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A Thin-paper Edition of "The Commercial Motor."

6th January 1910
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Page 1, 6th January 1910 — A Thin-paper Edition of "The Commercial Motor."
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We have, for sonic eighteen months past, been considering the matter of a regular thin-paper edition of this journal. A steady growth of our foreign and Colonial circulation has followed the publication of those special numbers whose contents have been largely addressed to readers other than the ninny thousands who reside in the 'United Kingdom. 'We have published no fewer than ten issues which have accounted more especially for the gratifying increase of sales and postages to India, the Colonies, and foreign countries generally. The most recent of these issues are: the "All-World Motorbus Issue" (20th June, 1907); " Analysis and Critique of R.A.C. Trials Report" (12th March, 1908); the " Tractor Special "(18th March, 1909); Analysis and Tabular Comparisons of Colonial Governors' Reports (let July, 1909); and the issue now on the way out. With large imminent additions to our postage lists, which we know the " Overseas Special " of last month will cause to arise, this decision has been taken but little ahead of actual necessity. Supporters who order extra copies will. in future, please specify the numbers separately for each of the two editions, which will differ only and solely as regards the weight of the paper used.

The Next Special Number: For the Manchester Show.

The special /umbra of this journal are of recognized and proved value. More than that: their circulation is guaranteed. We deal both in quality and numbers. Our seventh " Colonial and Export " issue is now on the way to some 3,000 odd new firms and other potential users overseas; attention may. therefore. appropriately be drawn to the next special nnmber that will deal with commercial motors and tractors in exhaustive and convincing style. It will be our " Manchester Show Report and Third Great Van. :Cumber," a few advance particulars of which are embodied in a display-type announcement on the next page. Manchester, in the year 1901, on the occasion of the third series of trials for petrol and steam wagons, which was organized in that year by the Self-Propelled Traffic Association, took a very lively interest in the arrangements. Mr. Alfred 3. king, of Macclesfield, the present Member of Parliament for the Knntsford division of Cheshire. acted as Honorary Secretary to the Manchester Committee., which included the Lord Mayor of Manchester and the Mayor of Salford. in addition to : Sir W. H. Bailey (Chairmen), Sir Frank Forbes Adam (Wm. Graham and Co., Ltd.), Messrs. Herbert Bright (Roehdale). J. N. Bythell (Managing Director, Ship Canal Co.), Gustav 'Behrens (Director, Midland Peilway), Clifford Clifton (Stockport), J. H. Gartside (Director, Calico Printers I '

Association), Dr. Grossman (Levinstein and Co.), Messrs. George Jennison, Hans RenoId, W. E. Roweliffe, A. B. Smith (Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee, Ltd.), John Stanning, James W. Southern (Deputy Chairman, Ship Canal Co.), John Thomson (President, Manchester Chamber of Commerce), and William Welsh (Messrs Smith and Forrest). Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire contain within their borders the cream of the industrial and manufacturing communities of this country: thousands of these interests centre upon Manchester. The writer, during the time—some seven years ago—that he regularly went on 'Change each Tuesday and Friday in Cottotwpolis, had ample opportunity to feel the pulse of leading spinners, manufacturers, bleachers, dyers, calico printers, wooleombers, papermakers, principals of chemical and alkali works, owners of great flour mills, heads of big packing houses, traffic managers to forwarding, shipping and transport undertakings, provision and general-produce importers, and of representative members of a score of other great branches of commercial activity for which the floor of the Manchester Royal Exchange provides an unrivalled meeting-place. That, of course, was prior to the operation of the Heavy Motor Car Order. It was in the black , days of the three-ton tare, when new wagons fell to pieces in a few months. There were, naturally, many sceptics, and the sceptics were right : they wisely let the enthusiasts pull the chestnuts out of the fire for them.

To-dayl How completely have times changed. Manchester is quick to be converted, when time and occasion coincide. We recall her dramatic adherence to the scheme for a Ship Canal, the effects of which have so hugely aided her prosperity, both directly and indirectly, in the year 1882. Why, one's life was hardly safe in Manchester, on the morning of the 28th June of that year, if one did not at least profess belief in the gigantic proposal as it. then loomed? We detect evidences of a like, if undemonstrative, adherence to the cause of the commercial motor, and we can give our considered assurance to Manchester that it has waited long enough. Railways, except for mineral and certain low-rated goods, have become of less importance to the manufacturer, the merchant, the packer, and the shipper ; they are no longer indispensable; it is nearly practicable, at last, to dispense with their services altogether. The small-scale attempts, from Liverpool and Manchester, seven years ago, with steam wagons, failed by reason of three fundarri.ental difficulties ; (1) the wagons were too weak for the job—it ‘i as largely due to this concrete instance of insufficiency that Mr, Walter Long sanctioned the five-tan tare at the end of 1004; (2) the narrow steel tires (5 in. on the hack wheels) rendered winter service on macadamised roads virtually impossible ; (3) lack of concentration upon a few routes. We are fully aware that mach loss was saved to other parties by this pioneer experience, and that it gave a temporary set-back to road-carrying by motor in Lancashire. Subsequent

progress, however, has been along right lines, and the proportion of helpful factors has increased satisfactorily.

