The Use oY Coupled Electric Cars and Trailer Cars in London.
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The menace of coupled and trailer tramcars in London will shortly become a fresh and real danger in the streets of the Metropolis—happily on the south side of the Thames only, except across certain bridges. This matter has occupied not inconsiderable space in our last two issues, and we have now to be reconciled to the fact that the House of Lords, on the third reading of the L.C.C. Bill, thought fit to grant the desired powers, subject to the addition of an amendment, which was moved by Lord Greville, under which it is provided that the use of the vehicles in question, subject to the approval of the Board of Trade, shall be "for such periods and on such terms and conditions as may be expressed in such approval. and the Board of Trade may revoke any such approval." That safeguard has been won.
When the representative of the Board of Trade was examined by the House of Lords Committee, on the 23rd of last month, he admitted that he had no knowledge of the manner in which coupled and trailer cars were handled at the terminal points, but he emphasized the intention of the Department to look very closely into matters of route and termini, as much as into those of construction and equipment. Contrary to the practice in Paris, where the ultimate approval of route and termini are vested in police officials, this important departure in London traffic, which is by many competent authorities regarded as being in the nature of a complete upheaval, is removed from the hands of the police. In Paris, the Prefect of Police has power, after a route has been conceded by the Minister of Public Works and settled by a Commission of Engineers, to veto all or any of the proposals, should he consider it necessary to do so in the interests of public safety. There was, we regret to say, considerable equivocation on this point before the House of Commons Committee. The object of the promoters undoubtedly was to escape any control of routes, either at the hands of the Board of Trade or of the Commissioner of Police, and there is still considerable ambiguity as to the extent to which the authorized control of the Board of Trade will be exercised.
The wording of the clause in the L.C.C. Act can be read and construed so as to confer unrestricted powers in respect of the use of trailer cars all over the system, and we believe it will be so read and construed by the L.C.C. and by the Courts. In spite of counsels' professions to the contrary. which apparently satisfied the House of Lords Committee, the phrasing is such that the consent and control of the Board of Trade need only be invoked in the case of coupled cars. Trailers are uncontrolled.
A Bill, once through its various stages in the two Houses, becomes operative as an Act, and we presume that nothing can be raised in law concerning the prior communings of the parties thereto. Whilst it. is probably better that we should not express in words our views upon the astuteness. to use a complimen
tary word, of the parties who are responsible for the manner in which the L.C.C. case was handled, we do not hesitate to express the view that we anticipate the early appearance of a flood of trailers all over the L.C.C. system, without any reference whatsoever to the Board of Trade in respect of the routes upon which the vehicles may be used. In leaving this question of coupled and trailer cars to work out its own salvation, we will merely quote a few lines from a leading article which appeared in our issue of the 20th June last :—" So far as concerns the L.C.C. Tramways Department, notwithstanding the contrary opinion of the officers concerned, we believe the bigger unit will hasten the day upon which the degree of financial loss due to the tramway undertaking will be realized by and made unanswerably apparent to the ratepayers. It is the small and frequent unit which will win the day, and not the unnecessarily-large unit in which the percentage of unoccupied seats must go up practically as does the size. Although we are opposed to trailer and coupled cars on the score of their interference with ordinary wheeled traffic, we should be opposed to them, were we on the tramcar side, on internal grounds."
The Need for Traffic Committees.
Westminster City Council has given an important lead by appointing a traffic committee to deal with the exigencies of present-day conditions. The duty of the police is to assist and direct traffic as they find it upon the highway, but there is no denying the fact that some fresh method of controlling the extent, nature and rights of different classes of traffic is rapidly becoming imperative.
The right to pass along the highway is an ancient one. but it is likely that the unrestrained right to place an unlimited number of traffic units upon the highway, and to arrange for their passage along all streets and sundry, will shortly not be countenanced in the heart of our great cities, and most of all in certain parts of London. The new L.C.C. powers for the use of coupled and trailer tramcars, to which we have already referred, will naturally have the effect of calling attention to the exceptional powers which can be secured when legal ability and considerable expenditure are linked together in association to a degree which goes beyond even that which one is accustomed to associate with the actions of local authorities which they have decided to pour out the ratepayers' money to any particular end. What is the non-statutory user of the highway to do, in the face of organized campaigns to secure Parliamentary sanction for an excessive yet legalized measure of user that is felt to be undue by everybody but the advocates of tramways at all costs ? It appears to us, that some concerted organization will be necessary, and the action by the Westminster City Council is the first definite evidence of any such that has come under our notice. We believe that the intention is to take steps to endeavour to arrange the "one way" use of certain streets., and, a possible
selection of routes for light and fast traffic on the one hand, and for heavy and slow traffic on the other.
