No Wilful Misdescriptions
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of Goods in Motorvan Transit.
Railway companies are empowered, under various Acts and particularly by the Railway Clauses Act ot 1s43, to recover penalties from traders who deliberately apply incorrect descriptions to their goods. The temptation to consignors, in connection with railway transport, to apply fraudulent misdescription, is considerable, in view of the wide variations in rates according to classification, Books might be filled with anecdotes—some merely interestlug, others rather tragic in their results—about misdescriptions of the kind and their consequences.
In motorvan transit, both the occasion and the opportunity for similar difficulties to arise are distinctly remote. We do not suggest that as motorcarrying develops, there will not of necessity be an advance towards regular classification, but we shall not see the same degree of complexity In rating as that which proves so cumbersome and irritating in railway practice. A closer approach to the unification or rates is undoubtedly possible in motorvan transit, and, of coarse, when writing only of the owner who transports his own goods or merchandise, there is an absolute remedy against troubles of the kind. The owner of a motorvan is concerned only to see a certain earning per mile run, and the railway elements which enter into the compilation of so many rates in the railway classification, such as the effects of repeated handlings and of train shocks, do not apply to him. The risk of miscarriage removed, motorvan transit also offers the attraction of freedom from worry in regard to description on consignment.
The Uncommercial War Office.
Elsewhere in this issue we publish the draft of the War-Office terms for the subsidizing of new petrol vehicles. This scheme must not be confused with the temporary scheme for the subsidizing of existing vehicles, full details of which were given in our issue of the 28th September, and which scheme has, we understand, been supported to the point that is considered to meet the War-Office demands in connection with it.. The larger scheme, which holds out to buyers constructional and annual bonuses, is the one about which we desire to say something now.
The general specification is one. which is probably desirable from the military point of view, but it is distinetly uncommercial in many respects, and we think it is extremely doubtful if the subventions will counterbalance the involved disadvantages qua ordin ary service and use. Most important of all, the vehicles will be over-powered for ordinary requirements, and that will mean a continuous excess outgo upon fuel—a matter of real moment at a time when he price of motor spirit is tending upwards. in the second place, the specification of large-diameter r diving wheels will raise many difficulties in connection' with loathing and unloading, quite apart from the absence of uniformity between front and back wheels,
which uniformity is a feature to vliich no small amount of importance is attached by many owners. In the next place, the range of gear variation in the transmission, which is specified to be no less than five to one, is quite abnormal, and introduces constructional features which are not at all likely to commend themselves to the industry, or to commercial users, seemg that, from the standpoint of the latter, the risk or over-driving is involved—a lowest-gear speed of 4 nip. Ii,, with the ratio named, means 20 m.p.h. in top gear. Again, why does the War Office say that. it will not have a worm drive h Also, huge radiators and governed engines are largely things of the past, although to the former no serious objection is likely to be raised—unless it be proved to bring the weight tip a. little too much. This weight question is one of real moment, because the War-Office specification for a. 30-cwt. vehicle is such that machines constructed to comply with it cannot possibly take advantage of any legal speed in excess of 12 m.p.h., whereas motorVZIUS of that type are required, commercially, to travel at times at speeds as high as 16 m.p.h. or 17 m.p.h., and sometimes to average, in fiat country, 15 m.p.h. We cannot regard the specification as a commercial one, and it looks to us as though it would add something like S.',100 to the selling cost, compared with an ordinary commercial model to carry the same load. The supposed benefit of the subvention will, we fear, in practice prove to be more than absorbed by added charges due to compliance with the specification. We anticipate that it will be "turned down "—both by members of the industry, and by large purchasers of commercial vehicles.
Reflex Lights in Relation to -GI
Quick Transit by Motorvan.
The use of reflex lights calls for every encouragement at the hands of owners of motorvans. The unlighted cart, toiling slowly along a country road, is constantly a source of danger to life and property, and increasingly so in these days of rapid motorvan transit upon the highways of the country. We have strongly advocated the use of reflex lights, and we again commend them to the serious attention of all readers of this journal.
The unique feature of the reflex light is its capacity, in the absence of self-illuminating power, to indicate the whereabouts of the vehicle to which it is affixed. It consists essentially of a specially-shaped lens of red-coloured glass, backed by a reflector, and the true. reflex light returns a beam to the driver of any overtaking vehicle which itself carries a sufficient source of light. We advisedly use the qualifying word " true " in view of the factthat there are so-called reflex lights which vary immensely in their manner of reflecting the beam. The best lights of the kind are those which will return the beam to the eye of the overtaking driver at times when he is not immediately behind the unlighted vehicle ahead of him. The certificates and report of the Royal Automobile Club, which undertook e.x117,:stiYe trials are-i experiments some 15 months ago, show that the best reflex light, although not the cheapest, is that known as the " Lea," and it is satisfactory to know that the Commercial Motor Users Association has made arrangements, through the Royal Automobile Club, for the purchase and supply of these reflex lights on most-favourable terms. This co-operative purchase scheme is limited to members. The prices range from Is. eel. to 2s. 6d, each, according to size— of those which are considered ample for the purposes in view. There are larger sizes, but the smaller ones have proved to do all that is necessary. We appeal to supporters of this journal to urge the claims of reflex lights upon carriers and all owners of slow-moving horse-drawn vehicles, in counties where universal-lighting by-laws are not in force. Amongst the best arguments that can be used are the following : (a) that attachment of the reflex light will protect the man who fits it against the risk of collision ; (b) that it costs nothing for upkeep, seeing that neither oil nor wick is required ; (c) that it will be an advantage to fit them now, in view of the fact that their fitting will probably be made compulsory very soon. The reflex light, we admit., only safeguards the van driver from the risk of smashing into an unlighted vehicle from behind, but that risk is the greatest. Practically every cart displays a lamp of some kind in front.
