Mechanical Transport in the Colonies.
Page 2
Page 4
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Evidence of Departmental Activity.
An important circular letter, which we are enabled to reproduce, was sent out by the Colonial Office, to all nonresponsible Government Colonies and Protectorates (including Cyprus), a little less than two years ago. The replies are naturally voluminous, but a large proportion is wholly of local interest; further, numbers of the answers make it amply clear that mechanical transport is out of the question until initial clearances are effected and light roads constructed. We have, however, apart from the reproduction of the official circular and its schedule of queries, abstracted those portions of the replies which we consider to present a fair summary of the views which are held in the 40 Colonies and Protectorates by the officials to whom the enquiries were addressed.
[COPY.]
The Secretary of State to the Governors, etc.
Sir, Downing Street, August 15th, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to inform you that my attention has been called to the growing use of methods of Mechanical Transport, other than railways, for the conveyance of passengers and goods, and that I have been impressed with the importance of this question to the British Colonies, and particularly to the tropical possessions in East and West Africa, whose development is intimately connected with problems of transport and communications.
2. As the matter is at present largely in the experimental stage, at any rate so far as undeveloped countries are concerned, I have felt that it is necessary to secure continuous expert advice in dealing with it, and it has been arranged, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State for War, that questions relating to Mechanical Transport, other than railways, in the Colonies shall be referred to and advised upon by the Mechanical Transport Committee, a War Office committee which is charged with the duty of watching and recording all developments connected with Mechanical Transport and with instituting experiments and trials with a view to further improvements. In pursuance of this arrangement, two members of the Colonial Office have been appointed members of the committee to represent the Colonies and this Department.
3. The Committee feel that it is desirable to begin by accumulating a certain amount of information as to the conditions under which mechanical transport has been tried or is likely to be tried in the various Colonies, with a view to forming, if possible, a common fund of experience upon which individual Colonies will be able to draw for their own purposes from time to time It is recognised that factors which affect questions of transport, such as climate, roads, and trade requirements, vary greatly in the different Colonies, and that advice that is applicable to one Colony may be totally unsuited to another. Broadly speaking, however, the conditions in certain groups of Colonies, e-g., the tropical African Colonies, are generally similar. It is also certain that the experience which may have been gained already in the older-established Colonies will be of greater assistance to the newer possessions, whose development is now a pressing matter, and it may be hoped that the results obtained by experiments undertaken in the newer possessions will, in turn, not be without their use for the older Colonies.
4. 1 have accordingly to transmit to you the accompanying list of questions which has been drawn up by the Committee, and to request that you will have them answered as fully and carefully as practicable, and will return the replies to me at your earliest convenience. It is, of course, not intended that information should be given in reply to these questions with regard to every road or even every large road hi the Colony. It. will probably be enough if the replies are confined in the first instance to two or three main roads on which mechanical transport has been already tried or is likely to be tried in the near future. It is desirable that a separate set of answers should be furnished for each road dealt with, and I have no doubt that it would be of use to the Committee if the information supplied could be illustrated as far as possible by photographs. For the rest, it will be sufficient and convenient if the list of questions is retained as a model, and if, on any future occasion when it is proposed to institute mechanical transport on a new road, full information under
the heads set out in the list is sent home with regard to that road for reference to the Mechanical Transport Committee. 5. I shall, of course, always be glad to refer to the Committee any particular and individual problem connected with mechanical transport upon which the Government of any Colony may desire advice. I trust that in this direction, as well as in the larger province of collecting useful information on the subject relating either to the Colonies generally or to groups of Colonies, the arrangement which has been made will prove to be of great service. I have, etc.,
(Signed) ELGIN.
ENCLOSURE.
Roads, Tracks, Bridges, Etc. 1. What mileage is metalled and what unmetalled? 2. What material is used for metalling?
3. Are the roads kept in good condition? 4. Are they dry, dusty, or muddy? If both, for what periods during the year? 5. What is the nature of the surface soil and its condition throughout the year where the roads are not metalled? '
6. What is the minimum width of the main roads and tracks, especially through cuttings, etc.? 7. Give particulars of bad corners or bends, if any. 8. What are the maximum gradients on the main roads or tracks?
9. Are there any very long gradients? 10. What is the average gradient? 11. Are there any streams or rivers to be forded? If so, give particulars of the worst. 12. What loads are the bridges capable of carrying? 13. What is the minimum width of the bridges?
14. Are they kept in good condition?
Goods Carried by Road and the Methods of Conveyance, Etc. 1. What are the chief articles at present being transported?
2. How are they usually conveyed?
3. What loads are the goods generally made up into, and what is the average weight of a load? 4. Do goods require to be conveyed in bulk by road for long distances, or not, and what speed is desirable?
5. Are covered conveyances desirable or is a tarpaulin sufficient?
6. How are passengers conveyed by road, and in what numbers?
7. What are the rates for conveyance of passengers and goods by existing methods? 8. Could mechanically-propelled vehicles be advantageously employed for transportation of passengers and goods on the main roads and tracks? If not, state why, 9. What mechanically-propelled vehicles have been tried? Give brief description of each as regards type, cost of working, quantity of goods or passengers carried. 10. Which types of mechanically-propelled vehicles have proved the most successful and which have been unsuccessful, stating reasons?