Seven or eight years ago, the hand of every cartage, transport and warehousing interest was turned against the newcomers. Help may have been professed, in many eases: it was seldom given. Delays were innumerable : when not caused by constructional faults in the machines themselves, by the inexperience of drivers, or by yielding road-surfaces, they were shamelessly imposed at the terminal points. We do not suggest that all of these troubles have yet disappeared. The vital difference, to-day, is that, in the very few cases where they cannot be effectually eliminated, they can he overcome by the large reserve of performance-margin which up-to-date types of commercial motors of approved make have disclosed in arduous service. Again, the risk of trouble with road authorities—particularly in Lancashire, where a far-seeing policy has been adapted—has dropped from one of serious to one of minor import ; it may be regarded, in fact, as almost non-existent in Lancashire, so far as main and trunk roads are concerned, whilst happenings in certain other comities provide undeniable indications that they are falling into line with modern requirements. The new factors, in this connection, qua any pretence to the right for a composition or other payment in respect of alleged extraordinary-traffic damage, are : (I) that any re-construction or re-surfacing of roads since the fall of 1903 has been done with a full knowledge that heavy motor traffic was either passing thereon, or was immediately contemplated; (2) that such heavy motor traffic, whatever it may have been six or more years ago, is no longer of an extraordinary nature per se ; (3) that facts can be adduced, in respect of numerous macadamized roads which bear heavy motor traffic, to prove that such roads are not, if properly made, damaged or necessarily more costly to maintain; (4) the widespread abandonment of e aterbinding in favour of tar-bound and waterproof metalling; (5) the wholesale laying of granite setts, both in place ef grit setts and of limestone or granite macadam.

Manchester has everything to gain, from a hearty enemirageme-nt of road transport. It enjoys a unique geographical position : it is both a port and a centre; its " hinterland " is all round it. The map, with concentric circles and figures of population embraced, which, on the occasion of the 1909 Manchester Show, we were able to publish exclusively, as an illustration to accompany our interview* with the General Superintendent of the Ship Canal Co., enforces those facts with all the relentless insistence of graphic statement. It shows that Manchester had, in the year 1901, the following enormous populations within the several radii given: 25 miles, 3,778,765; 50 miles, 8,726,267; 75 miles, 12,196,644. After making clue allowances for the areas served by Liverpool and Preston, and taking the population within a line drawn through Preston, Ripon, Retford, Leicester, Birmingham, Shrewsbury, and back to Preston, the total remains over 6,500,000. As these figures apply to industrial cornrnunitiee generally, and consequently represent output and consumption which are above the normal per head for the country, the importance of the Manchester Show,

which is to be opened on the 18th prox. and to remain open for nine days, can be appreciated. We are of opinion that, out of London, no city can equal Manchester for a buaineas undertaking of this class, and the forthcoming show, in common with those of the last few years, has our fullest and undivided support. Its isolated survival of the hostility of the powerful Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders is the best-possible testimony to the substantial need for its continuance, and we, with the best interests of all concerned in mind, repeat our invitation to the Society to recognize Manchester in future years. Manchester men are hard-headed and sensible: they will not refuse to deal with people who have tried to kill them and failed. Given fair recognition of interests, all should yet pull together. To those who are not unnaturally a little elated at the success of their efforts to promote a good show in the teeth of London's avowed opposition, we would say: remember that the S.M.M.T. may turn round and conduct its own show in your district, if you are unreasonable, or if you take any action which renders amicable negotiation impossible. Both sides have much to gain—or to lose. In conclusion, after this unavoidable digression into the vexed region of show polities, we would state that it behoves everybody with traffic interests at stake to satisfy themselves, by a perusal of the Show Report, or by a visit to the exhibition building next month, that they are not being left behind in relation to the bearing upon their affairs of adaptations and revisions of method which the latest practice in motor-transport engineering offers.

Unheeded Savings of Motor Delivery.

It is an old cry, on the part of those who advocate motor transport, that buyers of va.aa, lorries or tractors often fail to make any allowances whatsoever for the savings which they unquestionably make in their packing departments and upon carriage account. We again draw attention to these unheeded economies ; they should be placed to the credit of the motor department. It is true, so far as concerns expenditure upon paper, string, wrappers, labels, shavings, straw-boards, cases, etc., that some parcels are dispatched exactly as in the pre-motor days, but that retention of old-time methods chiefly applies to packages which are sent out to customers in original form, or to any "soft " goods which require but inexpensive paper and string. There is no longer occasion for elaborate precautions against rough handling in transit; various delicate, fragile or irregularly-shaped articles at no time go into the hands of outside parties, but rest, safely and undisturbed, on the shelves of the motorvan, until the points of delivery are reached. Serious packing charges and all breakages are avoided, whilst delay and friction with patrons are unknown.

The foregoing particular advantages of motor transport tell their story in the monthly charges by railway and other carriers. We invite examinations of the amounts at the hands of owners. They will, in the majority of cases, if not universally, find that there have been considerable decreases. One example is reported by us this week (page 377), in the course of our article upon the Albion Co.'s progress, from a Scottish user.