Higher Railway Rates.
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A correspondent this week take exception to Our view concerning the inevitable, increase of railway' rates. lie asks why railway rates should go up. We should have thought that the reasons were fairly obvious, without looking beyond the aggregate increase of wages, to which we referred at length a fortnight ago, due to war conditions. We are content to rest our forecast upon the wages situation, and to do so with due regard to the probability of the effecting of certain reductions part passu as the fall in retail prices of all commodities occurs hereafter. There certainly will be no considerable fall in wages after the peace until shipping facilities approach the normal. It will for years be a case of ships, ships, ships.
We have lately.been put in possession of e.irtain Facts concerning the increase of 10 per cent. on all rates for the conveyance of merchandise, as from the let December last., on Irish railways. We adMittedly regarded the increase in Ireland as a forerunner of increases in England, but our attention has been drawn to certain special reasons for those changes in the Emerald Isle. It appears that about £2,000,000 worth of railway property was destroyed in Dublin, in April and May of 1916, 'Whilst bridges and other permanent works were partially blown up or otherwise damaged in various parts of Ireland.. If a .certain motorcar had not been driven into a, river on a certain journey, the damage in and around County Cork might have added another £2,000,000 to the bill. We accept, in the light of this information, the view that Ireland is—as usual—a case apart. Our carrespondent—as might other readers of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR who are exercised in their. minds as to the need for increases pf railway rates in Great Britain—specifically refers back to a reported statement by Mr. Bonar Law, the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, about the current. ".earning. of profits" by the Government-controlled. railways. We have not been able to check the accuracy of this report concerning Mr. Bonar Law's utterances, but we will take it as being ,admitted. The statement is not a complete one, in any event, for it does not analyse the reasons for high temporary revenue, despite war conditions, upon -the railways. Much of the war traffic consists of 'explosives and other goods in the dangerous classification, out of which traffic the Government-controlled railways are no doubt deriving a book-keeping revenue of a fictitious and feting character. They are, of course, also known to be enjoying inflated receipts-from passengers, even lifter making every allowance for reductions in nunibars,. No exact figures can be obtained. Tile. railwamompanies of Great Britain will not be able to live onThook-keeping entries after the peace; unless they are helped by State 'grants for a period of years, they will have to fall back upon earnings from normal passenger traffic and normal goods' traffic. We think they Can rely upon a oertain. amount of consideration aathelhands of.the State, for 'the'ir organization has, in snore senses than one, materially contributed to the State's SalvatiOn. None of these considerations, however, eliminates the certainty of higher railway rates, so far riS we are able to judge. .The wise industrialist will prepare himself with an alternative in the shape of more and more motor wagons, by placang-orders betimes. It may be a case of first come first. served, and delivery in strict rotation. The only_ modification by which manufacturers of commercial motors will possibly be obliged to abide will concern continuing priority for certain trades, which we expect.. Deliveries may have to be given in conformity.
Motorbus Fares : A Difficult Situation.
The difficulty of the:situation, in Greater 'London, as regards changes in motorbus fares in an upward direction a has been fully admitted by us •in our brief eiamination of the past few weeks. We have indicated the principal reasons why London is to be viewed on distinct and separate grounds. These reasons are principally connected with the outstanding fact of there being a reasonable degree of free competition in the conduct of the surface passengertransportation of that area, which relative freedom of competition is unknowntin practically any other city of the United Kingdom, by reason of the dual control of municipal tramways and the local putilicservice licensing by the same authority. The L.C.C. has, apart from its being backed by the rate.s, to compete in the open with an alternative method of passenger conveyance, and has to apply for its licences to an independent authority—the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. We are well satisfied that, if the London police did not hold the scales so fairly between the rivals, and if the L.C.C. were made at on judge and jury, the motorbus would be literally pushed out of 'existence.
