The Ramp in Fuel Prices.
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THE SUDDEN RAISING of the price of petrol and benzole on Monday of ,last week by seven pence per gallon, without a word of warning to the purchaser, is evidence of the general callousness apt to be shown nowadays in business. One knows all the old arguments about the way in which' American interests control the prices at U.S.A. ports, and that, even at present retail prices here, there is little or no profit. in it to the distributors, but the evidence of a flagrant ramp seems to be there in the simultaneous and similar increase in the price of benzole.. We are asked to believe it was a mere coincidence—but it is indeed hard to believe.
On the arguments of the petrol companies, prices for the life blood of transport may go soaring to any figure for which the may be squeezed— on the basis of the -Samuelian dictum—but surely the limit has been reached, and now is the time for the public to rise and to insist upon some useful action on the part of the Government. There is always a• danger of the consumer becoming reconciled to an increase after the first fluili of indignation, thus lelaving the petrol suppliers with a new and higher jumping-off place. How often has this already occurred? We have seen the price of petrol rise steadily from less than a shilling a•gallon, and at 3s. 84d. (retail price for 'No. 2 quality) little or nothing in the way of comment, let alone protest, has been heard for many weeks.
Something must be done in the way of producing alternative fuels, for the impost has become insufferable. Power alcohol is a long way off, but, latterly, advances have been made in low temperature carbonization of coal—to so great an extent, in fact, that it would not be unreasonable now to suggest that notice should be given that, in, say, seven or ten years, the consumption of raw coal for doinestic, industrial, or power purposes shall be prohibited.
We burn, in this country, about 200,000,000 tens of raw coal per annum. Three gallons of motor spirit can, inter alma, be recovered from every ton so consumed, which would give us 600,000,000 gallons of fuel available for transport purposes. The smokeless domestic fuel that would remain would total 140,000,000 tons—claimed to be equal for domestic purposes in radiant efficiency to double the amount of raw coal.
The difficulties that have stood in the ,way of the successful carbonization of coal by means of low temperature have been overcome., The retorts are now capable of being constructed so that they are not -liable to distortion. Adequate provision can now be made for the expansion of the fuel in the process of coking, and, by the adoption of altered methods of quenching, the fuel will now retain the lump form, and will not _pulverize in transit. With the removal of these difficulties low temperature carbonization has entered the realm of practical politics, and every encouragement should now be given to the process, so that immediate and rapidly increasing supplies of home-produced fuel may become available.
Co-operation Amongst Motor Coach Proprietors.
E MOTOR COACFI movement has made its advance thia year. Circumstances have held it in cheek for six years, but, during that interval, the public's love of the open road has developed, so that the. motor coach movement has gone forward this summer with a great rush. Nor must we forget the part played by the enormous growth of public confidence in motor transport.
The result of this rapid development has been to introduce a number of anomalies in the methods of administering the licensing laws. Scarcely two neighbouring licensing authorities have adopted similar sets of regulations„ and the result is confusion, injustice, and much heartburning. In one town a coach proprietor will be subjected to such conditions and restrictions that he is unable to compete on the same terms with, or to make the same profit earned by, the more fortunate 8wner operating from a town a few miles away and covering much the same ground There are other little troubles which arise from lack of co-operation, and the time has certainly arrived when, before another season's trade he entered upon, motor tcoach proprietors should be brought together in order to lay down certain methods of trading, and to secure a code of regulations which shall be universal. Such a code should be laid down by the Ministry of Transport, and departures from it, in the case of any local licensing authority, should only be permitted in order to meet some particular local set of conditions. Our own opinion is definitely in favour of the Commercial Motor Users Association continuing the good work which it has already undertaken with the aid of its Motor Coach Proprietors Committee, but the organization should be extended to embrace all proprietors, from the man who owns a single vehicle up to the proprietors of fleets. On pages 72 and 73 of this issue the opinions of proprietors themselves are given, and it will be seen that there is, at present, a great deal of divergence in them. We have suggested to the chairman of the National Council of the Commercial Motor Users Association that he should convene a meeting of motor coach proprietors, to be held in London during the rim of the Commercial Motor Vehicle Show, and we are glad to say that he has adopted. the .suggestion, and will move to give effect to it. Some of the matters that could then be brought forward to provide material for the future activities of the organization are referred to on page 65, in connection with the views concerning the formation of a coach proprietors' association for Liverpool district, Cheshire, and North Wales. And we trust that co operation amongst motor coach proprietors will extend so far that they will combine together in the one National association, with local branches or sections, and not into ,A number of disjointed associations.