11. Would mechanically-propelled vehicles, if employed. be required to traverse the country off the roads and tracks, and if so, what is the nature of the surface of the ground?
Fuel and Water.
1. What fuel is obtainable!
2. What is the current price for coal, coke, petroleum, petroleum spirit (petrol), wood, and any other fuel used locally? 3. What water supply exists on the roads and towns? 4. Is the water usually clean and otherwise suitable for boilers?
5. Is it obtainable in some quantity by the roadside at regular intervals of about 10 miles? Labour, Workshops, Etc.
1. What labour is obtainable?
2. Are the natives capable of running and repairing machinery under European supervision? 3. What are the wages of European and native mechanics?
4. What workshops exist capable of dealing with repairs to mechanically-propelled vehicles? The questions are calculated to bring useful replies, but. they omit some very important points, such as the cost per mile of the roads where made, the volume of .goods traffic passing, and the values of present charges in English currency.
The Earl of Crewe, in a letter which covers the presentation of the report, which was only available a few days ago, directs special attention to the table which we give on page 291; this has been drawn up by the Mechanical Transport Committee of the War Office. lie explains that the contents are chiefly based on experience with vehicles in the United Kingdom, and that it is not, therefore, immediately applicable to conditions in all the Crown Colonies and Protectorates. lie proceeds to remark that, with the alteration of such factors as may be necessary (fuel, wages, depreciation and others), according to local circumstances, the table should serve as a useful basis of calculation for any proposed transport service, but that, in any event, it presents a complete list of the items which should be taken into account in considering the -question of running mechanical-transport vehicles. He concludes with a request for additional returns from any territories under the British Government, in order that such fresh data may be put before the Mechanical Transport Committee, and subsequently circulated to other interested bodies and individuals. Particular emphasis is laid upon the necessity for accurate details in regard to the roads on which it is proposed to establish any service, of the traffic which may be anticipated, and of prior attempts (if any).
Estimated Working Costs.
Pages 70 and 71 of the report contain the table of estimates to which we have already made reference, and which is reproduced on the preceding page. it is, perhaps, expedient that these should be universally on the high side, which they certainly are, but we hardly think sufficient emphasis has been laid upon the fact that much more work can be done, and at a much lower cost per mile, if roads and other conditions are anything like as favourable as in England. The table gives these estimated maximum costs: five-ton tractor, 2s. 21d. per mile ; threeton petrol lorry, 2s. 3id. per mile ; two-ton petrol lorry, Ts. 9A-d. per mile ; and one-ton lorry, Is. lid. per mile. With everything against the tractor or vehicle, and on the average basis of only five hours' working per day, which is employed as a divisor, these costs might have to be borne, but they are certainly very far from the possible, even for Colonial work, and this is shown by the results which have been obtained in, for example, Southern Nigeria and Uganda, and to which we now have occasion to refer in some detail. Summary of Replies.
The circular letter of Lord Elgin, dated the lah August, 1907, brought its first reply, dated the 14th September, 1907, from Somaliland, and its second reply, dated the 13th September, 1907, from Barbados. The last-published reply, dated the 0th January, 1909, is from Uganda.
A comparison between the thousands of answers is naturally a matter of great difficulty, but several strikingcontrasts are established. The first of these is provided between the dogmatic egotism of some of the Governors in undeveloped countries, who assert that mechanical transport is impossible owing to the absence of roads, and the proofs from other areas, where the absence of roads applied equally a few years ago, that it is by no means an insuperable difficulty to construct light roads at a low cost. We quote from the Uganda report ;—
" Up to quite recently, human porterage constituted almost the sole means of transport within this territory, and every article of import and export has had to be carried on men's heads over immense distances. During the last three or four years, a number of roads have been improved to such an extent that it is now possible to supplement human transport to a considerable extent by wheeled traffic. Unfortunately, the prevalence of serious diseases among cattle, and the consequent heavy mortality, has increased the cost of animal transport to such an extent as to render is almost prohibitive. The difficulty of producing large numbers of porters for long journeys at short notice, and the reluctance of the people to engage in such work at moderate rates, renders it imperative that other and more-satisfactory means of transport should be provided without delay.
"7 I am happy to be able to report that the experiments that have been made during the past year in the use of motorcars and lorries have exceeded our most sanguine hopes. The motor lorry of Albion make, that was imported in April last, has been running with the most perfect regularity between Entebbe and Kampala. This lorry has travelled nearly 4,000 miles without a single had', and has carried hundreds of tons of merchandise, besides passengers. It runs on ordinary paraffin instead of petrol, and the fuel consumption is so cheap that, in spite of the fact that the car has been charged with the high wages of a European chauffeur at the rate of £250 a year, and depreciation at the rate of 2175 a year, it has not only earned the whole of its running expenses, but has shown a profit during the last six months of no less than £130. This vehicle has not had a single breakdown, and has abundantly proved its suitability for transport work in Uganda."