A Big Deal Which Will Relieve Transport.
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THE PURCHASE by Mr. Henry Spurrier, of Ley • lands, of theSt. Omer "park" of R.A.F. lorries, cars, tenders, motorcycles, spare parts, etc., is a • sign of the times, for the manufacturers were, for quite a icing -period, averse to the sinking of their money in the re-purchase of surplus vehicles.
In fact, the existence of the Cippenham factory (or the continuance of the scheme after the Armistice had rendered it unnecessary, in the opinion of many qualified to judge), is said to be the outcome of the hesitancy on the part of the commercial vehicle and private motorcar makers to assume the responsibility for repairing or disposing of the surplus vehicles. Their first practical proposal to the Government was that the vehicles should be returned:to their respective makers for thorough ,overhaul, the vehicles then to be sold on account of the Government, the makers remixing payment for the repair work and a com mission on the re-sale. Thetrade also required Government assistance in the financing of the operation, which would have involved the extension of buildings and plant.
Thecanister proposal of the Government was that the makers should themselves re-purchase the vehicles and shoulder all the responsibility. This did not meet with the approval of the British makers, and the negotiations, at this point, broke down, and were followed by a decision to dispose of the 'surplus vehicles by auction, first putting them into a more saleable -condition than that to which months of exposure to the elements in the mud of Kempton Park -had, already, brought so many.
This decision provided, also, a "way out" for the .advocates for continuing the construction of the Cippen.ham factory, but it was not until Mr. S. A. Wallace, the chief engineer of the Associated Equipment Co., of Waltluirristow, was asked to organize the repair and overhaul of the vehicles that anything was really effected. He, certainly, revolutionized matters at Cippenham and, during the railway strike in par-ticular, got a Jarge number of vehicles on-the road. He met with great opposition from the War Office when he wanted to put his hands on the " Stock at Manufacturers" of spare components, and the contradictory orders received by the manufacturers, from the War Office on the one hand and the Ministry of Munitions on the other, 'caused considerable amusement when publicity was given to the correspondence in The Times and The Commercial Motor. However, manufacturers were quite willing to clear their stores of. material which 'belonged to the authorities and of which they themselves saw no chance of scouring control, so Mr. Wallace got his parts and was able to accelerate output of overhauled vehicles.
The new phase inthe history of the disposal of surplus vehicles is the bold purchase by Mr. Spurrier. He secures abciut 959 Leyland lorries, some Crossley tenders, a few Fords, and some trailers and motorcycles, and equally important, a great stock of spare parts. The importance of the deal to the 'Leyland Co. is that a. large number of their awn vehicles and component parts -become available for treatment and for the relief of the congested order books of the company. The failure to secure production (to whomsoever the fault may be attributable) and, the prolonged Moulders' strike have caused decisions of this kind which would riot have been seriously considered a year or more ago. That there will be no delay in bringing the vehicles to England, overhauling and. delivering them to customers, one feels assured, and because of the quick relief of transport which will thus be effected Mr. Spurrier is to be congratulated upon the boldness of his venture.
The Petrol Duty the Fairest Means of Taxing
Motor Vehicles. _ Motor Vehicles. _
THE ATTENTION that has been devoted to the question of the provision of some new basis of motor vehicle, taxation, to take the place of taxation on petrol, does not appear to have brought us much nearer to any satisfactory alternative, and, in our opinion, the Chancellor -of the Exchequer must be prepared (if it be agreed that the increase of taxation must be as fair as it is possible to make it) for the continuance of this method of securing.revenue.
It is apparent that. the -sum to be obtained annually from motor taxation ca.nnet be placed at a lower total figure than 28,000,000, and, as the chief use of this money will be as a contribution towards the improvement of existing roads and the provision of new ones, it, is -only right that -taxation should bear, a close relation to use. By taxing petrol, this is more nearly effected than by any other means so far suggested. Lump sum taxation based, on horse-power or weight cannot act so fairly, because itleaves out of account periods of disuse—which are inevitable, whatever may be said in favour of providing incentives to keeping vehicles on the road. If, the tax he imposed on weight or horse-power, it is obvious that if every similar vehicle be taxed alike, each will be assumed 6 cover the same annual mileage—which is ob7ielesly wrong, and will bear no relation to use.
If the petrol tax be abolished, the concession in the form of a rebate of one-half the duty given to users of commercial motor vehicles must go with it, and it is difficult to see what can be given them in exchange. Local authorities could be deprived of the power to levy a toll upon the use of their roads by omnibus services, but that would not assist the user of the commercial vehicle.
We believe that the method Of collecting duty on petrol can be so simplified as to overcome the whole of the present troubles, which are alleged to arise out of the difficulty of defining the term " motor spirit," and the further difficulty of dealing with claims for rebate and drawback. The present systems of dealing with these two points are altogether too complicated, and a simple system to take their place has been drafted and will, we hope, be submitted to the committee on taxation which has been appointed by the Minister of Transport.
Reducing Unsprung Weight.