Undue Silence.
Even within the past decade this existence of ours has been " speeded up" to a degree which is almost alarming, if due consideration be given to the subject. Neurasthenia, neuritis and kindred nerve troubles are evidence of a movement in which our industry has played no inconspicuous part. It is in
advisable to attcnipt to set a limit to the ultimate expansion of the modern methods of doing things. Yet it is permissible to wonder if we are not, even in this stage of advancement, rapidly tending towards the overdoing of things. The craze for improvement and for advancement is causing practical limitations to be lost sight of. We build bigger ships every year, and it takes an iceberg 10 times their size to cause us to ask ourselves what will be the size of the ultimate biggest. This is hardly an age of intelligent compromise ; it is rather one of headlong development. We are undoubtedly overdoing things in many directions already. One instance is the extent to which the silence of motor vehicles is nowadays insisted upon. The silence of many a modern pleasure ear is pleasant to the owner, but. it is fraught with danger to the pedestrian. This fetish of absence of noise is now no less noticeable in connection with a number of commercial models. The early days of the industrial-vehicle movement were made hideous by wild noises from immature models. The nerves of the London public were sorely tried, not more than five years ago, by the agonized but synchronized groaning of Vanguards and the chromatic wailing of short-wheelbase Pioneers. The Noise Committee of Scotland Yard, in those days, had its work cut out.. All praise to it that it forced the evolution of machines which are now among the quietest of all the hundreds of thousands of London's own vehicles. The case of the London bus undoubtedly set a standard of design and silence for the industrial vehicle all over the country. The " roar of London's traffic," quoted as often as the exploits of the New Zealander on London Bridge, is not nearly so insistent as it was some 20 years ago, when the use of rubber was confined to a few classes of horsed
carriages and to cycles. The granite sett was then more in evidence ; the era of wood paving had not arrived. To-day our best models of self-propelled industrial vehicles are silent to a point approaching that of inefficiency. In our opinion in many cases they are too quiet. They are quieter than the tramcar, quieter than the horsed vehicle, quieter than the tube, quieter than the majority of pleasure cars. Undue noise most certainly betokens undue wcar and tear, but undue silence is also unnecessary. There is no reason why the Noise Committee should have one standar-1 for licensed public motor vehicles and another for all other classes of vehicles. We are overdoing this craze for silence to the imminent jeopardy of already-harassed foot passengers and to the handicapping of the industrial vehicle against all its other competitors—even against the pleasureear with its noisy gear reduction and half-open exhaust., despite the latest Home Office Order. There is reason for quietude, but. there is no need for absolute silence.
L.C.C. Tramcars.
The. accounts of the L.C.C. tramcars, for the year ended the 31st March last, profess to show " after all proper charges have been debited to the net revenue account a net surplus of R,232,727. How this figure can be regarded as a net surplus, before provision is made for renewals, is beyond our comprehension. Pursuant to the resolution of the L.C.C. dated the 23rd June, 1908, such provision is to be made at the rate of .67d. per car-mile, for the time being, and this absorbs 2129,229 of the above alleged surplus, leaving
103,498 to be carried—also in accordance with a. resolution of the Council, to a general reserve fund to provide for "general contingencies.'
The revenue per car-mile has steadily fallen, since 1907, from 11.95d. to 11.00d, for the year now ended.
We are, in common with other students of L.C.C. finance, at a loss to know how the accounts will be -balanced' when the revenue falls by another .25d. or more per car-mile. The L.C.C. cannot escape from the consequences of its having embarked huge capital SUMS in a system which is proving out of date .for London, and the use of which involves enormous public inconvenience and a heavy annual loss to the eommercial community. Compared with motorbuses, the L.C.C. tramcars occupy a great deal more of the highway, in relation to the number of passengers carried. That point has yet to be sent home.
Briefly put, the total income of the L.C.C. trains pales into insignificance compared with the loss of money to the public at large due to the obstruction which the trams cause, and the correctness of that contention can be demonstrated, even on the conservative basis of one hour's delay per day to, say, 70,000 of London's vans, lorries, motorcabs and motorbuses. How much longer the community will tolerate this appalling waste of money and time is a matter which has a magnetic interest for all who are observant of traffic changes.
The L.C.C. is hoping to do something to reduce expenses by coupling huge tramcars together, but we doubt if there is the least prospect of success for this project., partly on account of the legitimate grounds upon which it can and will be opposed by other traffic interests, and partly, we feel most confident, because the Labour Party will never view with favour the idea of cutting down expenses by making one driver work two vehicles.
The Lt.cation of the C.M.U.A.
Parade of Whit-Monday next.
After consultation with Sir Edward Henry,
the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the Parade Committee of the Commercial Motor Users Association has definitely fixed upon the Albert Embankment, in the immediate vicinity of the Tate Gallery, for the holding of the sixth annual parade. The vehicles will take up their stations to the west of Millbank Street, backing up to the pavement on the river side of the thoroughfare, and the line will probably extend beyond Vauxhall Bridge. Several hundred vehicles will thus extend in practically unbroken line, with the river behind them, and with various vell-known public buildings in front of them, whilst freedom of passage along the broad carriageway will he maintained for such traffic as is passing to and fro on Whit-Monday. But for the fact that Millbank Street is at. present under repair, there is little doubt that arrangements might have been made for the head of the line to extend right up to the Houses of Parliament. This year, for the reason indicated, it will not be allowed to extend quite so far east.. At the conclusion of the parade, however, there may be opportunities to get photographs of some of the competing vehicles with backgrounds of historic interest, as they pass along St. Margaret Street, which lies between Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.