The Roads Improvement Association might do much to help in the direction of the formation of other committees of the kind, and it might do very well to begin by taking steps to further the formation of a Parliamentary Uonunittee in each House—not a motor committee only, but a traffic committee. The existence of such committees would prove most helpful, and their formation should not present any exceptional difficulties. It is an open question whether or no tramcar interests should be represented upon them, but we are inclined to favour the inclusion of those interests, for, whilst we strongly object to their becoming dominant by reason of political or other intrigues, or by careful stage management, we recognize that they are of undoubted importance.
As matters stand at the moment, the ordinary user of the highway has not available all the civil and Parliamentary machinery which ought to be at his immediate disposal. To no section of the commercial community is the proposal which we outline of more importance than to owners of inotorvans. They stand to suffer most of all by the undue congestion of the sides of the roadways in consequence of " filchings " of the crown by strings of coupled tramcars.Realization will come abruptly.
Are Increased Prices Justified ?
A "One Hears" paragraph of a fortnight ago read thus : That some makers have put up quotations by 10 per cent., and that others are likely to follow." The extent of the increase to which reference was then made applied, as a matter of fact, to particular models of some makers, but there is evidence that the example will be followed with alacrity. It is, in fact, pretty generally accepted in well-informed circles, that an all-round increase of five per cent is imminent in respect of manufacturers' prices for commercial motors of all sizes and types. We have been asked, during conversations on this topic with prominent users, to express our opinion about the increase which is likely to be an accomplished fact by the time these lines are read, and particularly to say if we consider that quotations which are out should be subject to revision by augmentation as indicated.
i The query n regard to cancellation of quotations still under consideration demands first treatment, as it may conceivably raise questions anent differences in total cost running into as much as several thousands of pounds in respect of large orders. The
question and answer appear to us to be equally direct. A quotation which has been under consideration for several months might, in our judgment, he cancelled, and that action on the part of the manufacturer would not furnish any grounds for serious complaint on the part of those to whom the quotation was given in the first instance. The manufacturer clearly takes the risk of losing the order altogether, by the increase, and the risk of losing the quotation has been accepted by its recipient on account of the delay for which he is responsible. We do not presume to suggest that there can in no case be special circumstances upon which the two sides must effect a. compromise.
On the general question of price increase, there are three principal factors which have to be considered. These are : (I) cost at the factory ; (2) cost of selling ; (3) demand and supply—in other words, the limits of competition at the moment.
It is in the factory cost, and in that alone, that we can find any justification for the increase, and we definitelytake the view that, in many cases, in respect of approved models which have had all their bad points eliminated as a result of extended use under service conditions, the buyer is getting considerably better value than is represented by the nominal increase of five per cent. upon the list prices which were current only last week.
Not only is the purchaser or prospective purchaser assured of better and more suitable materials throughout a chassis, compared with the goods that were available for him to buy a few years ago, but he now has the benefit of designs which are relatively perfect. The costs of materials have steadily advanced, largely by reason of increased charges for fuel, labour and transport, and we see no reason why there should be an outcry on the one hand, or any diminution of orders on the other, because of this reasonable increase. It is in all senses reasonable, when one has regard to the circumstances of the day, and of the trade of which we write.
The cost of selling has not been reduced sufficiently to balance the increased cost of production, so far as we can ascertain by personal inquiries in quarters to which we are accustomed to look for reliable information when points of this class arise. Output has. not become standardized or increased in degrees which have introduced any very considerable economies, as compared with, say, a couple of years ago, and any such economies have been very greatly exceeded by the higher costs under the heads to which we have already referred. Sales and follow-up expenditure has not diminished appreciably, as a ratio)
in respect of total outgo, in spite of the frequency with which repeat orders have been placed of late.
Turning, lastly, to the all-important bearing of demand and supply, it is here that we find the best argument in support of the increase which has now been virtually adopted by tacit consent. Business in commercial motors is limited to no one country of the world, and the demand from overseas has grown to such an extent that it is no uncommon experience to find a. single manufacturer with as many as 60 or 70 N chitties on order for a single colony, commonwealth or union. It is altogether the exception, and then iu respect of one or two models only, to find a manufacturer who can give very early delivery. Thus, with reasonable grounds for concluding that enough trade is in sight to maintain the industry in a state of briskness for several years ahead, does the influence of free competition become of less effect than it otherwise would t Everybody is pretty fully occupied.
Free competition still exists, but an interchange of opinions between a few leading manufacturers has not taken long to find its echoes and responses. We have no reason to conclude that this advance in prices will be the forerunner of others to come at an early date. Did we think so, we should have to treat the subjeet in quite a different manner, and to point out the fresh inducements which would thereby be provided for new accessions to the side of the industry with which we are concerned. Having regard to the useful influence in any manufacturer's balance-sheet of an all-round increase of five per cent. on selling prices, and to the fact that any increase on first cost is amortized over periods varying from six to ten years in the books of the purchasers, we feel that, whilst of material importance to the producer, the difference can in no wise be adverse to the consumer.