MORE AND MORE attention is being paid to the important question of reducing, so far as . possible, the unsprung weight on all types of commercial vehicles, particularly the heavier ones. On the lighter models this weight is not of such importance, especially when the vehicle is fitted with pneumatic tyres, though certainly the greater this weight, even with pneumatic tyres, the greater will be the wear on these tyres. Certain vehicles, which had attained quite good reputations before the war, came9Very near to losing these reputations—or getting bad ones—owing to the way in which their heavy rear axles broke up under the arduous conditions of service which ruled in the various war areas. Itkis hardly fair to base criticisms upon performances Under abnormal conditions, but they threw light upon the great importance of springing as much as possible of the weight, or of designing rear axles so that they can be made considerably lighter without reducing their strength. This has been done to a certain extent by substituting pressings and forgings in place of the heavy castings previously employed. The matter is becoming more urgent in view of the fact that, in a recent speech made by , Sir Eric Geddes, Minister of ■ Transport, he mentioned that the speeds of heavy commercial motor vehicles might well be increased. If official objections are;•overcome and the permissible speeds are actuallylin.creased, manufacturers will have to design accordingly, and one of the most important points which will have to receive serious attention will be the considerable unsprung weight which is, met with on many chassis.
• We do not hold a brief for any particular type of axle ; all have their good and bad points. Chain final drive, though not in favour in all quarters, gives practically the minimum unsprung weight, and this is one reason why it has been so successful on the heaviest types of petrol and steam vehicles.
An axle which appears to be achieving, considerable success on Amenican vehicles is the double type comprising a load-carrying member and. a torqueconveying member. In thia type of axle, the weights of the right-angle drive, and differential and' of' the cases which carry these, can be reduced considerably, as the larger gear reduction is between the internal gears at the wheels and, thus, the torque transmitted by the right-angle drive and differential is much less than in'the ordinary type of axle. Makers of this type' ofaxle claim a saving in axle weight alone, on a five-ton vehicle, of 700 lb., and as it is considered by engineers that unsprung weight is ten times more destructive on tyres than sprung weight, this saving is equivalent to over 7,000 lb. in the load as regards wear on tyres. Internal-gear drive has proved quite successful on many vehicles, but it has not yet made any great appeal in this country to either manufacturers or c16
users, though probably this is chiefly a matter of prejudice. We do not go so far as to say that the double type axle is by any means the last word, and we believe that the designers in this country are quite capable of producing other types which will meet the conditions of service which may prevail in • the near future.
NDeliveries to Overseas Markets. . OW that the matter of catering for the Overseas markets is being considered, we max, perhaps, be permitted to remark that the best pro paganda, were it possible, -.1.vould take the form of strict adherence to quoted price and to quoted date of delivery. Unfortunately; the prices of what the motor industry calls its raw materials are so variable that it is practically impossible for the motor manufacturer to give a fair and firm quotation for a vehicle to be delivered several months later.
This being so, he ought at least to make it perfectly apparent in his .quotation that theprice may subsequently be varied. The prospective buyer may overlook an unobtrusive note to that effect buried somewhere in a fairly lengthy document,. but the fact that he is legally wrong does not make him any more pleased with the manufacturer. When it comes to the point as regards delivery elites, it ought, surely, to be poseibleefor all manufacturers to do as some of them are already doing, which is to allocate a definite number of deliveries for Overseas trade and to stick to this as rigidly as possible. The Overseas buyer rightly on occaSions, _ but wrongly for the most part, believes that his deliveries are delayed because the home buyer, placing his orders at a later date, isgiven preference and, so long as he adheres to a, belief of this kind, all the propaganda in the world will not suffice to persuade him to place his business in the mother country.
Motors Under the Projected' New Act.
HEN WE APPROACH the whole question of the future of the law governing the use and construction of motor vehicles, we are bound to find that, in any general Act dealing with the subject, it will be necessary to confer upon some Minister or department a number of powers for the enforcement of regulations, which may be varied from time to time.
We cannot embody in an Act of Parliament all those minor rules about construction and use which are liable to become obsolete as time goes en. We must deal rather with the main principles, leaving somebody with the necessary authority to apply these principles in specific -cases, or in specific ways and for terminable periods. Among the various powers which it appears necessary to vest in the Minister of Transport is that which will entitle him to limit, -or prohibit, the use of some particular road or class of road by any particular class of vehicle. Without such powers, it 1.13 difficult to see h'ow he can be in a position effectively to tackle problems of road congestion in certain districts. He must, for instance, be enabled to insist that, altogether, or between certain hours, various congested roads in and near the City of London shall not be used by slow-moving horsed vehicles. It is reasonable that he should be able to prohibit the emploYment of very cumbrous fast or slow vehicles in very narrow lanes, which, being constructed only for casual lecal traffic, probably have not either the foundation or the sarface to render them suitable for traffic generally.
The difficulty is that the powers granted in such respects must be fairly wide, and, if they are wide, they evidently render it Possible that they will be applied without due regard to the just rights of all classes of motor traffic. It would not do to open the door 80 wide that any local authority, which grossly neglects its duty of maisitaining its local roads, has only to apply to the Minister of Transport to get the use of those roads by heavy motor vehicles pro hibited. • There is another real difficulty when we come to consider certain congested roads, m and near towns, along which tram lines are laid. It may be considered that, in some such roads, the traffic is excessive and that, therefore, a Part of it must be diverted, or prohibited if there is no alternative route. The Minister in such a case would, presuniably, have power to prohibit motor omnibus traffic. Would he have similar powers to insist upon the cessation of existing tramway traffic I Presumably the trams have been put on, in the first instance, after Parliamentary authority has been secured. In that case we take it that the -Minister could not overrule Parliament, even though, in the interval which had elapsed since the tramway system was authorized, circumstances might have changed altogether, rendering the system no longer desirable from any point of view. • Thus we have a very awkward position. The traffic is excessive. Omnibuses and trams both take part in it. The trams n.re responsible for the greater measure of obstruction, and yet it must be the bus and not the tram that will be prohibited if the Minister has any power to prohibit either.