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QUERIES
Enclosed Stairways for Double-saloon Buses, The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL 'MOTOR. [2918] Sir,—Your article's sub-heading, "A very .seund reason why London's latest six-wheeled bus has not an enclosed stairway," is certainly sound in so far as Scotland Yard's decision. affects it; but Scotland Yard's ideas are not very. sound or consistent. The L.C.C. trams have their upper' saloons enclosed; is a tram supposed to be immunefrom overturning Also on several occasions I have seen a Martin bus with an enclosed stairway mounted on a Dennis chassis,
on service in Baker Street. Then, again, the top saloons of the L.G.O.C. buses on the Blackwall Tunnel . route are totally enclosed.. .
• No other. city seems to have thought of this possible danger of passengers being trapped, and petrol and trolley-buses with enclosed stairs are in the service of at least two dozen corporations, as well as several companies.
• Before the L.G.O.C. starts on its mass production of bodies it must convince Scotland Yard that enclosed stairs are quite safe, by getting statistics from those corporation transport departments which dictate to the police what they must license.
The provision of an emergency door in mid-air is not needed ; has a tram ever been seen with one on
its upper deck?—Yours faithfully, CLEAN HANDS.
An Express Parcels Service.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2919] Sir,—I have been a regular reader of your valuable paper 'for the past six years and I have gleaned some valuable information from its -pages. I consider no week complete unless I get my Commercial Motor.
About two. months ago I bought a 30-cwt. MorrisCommercial lorry and I started running it as a parcel and goods express; after five weeks' running I fannd it necessary to put on a second vehicle to cope with the work. Both cars do a daily journey of 126 miles, at 14 miles per gallon. I would like to know what should be my average daily -takingsto pay me. My expenses are as follow:— • Cost of cars, £860; tax on each carM per annum ; hisurance on each car. £30 'iver annum ; wages, £3 10s. per .week; rent on parcel depot, 15s. per week; petrol, No. 1, £6 per week ; oil, 5s. per gallon
per week. My own expenses I allow at £4 per week,.
I drive one of the ears myself and do at night all the book-keeping and writing of invoices. I might also mention that I do not run on Saturdays, it being spent in washing and greasing.
Would you recommend changing to No. 3 petrol with a view to reducing running costs? Hoping r am not ' trespassing toe much on your valuable time,artd wishing your paper long and continued success.—Yours faithfully, THOMAS MOUNShY. Offaly, Ireland.
[The following is a summary of your total expenditure per annum for the two vehicles you own: Petrol, 1300; oil, £13 (I assume from your figures that your expenditure of £6 per week and 5s. per week is a total for the two cars) ; tyres, £200; maintenance, £200; depTeciation, £160; taxation, £60; insurance, £60; wages, £356; rent, £42; interest, £40; establishment expenses, £200; total, £1,631; so that you will need to make a revenue of. £6 10s. 6d. per day to clear your actual expenses. No. 3 petrol is usually considered good enough.—S.T.R.] Trade Impeded by the Customs.
The Editor, `THE COMMERCIAL Marcia.
[2920] Sir,—Through the medium of the Press the business world is being constantly reminded that the solution of unemployment lies in increased trade overseas; it is, therefore, exceedingly vexing to find that one's efforts to put this exhortation into practice are frequently stultified or hampered by official attitude and action. The prevailing indifference in certain Government departments is strikingly illustrated by the following relating to the procedure of H.M. Customs.
Annually a large number of fractured motorcar parts is expressly sent to this country for repairs which cannot be executed elsewhere. We have at this moment thirteen cases of fractured parts from Persia held up at the docks pending the completion of Customs' formalities. These parts are so urgently required by the owners that, to save time, all correspondence relative thereto is being transmitted by air mail.'
The Customs authorities have asked for the name of the vessel upon vrhich the goods were'originally 545 shipped, and the date of its sailing, but, most absurd of all, they require us to declare the value of the goods when new. Now, manifestly we-cannot possibly supply this information, as we do not know where the parts were made. Moreover, they were not sold as separate units, but as parts of a motor vehicle.
We have offered to pay a deposit of duty, or, alternatively, to give a Bond pending the re-exportation of the goods, but in spite of this, the goods remain at the docks—apparently because the Customs authorities cannot make up their minds as to the value of them. Actually, until they are repaired, the value of the contents of these cases is that of scrap metal. It does not need an expert to see that these broken parts are absolutely useless in their present state.
We admit that the Customs must see that proper duty is paid on all dutiable goods imported into this country, but we feel very strongly that in the execution of their duties they should endeavour to assist business firms, especially when documentary evidence exists to prove that damaged goods are being sent to reputable firms for the sole purpose of reconstruction.
In placing obstacles in the way of prompt clearance the authorities are actually destroying the chance of extended business, by making prompt delivery of the repaired goods to the owners a sheer impossibility. So long as the attitude of certain Government departments remains as it is, so long will increased overseas trade be a mere ideal, and not a practical issue.— Yours faithfully, C. W. BRETT, Managing Director, for BARIMAR LTD.
Obstruction by Horsed Transport.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2921] Sir,—Under your little paragraphs, headed "One Hears," in your issue of October 8th, you say that you can now travel many miles in some districts without seeing a horse.