The consumer, as a matter of fact, is getting a firstclass article, and he has neither cause nor occasion to protest against paying for value given and received.
The First British Subvention Trials.
To-day and yesterday have been allotted by the responsible W.O. officials for the preliminary inspection of the few military-type lorries which have been entered for the first series of trials, to be held by the departmental authorities of the British Army during the present month. These trials, which were first of all to have taken place in the early part of July, will now extend over the whole of the month of August. Owing, however, to a remarkable combination of circumstances, for which the executive is almost entirely responsible, these tests will be chiefly remarkable for the fact that they will emphasize the necessity for drastic alterations in the methods which are at present de rigueur in connection with the mechanicaltransport department of the British Army.
We have been amused, for some while past, to note he ponderous efforts which have been made in order, as far as possible, to preserve an atmosphere of secrecy in connection with the intentions of the Department. Contestants, even, have been kept in ignorance of the names of other competitors.
Lagging behind the principal Continental powers to a lamentable degree so far as the employment of motor transport in connection with Army organization is concerned, the policy of this country has been ene of regrettable patchwork—a policy, in fact, which k chiefly remarkable for the paucity and the tardiness of the results achieved. We have written that we have been amused to notice the attempted secrecy which has characterized the, shall we write, decisions of the authorities in connection with the evolution of suitable machines and of their subvention, hut we can no longer hesitate to emphasize the gravity of a situation which deliberately and intentionally attempts to leave in the dark all but a few of the principal manufacturers of industrial vehicles in this country. Why are the others missed out?
Wt. have throughout, fortunately, been in a position to keep many of our manufacturing friends in
formed of the progress of the deliberations and decisions of the Department, or of those who for the time being handle or mishandle this branch, and it may be recalled that we were able to give publicity to the draft specification which had been, with a considerable measure of secrecy, circulated to a few manufacturers some weeks earlier. The correctness of that draft was thereupon confirmed by question and answer in the House of Commons.
At, the time of going to press, it appears that there will be not more than three of the 4A-ton-class WarOffice lorries submitted to trial this month, and of these it is not certain that all of them will weigh in. This poor entry is the direct result of mismanagement and needless secretiveness on the part of the responsible War Office committee. Why, we ask again, should it be necessary to restrict inquiries to a few selected manufacturers? Why is it that other important manufacturers have not been approached in connection with these trials, or as to the manufacture of suitable lorries? Why is the country to be deprived of the experience and pre-eminent manufacturing ability of the industry at large? What justification, in short, is there for any of this attempted hole-inthe-corner method of providing the country with adequate mechanical-transport units?
We shall, of course, continue to inform our readers of the progress of the Mechanical Transport Committee's investigations, and, moreover, we shall not hesitate to press for more-intelligent and less-restricted endeavours to secure the right sort of vehicles, in the right sort of numbers, in the right period of time. We are satisfied that the participating vehicles are good ones. The point is, Why are they so few in number?
The competing machines in these August trials were to have assembled yesterday at 11 a.m. at the Army Service Corps Mechanical Transport Headquarters at Aldershot, and to-day and yesterday, as we have already written, the preliminary examinations, together with the weighing and measuring formalities, have been proceeding. Products of the fiallford and Leyland works are certain starters, and in all probability the Thornycroft will also be presented. These machines represent the type of lorry which has in carry a load, including body, or 4 tons 10 cwt. Provision has had to be made for a driver, an observer, a mechanic and "one other person." Subsequent to the preliminary inspection, for a period of eight days there will be return-journey runs frem Aldershot, and amongst the towns which will be visited in the course of these trips will be Southampton, Arundel, Kingsclere, Southsea and Basingstoke. The average daily runs will be about 80 miles in length, and these will take place on all the available week days ; Sundays will be treated as rest days. At the end of next week, the lorries will be taken for one day on a run to Woolwich, and from there similar runs to those which will have taken place from Aldershot will be made for a period of about seven days. Amongst the towns visited from this second centre will be Maidstone, Sevenoaks and Tunbridge. During four of these days' the runs will include tours of the worst part of London trafficaround the docks, through the Illackwall Tunnel, and, as a matter of fact, as near the city as Tooley Street. On the 24th inst., the lorries will be run back to Aldershot, and on the two last days of the month they will be opened up for inspection.
The whole trial will embrace a mileage of approximately 1350 miles, and of this the routes will be divided into two sections—those which come under an average classification, and those which are scheduled as hilly.
Although these trials, owing to the fact that there are so few competing machines, which poor entry is definite evidence of the unsatisfactory nature of the preliminary arrangements, are of comparative unimportance, we shall briefly inform our readers of their progress during the month.