MILK BY MOTOR.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 January 1925, Page 4

MILK BY MOTOR.

CHEAPER THAN RAILWAY’S. California, pioneer in the development of motor transportation, has provided some interesting and unique illustrations of the economy and efficiency of this new aid. to the economiclife of the community. Now, San Francisco stepped forward with the data to prove the success of another innovation in the field. For the past five years one of the city’s leading retail milk concerns has transported its supply ol this liquid food over a distance of 131 miles, bringing an average of 6626 gallons ol milk dnilv from Soledad to San Francisco. The figures kept over the (i\evear period show that the motor truck has effected a saving of more thiin 166 dollars a day. or nearly -16,606 dollars a year. COST OF TRUCKS.

According to Air AY. W. Ann A alkenhurgli, general manger of the United Milk Company of San Francisco, he has kept an accurate cost account o( the live trucks and the five trailers used on the haul, including interest, insurance, depreciation, maintenance and operative expenses, in addition to the wages of the drivers. It costs three cents a gallon to bring the milk to San Francisco over the 134-mile haul, whereas the price to transport it by rail was five cents a gallon.

“ Noturally, in an operation like ours, where the element of prompt delivery weighs so heavily .the question of the reliability of our transportation was our first consideration, ’ said AH Van Valkoiihurgh in discussing the success of the enterprise. “In the live years that we have been doing our own hauling, we have never had to cancel even one of our daily trips. This, I think, is a remarkable tribute to the dependability of the trucks, considering that, over the five-year period, the mileage has totalled 241,260 miles. HANDLING OF MILK.

“Hauling more than 5000 gallons of milk daily the total number of gallons hauled runs well over 4.000,000. or more than 10,000 tons. “ A rather remarkable instance of what the modern motor truck will stand is seen in the record of the original truck on the haul. It was run more than 70,000 miles before the crank case was taken off. AA’e have operated on the system of changing the oil every round trip, or 268 miles.” Bringing fresh milk over a -distance of 134 miles by motor truck involve! problems that took no little ingenuity to work out. The first method was to mount a refrigerator box on the chassis but later glass-lined tanks were substituted on both trucks and traders These are insulated to a degree that the milk arrived in-San Francisco less than two degrees different in temperature than when it left Soledad.

Five trucks and trailers are used. Each is of the five-ton capacity type. Each tank has a capacity of 4600 pounds. THE DRUNKEN MOTORIST. NEED FOR ACCURATE DEFINITION. A medical correspondent contributes to the “Saturday Review” an article on “ The Drunken Motorist and the Law.” Ho says that ifa strengthening of the law is contemplated, the importance of defining and accurately diagnosing drunkenness will become a matter of equal urgency. As every doctor can testify, this is often a problem of the most extreme difficulty, not Only from the medicolegal point of view, but from that of pure medicine when there is no complicating question of pains and penalties. After dealing with the danger of judging from the mere odour of alcohol. the doctor goes on to relate the following incident, of which ho was an cve-wi tuess :-

A lady driver knocked over a cyclist whereupon she fell hack in her seat apparently half-conscious, only to lean forward when approached by the indignant cyclist, and give him the benefit of a very powerful and suceiut flow of invective. This concluded, she again foil hack in her seat in the same state of semi-collapse. Fortunately there were plenty of witnesses to testify that, in this particular case, the motorist was not at fault, and the lady’s condition was obviously 01. an hvsteiioal nature. Had witnesses been few, however, or absent altogether, and an odour of alcohol detected in the lady’s breath, it is easy to perceive how readily a miscarriage of justice might have fallowed this incident.