I agree with you On this, but, curiously enough, what did strike me when walking down Cheapside recently, for the first time in many weeks, was the immense number of horse-drawn vans. In fact, all through the City the horsed traffic was conspicuous by the way it was holding up other traffic, and I think a lot of the City congestion is caused through the horses: Just take a trip down Cheapside and see for yourself.
—Yours faithfully, S. F. EDGE.
[We thank Mr. Edge for his suggestion, but -would point out that we have dealt quite recently with this matter of traffic congestion by horsed transport.—En.] Working for Freight Exchange.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2922] Sir,—As a regular reader of your 'paper I have been much interested in the articles by,. S.T.R. Following his suggestion in one, I wrote to a 'London clearing house, inquiring for loads to anywhere and had a reply saying that it pays 25s. per ion to Birmingham, 30s. to Nottingham, 40s. to Sheffield and Manchester, and 45s. to Leeds.
Thinking of going in for a five-tonner, I should be glad of S.T.R.'s opinion as to whether this would pay at such rates—of course, there might be back loads on occasions.
Would you be kind enough when replying to send mea copy of your Tables of Operating .Costs.—Yours faithfully, F. H. COOKE: "Spalding. • "
[The rates. which have been offered to you will only pay if you can find regular work and loads in both directions. The conditions are the same for all the places you name, and it will be sufficient if we indicate to you exactly how you willstand as regards one of them, and for convenience we will take London 'and Birmingham, this being 112 '
The cost of operating your lorry, taking into account all those items ivhich are mentioned in The Commercial 246 Motor Tables of Operating Costs, a copy of which has been sent to you, is 11d, per mile, on the assumption that you cover 450 miles per week, so that a journey to Birmingham will cost you 15 2s. 6d., the return trip £10 5s., and a double return trip £20 10s. Your revenue for one load is £6 5s., for two loads £12 10s. It 'will not pay you, therefore, to carry two loads only from London to Birmingham. Even. if you have a third load back from Birmingham your revenue is only £18 15s., and full load each way at the price quoted will only bring a return of £25. We think you will see from this that although it is possible to make a living at those rates the margin is rather fine.
On the other hand, if you can manage to do three return trips per week then your mileage immediately becomes 670, and your cost per mile drops to a little over fid., say, 9-fd., which is, roughly, £4 6k. 6d. per single journey. "Your total cost for the six journeys will be £25 19s., and you will barely get your money back with a revenue of £25 only, if you carry a load one way only three times and manage to get one load back.
You must, therefore, yet at least four loads per week to clear expenses if you do three return trips per week. After that, any further revenue will be.profit.—S.T.R.)
Catering for the Commercial Traveller by Private Car.
The Editor, TEE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
12923] shall be greatly obliged if you can
advise me, through the columns of your valuable paper, on the following subject :
I possess a Morris-Cowley four-seater touring car and I desire to make a living out of it.
My idea is to advertise for. hire, car and chauffeur. with the particular object of being picked up by commercial travellers. Do you think this would be a paying proposition? If so, could you give me an idea of what my charges should be?Should I charge per mile or per hour?
I have only a driver's licence. Should I have to get a hackney carriage licence or attend to any other legal formalities? .
Unfortunately, I live in a rural district, so at afraid there would not be much work locally.
If you think the above is not practicable, could you advise an alternative scheme?—Yours faithfully, S. C, CHAPPLE.
Raglan, •
[Your car will cost you lid. per mile to run and £3 10e. per week to keep, including something for wages for yourself as driver. If you want to make £2 10.s. per week gross profit you will have to make £6 per week, say per day, plus 2d. for every mile run. Alternatively; reckoning the fare in the same way as is done on taxicabs, you will have to charge 4s. per hour or 6d. per mile, whichever is the greater. Even at those rates this will only be profitable if the vehicle be engaged 48 hours per week and covers at least 400 fare miles per ‘. week.
You should have a haekney-carriage licence if you are going to engage in this work. "
We cannot judge of the practicability of this scheme without coming down and investigating the circumstances. The whole thing turns on what we have already stated, the prospects of regular employment, and you must judge what they are.—S:T.R.] The Production ofBritish Vehicles.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[29241 Sir,—Statements have appeared in .certain sections of the Press relative to the figure of production a the British motor industry, in which the total to Ocober 1st, 1929, is given as 206,677. This total is 'further stated to be below that estimated at the
commencement of the year.
In view of the fact that definite figures cannot yet be available, may I point out that the total given, in so far as cars are concerned (165,352) is the actual figure officially estimated for 1928, whilst that for commercial vehicles is below the official estimate for last year. such figures as are given should be treated with the greatest reserve. Taking into account the fact that the official registration returns for the first two quarters showed an increase of 12,000 vehicles over the corresponding period last year, and that further, the value of British motor exports for the first eight months is £1,500,000 in excess of that of the same period in 1928, there is every reason to assume that the actual production figures for 1929 will indicate
clearly that considerable progress has been made by the • British motor industry, in both the home and overseas markets.--Yours faithfully, B. H, GLADSTONE, Secretary, British Manufacturers' Section, The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Ltd.
(Owing to extreme pressure on our space a large timber of letters has been held over.---ED.)