OPINIONS and Q UERIES
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THE SAFETY VALVE OF THE INDUSTRY
THANK you, Mr. Bury, for your letter of October 22 in support of my contributi,pn which was published on September 24.
At the time of attending to some of my correspondence, my thoughts are a long way from being mild, especially when I consider the enormous size of our industry compared with the weakness of its leadership. Possibly, the toning down of my comments is due to the journalistic art of the editorial staff of " The Commercial Motor," who know how to put feelings into words !
My amateur efforts may not carry much sway, but they are certainly a relief to one's thoughts, and we should all cling, like tar to a windscreen, to the last remaining freedom possessed by road haulage—that is being able to write what we like and think—thanks to "The Commercial. Motor."
Certainly the Government -Haulage Scheme is, in my view, a political stunt in every sense of the word, even if a certain amount of rubber and fuel be saved, but what is behind it? No doubt you will agree that The Commercial Motor has used many Of its valuable pages for reading between the lines. Now comes Mr. A. Dunnage's.two-page article, which contains a small but very important paragraph headed "The Root of the Matter." Read this, and then sit and think of all the haulage concerns that have interests in other
directions. R. Etwicic. . London, N.12.
OBSERVATIONSFROM A SERVICE MAN QINCE I have been in the Army I have not missed a
single copy of your journal, and it has been my only informant on civilian road transport, other than news from the company by which I was employed before my call-up.
First, I would like to comment upon the prevailing . ignorance, at least in My unit, concerning the present position of the road-haulage industry. Most of the men are under the impression that it is thriving, and that everyone in it is Making plenty of money. There are a few, like myself, however, who worked in haulage previously, and they have an entirely different opinion of the present state of affairs.
Those who consider that haulage is in a satisfactory state seem to have no proof of this beyond, possibly, a few friends who are doing well, and they base' their assumptions on these isolated cases. • I think, however, it is general that the public is completely misinforthed of the true positiOn, and more publicity should be given to the part road transport plays. There should be no minimizing this, or what it has done for the country in the past. There should be more Ministry of Information frIm shorts dealing with road transport. Every' other industry appears to have plenty of publicity, yet road transport, the employees of which have never yet had anything which could be classed as a strike, during the war, receive little or no credit.
After the war there will be one big problem to tackle. ThOusands of men are being trained as so-called driv.ers for the Army. Are these to be let loose upon our industry? Many of them will, of course, liave other work to take up, and I think that the real danger will be from the more youthful of these Army drivers—and there are many of them—who, prior to their call-up, had no real !In status in any particular occupation and will .want employment where they can best use. their new-found experience.
Finally, many small hauliers have kept their businesses together for long periods under all sorts of restrictions and difficulties. It would be a just reward for them if they were allowed to begin the post-war era with their businesses intact, whilst those who have been forced out of the industry should be given the opportunity of returning and some assistance to do so. It would be mostinvidious if, after helping torestore freedom to the world, we allowed an industry in our own country to perish; in fact, it would be a complete contradiction of the aims for Which we have been fighting.
Home Forces. L. H. LILLIOTT.
DIFFICULTIES OF SAND AND " BALLAST HAULAGE ]%/tY concern has operating for it a small fleet of lorries IvItaking material to aerodrome sites, and a few weeks ago they were -stopped, by •a vehicle inspector. If there still be men available for such jobs in the interests of the country, when spares and tyres are in such short supply, why cannot they, or some other authority, inspect certain of these wet-ballast pits, out of which the lorries -have to struggle, also' some of the terrible places on the aerodromes on which the loads are tipped? Some of them are so bad that our lorries are " pulled to bits."
Why is this allowed? I will answer—because the people who own or run these places have little experience, or do not care two hoots so long as they get rid of their ballast and have it taken to where it is wanted.
While on this subject I may mention that the mileage for payment is often measured only to the checker's box, when sometimes the vehicles have to run two miles around the aerodrome and back again. if a vehicle does that for a week the mileage may represent an extra day's work. Then, on top of this, 2i to • 5 per cent. is often knocked off the rate.
Now, you sand and ballast hauliers, what about a body which could represent us? The fee required would be worth the expense. Let us have someone who could 'ant a stop to some of these difficulties. [There is already a representative body in being—The Ballast, Sand-and Allied Trades Association, 2, Wellesley Road, Twickenham.—ED.]
Another point, in connection with tyres. In 1931, the Michelin concern 'made a tyre which, I believe, was called the U type. It was specially constructed for sand and ballast work. I had some of these fitted to" my own lorries, and they did not have a puncture in 12 months. Nail-proof liners were fitted. Can wenot have some of this type and save 50 per cent. of our tyre troubles? We. would uie fewer tyres in the year and thus make up for the extra cost of the liners. E. CARTER:
Norfolk. Manager for E. J. Dearman.
. PETROL USED ON FARMERS' "SHOOTS" WHILE reading recently your excellent journal I WV noticed the letter by " Aggrieved " in your issue for September 17, and it reminded me of a scene I Witnessed a few days ago in a country district near to this town.
I was going to a farm to deliver meat, and as I drew up to the house I noticed, in the yard, a fellow with a dog, near the outbuildings. Two cars then drove
into the yard; from one, two men got out and, undoing the rear door each drew out a gun, whilst the man in the other car retrieved one from the luggage boot, whereupon they all had a chat and then, accompanied by the dog, moved off out of sight.
This, I think, must be quite a good method of farm, ing I At least, as I see it, petrol seems to be allowed for several reasons ,different from any which would be put on an. application form to the R.P.O. In this district you would be surprised at the number of farmers who appear to do their food, production by driving cars.
You will probably think by this letter that I am jealous and prejudiced against this class; that, however, is not true, as if I had not seen the aforementioned letter I would not have bothered about the sportsmen and 'their dog.
It does, however, annoy me, when this sort of thing is allowed to go on, whilst business people are pushed around by all sorts of war-time restrictions regarding the
use Of petrol, etc. C-LICENSEE. Wisbech.
UNSCIENTIFIC SPEED TRAPPING IS SHEER WASTE I WAS pleased to see the paragraph headed " Motorcycle P.C. Loses Speed Case," which you gave in the issue of your paper dated October 15.
It is my opinion, and one which is probably shared by. thousands of other motorists, that if the Commissioner of Police deems it fit for public time, money and man-power to be spent in war-time on speed-trapping the small number of motorists left on the road (who must be on priority work of national importance), then. surely proper scientific methods ,should be used, with electrical recording apparatus similar to that employed at car race meetings. To present,as reliable evidence, the police "guesswork " statements, the accuracy of which is assailed by so many human errors, is not only unfair to the driver but, in fact, is wasting the time of the police-court and the tax-payers' money.
London, S.W.5. STET FORTUNA DMus WHERE ARE THE GOODS DAMAGED?
I HAVE often watched shunting operations from certain stations in Surrey, also the manner in which goods by " passenger " are handled by the porters. In this connection it would be interesting to compare the percentages of goods damaged by rail transit, and those damaged by road transport. Are any such figures avail able? D. JACKSON. Cranleigh.
[We have no accurate figures by which a comparison of this type can be Made between the two means for transport. Perhaps some of our readers will be able to help in this direction. We do know, however, that the losses through damage for goods conveyed by road are comparatively light. Even, if they were the same as by rail, we must also consider the point that goods, etc., which are reasonably fragile, must be far more carefully and expensively packed if they are to be conveyed by train.—En.]