London General and Vanguard Companies to Amalgamate.
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
We are in a position, as we go to press, to announce that the Boards of the London General and the Vanguard Companies have, notwithstanding contradictions and denials ta, the contrary in various papers, resolved upon a scheme of amalgamation. This important step cannot fail but have far-reaching effect upon the development of surface transport in the Metropolis, for the joint undertaking will, when the fusion is completed, own upwards
of boo motor omnibuses. It should be able to keep on the road, during the ensuing summer months, a mintmum of 450 mechanically-propelled stage-carriages, or considerably more than half of the total number actually to be seen in daily work throughout greater London. Thus, in a little more than two years since we foreshadowed, as we did in our issue of the mth December, 1905, the arrival of the time when there would once again be a" Premier Omnibus Company," the period of annihiliation as the alternativ...: to absorption has been determined to that extent,
It will be gathered, from the details which we are able to give on page 577 of this issue, that the scheme of amalgamation has yet to be submitted to the shareholders of the respective contracting companies, but there is little reason to fear the withholding of their approval. The contemplated liquidation of the Vanguard Motorbus Company is most likely to prevent the publication of any full set of accounts, although it is probable that a summarised statement will be issued with the other documents, and there will probably be many unfavourable assumptions in consequence. The huge proportion of paper capital, against the introduction of which we have so often protested, and which we set forth more particularly in our issue of the 20th December, igo6, (see page 341 thereof), will inevitably disappear, so far as
the Vanguard Company is concerned, and, although from other causes, there will require to he a writing down in respect of the London General's assets. With a nearer approach to an equivalent for the issued capital in revenueearning plant, together with the avoidance of undue competition and management charges, prospects for this huge combination may be regarded as fairly good. The losses of the last two years, which have now to be borne, cannot bring any new grief to many of the shareholders, because the scrip which they hold, or the certificates to which they are entitled, as the case may be, have been at heavy discounts for more than a year. It is even likely that the scheme will enhance values even further than has already proved to be the case, and that the substantial reductions in capital which are proposed will enable the directors to attract fresh capital from new investors, a course which could not have been adopted in the absence of the drastic revisions which are to be submitted to the proprietors of the respective companies.
The R.A C. Trials Report.
The uncertainty about the exact date for the presentation of the Judges' report on the Commercial Motor Trials of September and October last is now at an end. The ceremony and function will take place to-morrow (Friday), at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate, S.W., beginning at four o'clock, when the chair will be taken by Mr. C. D. Rose, M.P. The programme will be practically in accord with that which we outlined in our issue of the ifith January (page 425 ante), and we are naturally pleased to see that we were able so closely to forecast events. The agenda paper shows that Mr. Worby Beaumont, as Chairman of the Trials Committee, will make the introductory speech connected with the presentation of the report, and that he will be followed by the other judges who can he present, each of whom will take one or more points for brief elaboration. Mr. Edward Manville, as President of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and the writer as Honorary Treasurer of the Commercial Motor Users' Association, will have the privilege, respectively, of moving and seconding the vote of thanks to these gentlemen, and no more pleasant duty can be imagined. It is not yet definitely known whether the Right Hon. John Burns, M.P., President of the Local Government Board, will attend or not, but we hope his presence may be secured, as no better means could be devised for the purpose of impressing upon that gentleman the earnestness of purpose which characterises both manufacturers and owners in the heavy sections of motoring. The magnitude of the task by which the Judges and Officers of the Club have been confronted may be gathered from the fact that the report approximates to 200 pages, and we arc happy to know that due prominence will be given in the volume to a full six pages of conclusions. It is clear that a long series of meetings must have taken place, in order that a concise and exhaustive compilation might be available, and everybody who is connected with commercial motoring should unite to acknowledge their debt of gratitude for what has been accomplished, both at the trials and, now, in the production of a permanent record, by the Club and by the Judges.
Not the least apposite fact is the deficit shown by the Royal Automobile Club's income and expenditure account for the year ended the 3Ist December last, the adverse balance of some 4;3,200 being almost identical with the net cost to the Club of the trials to which we have so often inati. reference in these pages. No matter that some constructors have been disappointed in respect of the volume of direct results from the series of tests, and no matter that some users would have preferred to have seen a " service condition " trial. It should be universally recognised that the Club has carried out a programme of national interest, and of great commercial importance, the beneficial results of which can only partially have asserted themselves in the course of less than six months. Not a few orders during the last several months have been directly traceable to the trials, which is at least an earnest of good, but we are fully satisfied that the forthcoming commercial motor show at Olympia, which will remain open from the 26th instant to the 4th proximo, will gain very largely from the imminent and prior publication of a volume which possesses certainly n.)t less historic and intrinsic merits than similar ones which have preceded it.
To Suit Business Men.
