed radically in the last few weeks and everyone seems to be definitely decided to see the whole affair through to a successful conclusion, irrespective of cost or sacrifice."
The foregoing view i are welcome ones. We anticipate that it will soon become increasingly apparent to every British man and woman that their cousins and kinsmen across the Atlantic mean no halfmeasures: but to fight with all the resources at their disposal in such a manner that the conclusion of the war must be markedly hastened.
The services of America, already enormous, will not end with the war, for her economic association with Britain after the peace is one that cannot fail to be fraught with issues of even greater importance. Is it possible, we ask, that reciprocity within the Empire will in due time, be extended to reciprocity throughout the English-speakiiag races? There are some mai-cations in that direction, and more, we think, to follow. The motor industry, in the satisfactory outcome of the negotiations for the production of " M.O.M." agrimotors, has given the first lead. Many hundreds of tenders have 'been under consideration since Saturday morning last.
America will have much more to say, and do, after the peace, in the matter of priority of supplies of steel, copper and certain other materials, than is generally a,cknowledged. The whole question of Anglo-American trade relationships has been thrown
into the melting pot, where it must remain for the present. , America's aid and trade must, as real factors, be viewed now in L..fl lights.
More Electric Eccentricities.
The "shocking" electric calculations of our contemporary "The Electrician," which we amusedly quoted a ortnight ago, have commended themselves, without detection of the error, to "Electrical Times and Lighting." This journal, in its issue of the 24th ult. while dealing with the supposed economy in energy charges at York, for electricity as compared with petrol, repeats the "£737 v. £10,000" fairy tale. If condescendingly passes the following comment: " Of course, petrol has been abnormally, dear, but the difference is so large that it cannot be explained on that score." Faulty arithmetic i5 the explanation. Petrol do is not cost more than 22s. a gallon.
Anothe journal takes quite a different line. We refer to Electricity." This contemporary gets the statement of the York Tramways Committee accurately, in that it publishes the estimate for petrol at 21000 (not £10,000), against 2737 for electricity, but it thinks these relative figures good enough to justify the following remarks : "The contrast is somewhat staggering, but, with petrol at its present high price, to say nothing of the shortage of supply, and allowing a liberal discount for the perhaps somewhat conservative estimate of a satisfied body, there is still a considerable balance on the right side," This seems to us highly portentous, although we do not know exactly what is meant. The same writer proceeds: "Such a report should materially affect the controversy about the future of electrically-driven cars. . . . . It is fairly evident that the days of cheap petrol have gone, never to return, and such a step as the changing over of a considerable percentage of public-service vehicle g to electrical propulsion,, would at least have the effect of maintaining' the rnarket price of this fuel at a reasonable level."
We may again record with advantage that, at York, the battery-equipped motorbuses travelled 77,059 miles during the last financial year, for which distance, under the obtaining conditions of weight and roads, 9000 gallons of petrol is a generous allowance. In order to show that, quantity of petrol as costing 21000, the price must be taken at a figure of a little in excess of 2s. 21d. per gallon. We are willing to accept that price for the year 1916, although many motorbus companies in the country 'paid less. The important point, qua comparisons with battery-equipped vehicles, for the future, for York and similar towns, is this : when the price of petrol falls to is. 6d., which fall—or a greater one—will undoubtedly follow quickly upon the conclusion of hostilities, the total petrol bill comparable with 2737 for electricity 'at York will be only 2675.
We suggest to our statistical friends that York is by no means a good case for them to take up—rather the reverse. We are quite ready to accept the view that battery-equipped motorbuses, subject to
reasonable supervision and management, have big prospects ahead of them in this country. Those prospeets are not wholly dependent on relative energy charges. Success for the battery bus will be obtained by achievement, and not by the decrying of its petrol rival. There is room for both. We hope to see the battery bus forge ahead, and it will do so unless the pending L.G.B. report places new legal disabilities upon it.
Strakes on Tractor Wheels for Agricultural Purposes.
The Locomotives Act of 1898 defines an agricultural locomotive as including the following:— (a) Any locomotive used solely for threshing, ploughing, or any other agricultural purpose ; and (b) any locomotive, the property of one or more owners or occupiers of agricultural land, employed solely for the purposes of their farms, and not let out on' hire.
The exact significance of the words "any other agricultural purpose "has led to various disputes and renderings of the law according to district, as regards steam and other tractors, in respect of their use on any highway for the haulage of agricultural produce. One might be excused for thinking that the commorisense construction of the definition must permit such haulage, and the engines so occupied therefore to enjoy particular exemptions.
• The status of the agricultural locomotive is now raised afresh by an Order of the Local Government Board under date of the 24th ult., which Order is to be cited as" The Leicomeitives,on Highways (Agricultural Locomotives—No. II) Regulations, 1917." This Order is to have effect during the continuance of the present war, and it lays down in Article I that the expression "agricultural Iecomotive" has the meaning assigned to it by the section of the Act; of 1898 which we have already quoted. Article Tr of the new Order is as under:—
" Where the driving wheels of an agricultural locomotive, to which this Article applies, are shod with diagonal cross-bars, and the cross-bars do not exceed in thickness the limit of three-quarters of an inch prescribed by sub-section (4) of Section 28. of the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878, it shall not be necessary to comply with the requirements of that sub-section with regard to the width of the space intervening between each such cross-bar."