The Need of Transport in Emergencies.
AT THE RECENT MEETING of the British Association, stress was laid on the importance of fish as a food and, incidentally, upon the' fact that no small proportion of our available fish supply is wasted owing to the failure of transport, particularly when required to deal with a sudden glut due to an exceptionally .big catch.
It is obvious that the motor vehicle is the only practical solution of this transport difficulty, particularly if, as is often the case, supplies are brought in to small ports where railway facilities are extremely limited, if they exist at all. The main difficulty is, of course, that the demand for transport for the pinpose under consideration is sudden and only occasional. The maintenance of a regular fleet of vehicles for this specific purpose in any one locality is not justified. One cannot, therefore, depend on private enterprise, but the question is whether the Government might not be justified in maintaining a certain number of small fleets at local depots to deal itith sudden temporary demands within a given area. In. this way we could get over the somewhat similar diffioulty of shortage of local transport during the brief period when fruit crops are coming in.
Again, there may be temporary demands in connection with housing schemes and other matters. If the scheme were worked out at all, it would evidently have to be not unconnected with the requirements of the War Department. The maintenance of the fleets might provide useful occupation for the permanent nucleus of the mechanical transport organization of the army. It is, however, very difficult to arrange for departmental oo-operation in such matters, and, therefore, it is to be feared that there is no great likelihood of anything being done.
Pneumatic Tyre Progress.
OBSERVATION of the motor coach traffic at many of the seaside resorts does not reveal much progress in pneumatic tyring. Though many coach proprietors are taking a great interest in the development,. few of them seem to be ready to face the cost of this equipment and the expenses of conversion of vehicles at present fitted with solid tyres. There is no question but that the air-filled tyre B24 would immensely increase the popularity of the coach, and would enormously extend the possible radius of action, but it certainly appears that, for real progress in this direction, we must look tai the manufacturers. If the pneumatic tyre is to come into the general use which optimistic persons foresee, it must be through the action -of makers in designing -vehicles specially to run upon them and equipped with wheels suitable to take them. Pneumatic tyring would, of course, introduce new problems into the motor coach business, not the least of which would be that of speed. Full advantage can only be taken of air-filled tyres providing that use can be made of the increased speed possibilities which they provide.
Freedom Which is Not Freedom.
THE REPORT by the British Labour Delegation to Russia on the results of labour conditions in that country should not be uninstruetive to the men in the motor and other engineering industries. While personal freedom, together with freedom of speech, is severely repressed, the laxity of discipline leads to poor results in the factories. Various methods have bema tried with a .view to stimulating production, which is so bad-that it is admitted by our labour representatives to amount almost to a catastrophe. This is attributed. by them not only to the want of qualified'workers, but to weak discipline among the men and to the abolition of piece-work. • The disastrous effect of a falling off of production on the commerce of a country is sufficiently obvious, and, therefore 5 it is instructive to note that, in what purports to be a highly socialistic regime, piece-work has had to be reintroduced and labour made compulsory.
Shakespeare Up to Date.
pORTIA IN her famerus address on mercy in "The Merchant of Venice," tells old Shylock "to do a great right to do a little wrong." A few centuries have elapsed since Shakespeare coined the immortal phrase, and the police authorities in several parts of the country have roused themselves to the application of the precept. Just outside Liverpool, police motorcyclists have been driving at 18, 20, and 23 miles per hour for the excitement of racing fast motor lorries and bringing the driver to justice. Without being so anarchic as to aver the utter futility of the law, as it is at present understood, it would appear that the authorities are rapidly drifting on and on until one day the news will be blazed forth that the forces of the Crown can do no wrong. From the point of view of the cyclist or the pedestrian, a uniformed motorcyclist, by reason of the fact that he is bent on overtaking a vehicle that has preceded him on the road, is a greater potential evil than any other class of motorist, yet, while he is employed to maintain the law, he can flout it With impunity. If the speed regulations are 'Teally and truly designed to serve .the public interest, and if they are to have any validity at all, it is essential that they should be observed by all, without exception._ The police do not do a great right by doing a little wrong in racing along as they have done. In reality, they commit, in the light of their excessive speed, a greater offence still. It is a true saying " Set a thief to catch a thief," but one is no better than the other ; if anything he is worse. However, what applies in civil life does not apply in the sphere of police administration, but we are quite unable to perceive by what method the authorities merge two blacks into one white.