We have received complaints, both verbal and written, that some proprietors of motorbuses in suburban and country districts are not sufficiently alert to the requirements of business men. It is obviously of no use to the man of business that the first omnibus in the morning should be too late for him to reach his office at a reasonable hour, or that the last omnibus of the day should depart from his home station before he can get there. It is, of course, true that many such country services are primarily established to cater for private residents, and that the managers do not regard the number of business men in the district as sufficiently large to justify the extra expense of a lengthened shift, or possibly of two shifts, each day. We do not go so far as to accuse any of them of shortsightedness, but we would, especially at this season of the year, invite their consideration of the extra inducement to live in the country which is held out to business men by the scheduling of earty and late trips to fit their methods of life.
Show Preparations.
The 150 odd exhibitors in the commercial-motor and allied sections are already virtually in the midst of show preparations. Those of our readers who have knowledge of the labour which cannot be dissociated from any exhibition will appreciate the work which is now being done in their interests, and we feel sure they will not fail to mark their approbation by reserving one or more days for a visit to Olympia. The show will clearly be a much greater success than was the case in 1907, for the first attempt in any series can only be regarded by way of establishment, as was admittedly the case a year ago. Three weeks hence, however, as a direct result of the larger degree of publicity which is now assured, we anticipate that it will. be a maker's own fault if he does not find himself in possession of a large num
ber of sound enquiries, and an encouraging share of definittorders, by the time the forthcoming show is over. Some manufacturers, we observe, such as the Mann and the Yorkshire steam-wagon companies, will only be exhibiting at the Agricultural Hall Show, where Cordingley's thirteenth exbition will be opened on the 21st instant, and will overlap the Olympia Show by two days. Such owners and intending purchasers as may desire to see every make and type will, therefore, do well to visit London on either the 27th or 28th instant.
Support or Agents.
This journal has, for the past several years, consistently argued that a large volume of trade in commercial motors will steadily emerge through the efforts of reliable local agents, and we give our adhesion to this view more wholeheartedly than ever before. There will remain, of course, a large amount of direct business for those manufacturers who care to conduct the detail work of a sales department, but we feel that such business will have to be regarded as of a special character, whilst that which is done through an agency organisation will be both larger and more uniform. One of the latest and most important steps, of the many which have been noted in the chain of events which is surely tending in the direction we have indicated, has just been brought under our notice by the managing director of Commercial Cars, Limited, of Luton, and we have good reason to believe that a corresponding programme has been formulated by other manufacturers. The " Commercar " plan for supporting its country agents is really an elaboration of its London maintenance scheme, of which scheme full particulars were given in our issue of the i4th November last. Isolated vans in the provinces, whether in suburban or urban areas, have in many cases given less satisfactory results in practice than those which have been yielded by individual vans or fleets of vans within range of a maker's works, or of a recognised London repairing depot. A sense of uncertainty in regard to repairs and maintenance has prevented a large number of would-be purchasers from taking a, to them, leap in the dark, and the system which at least one maker has now adopted is designed to break down this wall of objection. The directors of Commercial Cars, Limited, have energetically examined the matter, and have resolved to back their agents to a point which will enable these representatives to undertake maintenance contracts at an assured profit to themselves. The essence of the contract is found in the fact that this manufacturing company is prepared to bear the loss should any arise in a particular case, its existing basis of operations being already sufficiently wide to enable it to average the whole of its maintenance contracts on rates which should be acceptable to buyers and remunerative to the vendors. The customer is safeguarded, the local agent is safeguarded, and the maker is safeguarded—a most desirable state of affairs. In short, no matter how remote the district in which a buyer may live and: trade, he will find himself charged only the London contract rate for maintenance.
The foregoing policy should certainly bring about an extension of trade, and that upon no uncommercial lines, and it should also prevent the recurrence of certain difficulties which have been rife in the past. Of these, we may quote the case of the buyer who, finding, no trouble or expense during the first four or five months, has laughed at and criticised the manufacturer for his estimates and warnings about adjustments and examinations, with resulting serious trouble a few months later, as well as the harmful episodes and influences which are inseparable from the breakdown of vehicles on the roadside. The disappearance of these should follow the development which we have outlined.
Harmony in the North ?
We are glad to know that the prospects of harmonious co-operation over the one official show in the provinces— that at Manchester—are improving. This great city is the centre of a thriving and wealthy industrial area, and an exhibition there should, if properly managed and supported, draw a suitable " gate " from points far beyond the limits of
that to-mile circle which one customarily pictures as Manchester's own particular sphere of influence. We believe that only good can result from the adoption of a conciliatory attitude in place of the recent truculent one, and that the backing of Liverpool interests should also he secured by the embracing of that city's local company. Given a comprehensive plan, under which all can come together, future shows at Manchester should out-distance those at Edinburgh or Dublin with ease, and we earnestly look for this culmination. There is, of course, no occasion for excessive capital, and we see no insuperable obstacle either to the exchange of shares in the one Pew concern for those in the three old ones, Or to the satisfaction of the legitimate claims of both Messrs. Jennison and the S.M.M.T. for reasonable allotments in respect of their contributions to the success of the whole. If all back-bitings and bickerings are eliminated, everyone can and will pull together, as we are sure they really desire to di unless otherwise led by personal ambition.