This concession will he of considerable interest to all agriculturists, equally in reference to agrimotors
with internal-combustion engines and to steam tractors. We must point out that the definition of the 1898 Act lays it down that any engine must be " solely " used for the indicated purposes, and it is no doubt by reason of this requirement of exclusive use that owners who employ their engines at times for general haulage fail to make good claims for them to be treated, as agricultural locomotives. We observe, with interest, that the Order is made under Section 9 of the Locomotives on Highways Act of 189e—the first Motorcar Act. This section gives the Local Government Board power to vary by Order from time, to time the requirements of sub-section 4 of Section 28 of the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878. The sub-section reads thus:
"The driving wheels of a locomotive .shall be cylindrical and smooth-soled, or shod with
.diagonal cross-bars of not less than three inches
in width nor more than three-quarters of an inch in thickness, extending the full breadth of the tire, and the space intervening between each such cross-bar shall not exceed three inches."
The foregoing requirements have., been modified twice—once by the Order dated the 26th November, 1897, under which wooden blocks were authorized, and once by the Order dated-the 6th February, 1917, under which the temporary use of studs during frost and snow was authorized.
A covering letter from the Local 'Government Board, concerning the new Order, points out to local authorities that the concession as regards cross-bars on driving wheels is made in view of the importance of increasing • the. national food supply. Lord Rhondda is anxious that no obstacle shall be placed in the way of agricultural operations. . It is particularly to be noted that the benefits of the Order are restricted to aglicultural locomotives which do not exceed five tons in weight.
Mr. R. C. Reynolds's Paper.
The paper last month at Manchester, which papet was presented and read by Mr: R. C. Reynolds (Bleachers Association, Ltd.), and of which we have given a verbatim report together with. discussion (completed in our last issue), must prove a valuable contribution to the literature of commercial motoring. We trust that the Manchester, Liverpool and Counties C.M.T.T.A. will decide to have the paper and discussion reprinted in pamphlet form. Both are worthy of further perpetuation in that manner. Those of our readers who have not perused the paper and discussion, amongst the contents of our issues dated the 24th and 31st May, are strongly recommended by us to find the time for that purpose. They will be amply rewarded. The paper is an admirable synopsis, including as it does rench comparative data, of the up-to-date situation in respect of competitive transport. Mr. Reynolds was well-advised when he chose the words " The Competing Power of Commercial Motors" for ate title, and he adhered to his theme throughout, creditably and effectively.
The references to the stagnation of canals for many years, and to their recent rehabilitation, now in course of development, leads us to suggest that motorhaulage contractors might with advantage to themselves seek, in many parts of the country, to establish business and contractual relations with canal companies. It is notorious that canal undertakings have no spare cash : there is frequently insufficient money available to maintain the permanent works, let alone to apply to purchase rolling stock for road transport. Yet the two in combination, one by way of complement to the other, offer great potentialties. In so far as Mr. Reynolds's reference to punctual deliveries from Bolton, Bury and other Lancashire towns to Manchester goes, we must point out that the unsatisfactory experiences of many spinners, weavers, bleachers, dyers and finishers, in and around Manchester and East Lancashire, have been the fundamental cause of their purchasing road motors. Whilst Mr. Reynolds's reference to quick delivery-, and conversely to serious delay, upon railways would appear at first sight to be contradictory, we are quite prepared to agree with him that in selected instances the railways can perform very smart point-to-point collection and delivery. They cannot do it for everybody, and' they cannot do it so well as the independent motor in the majority of cases. If the terminal organization for delivery from the motors were improved and organized, by transhipment on "flats" to horse-drawn lorries, the motor must win every time. Manchester has its special difficulties, arising from delay in the distribution of piece goods, and Mr. Reynolds here insists upon the expediency of separating the terminal work 'from the conveyance service by road motor, a practice which is sometimes followed by owners of such vehicles, where delivery has to be effected at more than, say, three warehouses. He gives terminal cost for horses.
Mr. Reynolds has evidently been at great pains to compile his comparative tables of costs for railways, horses, and road motors. We agree with his findings; they are, in fact, a trifle more in favour of the commercial motor than our own conservative esti
mates on many occasions. We are pleased, therefore, to find so well-known an authority on traffic conditions proving the wisdom of our old-standing methods of putting forward nothing but costs which can be realized under commercial conditions. Again, Mr. Reynolds shows that coal and other mineral traffic can only in exceptional eases be diverted from railways to road, as regards conveyance over any but short distances.
His final summary, we may recall, is this : horsedrawn traffic, 4d.• to ad. per ton-mile ; rail-borne traffic ((Masses 0, 1, 2 and 3, up to a 30-mile radius), 31d. to eid. per ton-mile ; commerciaI-motor traffic, 3d. to 5d. per ton-mile.
He is convinced that, in general terms, commercialmotor traffic can at all times show an average advantage of id. per ton-mile over horse-cum-rail transit, but he points out that, with good organization, and with the means available to provide traffic in both directions, and in the absence of excessive terminal delays, the economy can be made much higher. Mr. Reynolds, we are sure, will be the first to admit that, . in the case of an owner wha can provide his own traffic in both directions, the east per ton-mile, by commercial-motor vehicles, does in favourable cenditions, very often fall to 2d. per ton-mile, or even ' lower. This is all to the good.