Thepresentis a "Very trying lime for London motorbus proprietors. The eyes of the.community.are upon them, and they aae very properly nervous of giving, a lead. which might be..turnecleand twisted for political .reasons by the Highways _Committee of the L.C.C., or by that council as a whole.' This consideration no doubt weighs heavily on the commercial and traffic managers, of the L.G.0.0, arid-other London companies which own and operate motorbuses. There gentlemen cannot be expected to pay quite the same regard to the difficulties of the engineering side; or to the growing inclusive cost of working the .motorbuses per vehicie-mile, but they certainly 'cannot afford, in the inaerests of their shareholdeas, to ignore the points which loom so large with the engineers. A solution has to be found, and to be found before very long. Alert. mindsare fullt occupied with the examination of possibilities, and we believe that a, clecioinn will be reached and announced at an early date,espee'ally having, regard 'to references speeches which were made in public on the occasio. of certain annual general meetings -earlier in the. year. The acute petrol situation may hasten action. An impartial aorrespondent, who writes as a disinterested observer but a regular traveller, passes some scathing criticism amongst our "Opinions from Others" this week upon the treatment of its conauctresses by the London County Council. This is but one of the directions in which the tramcar managements of the Aletrepolis have their own peculiar difficulties with labour ; they are of a kind which is not experienced, owing to the smaller size of the working unit, in motorbus operation. The laC.C. is at the moment,. too, threatened with maintenance and supply difficulties which are much more serious, both as regards permanent way and rolling stock. Tramdar managements, of course, have a. better opportunity to save money by deferring maintenance than have motorbus companies. This is obvious, owing to the different incidence of capital expenditure upon permanent works and rolling stock in the two cases. When the L.C.C. tramway figures for 1916-1917 are published in detail, it will be, fully apparent, we are well satisfied, even to many would-be continuing admirers of L.C.C. tramway finance; that things have gone with the trams from bad to worse.
Can no means be devised, we ask, of mutual action
, by the two great passenger-carrying undertakings on London roads ? It seems to us, with Sir Albert H. Stanley in office as President of the Board of Trade, that a far-sighted and fair course of joint action might be initiated, if of-ay the Railway Department of the Board, which department is concerned with tramway affairs, were to be moved in the. matter by somebody. Sir Albert Stanley is clearly in a position of difficulty, yet his occupancy of the post is also one of unique appropriateness and fitness. He has a wonderful experience and knowledge of both tramway and motorbus practice. Nobody better than he could decide anent a. plan which is fair to all. , May not the best solution be found by some coincident application to the Board of Trade from the two great contracting parties in the matter of surface transportation in the
• Capital of the Empire? If neither side will move of its own initiative, or independently of the other, let both move in unison. Alj road fares are too low.
Employment of Discharged Soldiers, with Special Regard to Demobilization.
We deal on pages 244 and 245 with the admirable purposes of the Central Committee in respect of the employment of discharged soldiers and sailors eon-nected with the motor industry. It is our intention, with the strenuous work of the Campaign Comforts Fund gradually coming to a close in our offices as we see the stores being finally emptied, to do all in our power in every direction to assist this representative central committee in its work.
• Our other references, mentioned above, are based upon literature which the Committee is issuing very
widely. It will quickly be realized that the objects in view are in every sense praiseworthy. They must commend themselves to each employer or intending employer, as much for his own prospective advantage as for the reason that the organization is of such a character that it will enable everybody who is able to take a hand in bringing back in. due °aurae our fight ing men to means of livelihood in civil work. • ,
The particulars which the applicant for employment is required to furnish are exhaustive, and no fee is charged to an applicant, although an employer on his securing a man through the Committee is asked to give a donation of half-a-crown to the expenses. These terms by themselves provide testimony -to the public-spirited nature of the Committee's programme and intentions. We find that each applicant is given ample space on the form which he has to complete, to the end that he may .supply inter alia, apart from a copy of his military history and Army discharge, the following:—(1) Name and address of previous employers, for personal reference, and capacity in which employed, covering a period of not less than three years before joining the service ; (2) work other than motor work in which he is skilled' —such as marine, steam, gas or electric engines, power, lighting or pumping plants, etc., or, occupations in which skilled, other than mechanical, such as farming, gardening, building, plumbing, management of horses or clerical work, and experience of such work ; (3) trade (if any) to which an apprenticeship has been served, or full particulars of any workshop through which the man has passed ; (4) experience (if any) of electrical work, and, if inclusive of charge of batteries, the type of installation to which the man is accustomed. The Committee, in short, hopes to go considerably beyond employment purely as motor drivers or mechanics, in respect of men who at any time were in the motor industry.
