ODT Clarifies Truck Conservation Ordgr

San Francisco, May 29-Changes in the four general orders for conservation of trucks and tires were clarified here today by the Office of Defense Transportation.

In announcing the changes, the ODT emphasized that the determination to achieve the objectives of the orders has not been relaxed. Such changes as were made have been approved only to give the industries affected additional time to work out their own plans for attaining the objectives of the orders.

In the major changes announced today, the ODT:

1. Postponed from June 1 to July 1 the effective date of provision of orders 3, 4, and 5 prohibiting the operation of trucks in over-the-road deliveries unless loaded to 75 petcent of capacity on the return trip.

2. Relaxed a provision of order No' 6 with respect to newspapers and set up two alternate plans for conservation of trucks engaged in newspaper delivery services.

3. Extended jurisdiction of the local delivery order to 25 miles beyond the corporate limits of the municipalities.

4. Exempted trucks engaged exclusively in the pick-up or delivery of telegraphic, radio and cable communications and the U.S. mails from the provisions of order No. 6.

5. Relaxed order No. 6 with respect to coal trucks and set July 1 as the effective date of the mileage reduction program for such vehicles.

6. Extended to July 1 the effective date of order No. 6 with respect to trucks primarily equipped for the transportation of bulk liquids.

Postponement of the return load provisions of orders No. 3, 4, and,5 means that until July 1 trucks engaged in overthe-road operations may return empty to the point of origin, if there is no cargo available for transportation on the return trip.

This provision was postponed, ODT explained, to allow industry more time in which to work out practicable programs for return loads and mileage reductions in their operations. Truck operators were urged to continue without let-up their preparation for such programs.

Under the revised local delivery order, newspapers may adopt either of two plans for the conservation of equipment.

One plan sets a limit on the number of deliveries a paper may make in one day, the number to be determined by the population of the ared served, and also requires a 25 per cent reduction in delivery mileage.

The other plan sets no limit on the number of deliveries on the same day but requires a 40 per cent reduction in mileage. Under either plan, special deliveries and call backs are banned.

Under the coal truck amendment, firms engaged in the delivery of solid fuels must increase the efficiency of their operations so that their mileage per ton delivered in any one month shows a reduction of 25 per cent as compared with their average monthly mileage per ton delivered in 1942.

Another change in order No. 6 makes the order binding not only on carriers but on shippers as well.

In the provision setting up the 25-mile limit on local deliveries, the order provides that retail deliveries made directly to the consumer beyond this limit are to be considered as local deliveries.

Order 6 has been further clarified to permit a local carrier to make an additional delivery on the same day to the same point if the commodity to be transported requires the use of a vehicle exclusively adapted for the transportation of such commodity.

IJnder another clarification, order 6 permits one delivery a day from any one point of origin to any one point of destination.

Ralph E. Hill

Ralph E. Hill, secretary-treasurer of the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association, passed away at his home in Memphis, Tenn., on May 23. He was 59 years of age.

He was born in Oregon, Mo. He operated a retail lumber yard in Kansas, and later was associated with the LongBell Lumber Co., remaining with them for sixteen years. Ife was secretary of the Southern Oak Flooring Industries for several years, and was code administrator at Memphis for oak flooring during the NRA. Later he was made chief of the price division of the entire lumber code with headquarters at Washington, D. C.

He is survived by his widow, three daughters, and a son.