Insufficient Notice by Advertisement of Tenders for Municipal Supplies.
We extract the following from " The Manchester Guardian" of the 5th inst., in the belief that this case of inadequate notice properly calls for adverse comment from us in respect of the proceedings :— "The. Guardians of the Manchester Union in vite tenders for the supply of a motor lorry (about four tons), for the delivery of goods to their respective establishments. Tenders should be forwarded to the Clerk to the Guardians, Union Offices, All Saints', Manchester, not later than the 9th May, 1917."
Four days notice is certainly not enough for a matter of this kind to be brought within the cognisance of likely tenclerers. We are of opinion that the interval should be at least ten days, and in support of that contention many good reasons can be adduced. We will not cavil at the presumption that a few local agents of leading manufacturers of four-ton motor lorries -cannot fail to see such an announcement, small though it be, as the one which we have extracted, beyond remarking that a few men,, who might be expecting such an advertisement to appear' are much more likely to see it exclusively, than is the announcement to be generally noticed by traders at large. The point atissue is this.: do the Guardians, in such a case as the foregoing, wish to receive general tenders, or to restrict competition to a small circle ? If the former, not only should more time be allowed, so that press-cutting and other organizations may have time to distribute their information throughout the industry, but the requisite time, above all, should be given to enable the recognized weekly journals of the industry to give notice to their supporters. Advertisement payment is not sought by us, but only legitimate opportunity to reproduce.
We have drawn attention to this flaw in procedure by Boards of Guardians and Local Authorities on other occasions, and 'We certainly regard existing war coreitions as providing a fuller justification for
longer notice now than in the past. We are inviting "the Clerk to the Guardians of the Manchester Union to inform us concerning the tenders which were received, in order that we may, if necessary, point, the moral in more detail.
Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles.
We are pleased to include in this issue two maps that show the location of stations at which the batteries of electric vehicles can be charged. .We are indebted to our contemporary "The Electrical Review" for the map which is reproduced on page 246, and to Mr. E. W. Curtis, of the General Vehicle Co., Ltd., for the more-complete map of the London district which appears on page 251. Those of our readers who are interested to have fuller particulars concerning the facilities which are available can obtain them on application to the Secretary of the Com'mercial Motor Users Association, 83, Pall Mail, S.W., or to the Hon. Secretary, Electric Vehicle Committee, ' Ipswich. The additional particulars indicate the
• exact locality of each station, the maximum current, the range of pressure, the tariff, and the hours during which any vehicle cal-4 be charged. We regret that we have not space to give all these details in respect of each station: at the moment the great bulk of readers of TEE COMIILERCIAL MOTOR represents only prospective users of electric vehicles. This state of affairs is due in part to a, disinclinationto change from petrol and steam, both of which have served them so well for millions of miles of running, until the
exact facts are available over a period of years concerning the inclusiveworking coats of battery equipped vehicles. It is also in part due to the fact that makers of battery-equipped vehicles are, in common, with the makers of both petrol and steam vehicles•at the present time, not able to give delivery in considerable numbers.
We find that, as the writer was quick to. point out in the course of a discussion at the Institution of Electrical Engineers in March, 1914, on the occasion of a paper by the Honorary Secretary of the Electrical -Vehicle Committee, definite and .satisfactory progress is being made with battery-equipped Vehicles for town colleetion and delivery.' The establishment of inter-urban Services must be a matter of time, to allow the necessary facilities to -come into existence, and to witness their improvement as regards extent. of delay, means of-approach to the charging installation, and certain other points.
The niost-striking development of the use of battery propulsion is undoubtedly the widespread employment of small trucks in railway stations and in factories. Were it not for the lack of width in the gangways between the rows of machine-tools in many British factories, this 'means of improved handling of raw ma, terial, work in process, and finished parts and units, must have had a greater vogue than is becoming evident. It is no uncommon experience, none the less, for such a, battery-equipped truck to do 25 miles of useful running, either in a factory or on the platforms of a railway station, in a working day. The new type of internal facility helps labour enormously in its efficiency, and keeps clear areas v•iiich must otherwise be congested.,