LOGGING OVERSEAS, 1964 REPORT
Logging on the road makes it possible to resolve queries and problems. Route section details can be streamlined and the more important references highlighted and changes in Through Routes - local or national - initiated and alternative ways assessed. Such desirable changes are not apparent from maps and comparison by timed runs is the only possible solution for determining some routes, especially as Motorways (Autobahns etc) tend to distort the time honoured pattern of Through Routes.
Recommendations
As explained, there are very obvious reasons why logging on the Continent should be undertaken again after a lapse of over 30 years and we should increase our Establishment to allow for at least two additional staff to be earmarked for this purpose. In the meantime, we could occasionally call on HA Poulton (the UK logger/driver) and perhaps enlist the help of ARM Phillips (one time occasional logger/driver) if that could be agreed for one or two trips, and make use of two Overseas Routes own staff as work and other circumstances permit to get the job established. Unfortunately, until the Editorial side has been expanded to undertake these duties and the trained staff are available, we cannot embark on a full logging programme. We are hoping for the allocation of a permanent car Home logging and there may be need to have another car available for Continental work with a km mileage recorder etc.
The recent experimental Continental logging trip with an AA car and two persons cost £183 for the three weeks and some 3000 miles. Vehicle running costs, shipping charges and fares accounted for £48, hotel expenses and meals etc about £120 and the balance (£15) for films and developing, tape recorder batteries and incidentals. Three weeks is too long an absence for the staff and too much road work accumulates and I propose that trips averaging out at about 10 days (14 the maximum) are about right. It would be uneconomical for a team of two (and vehicle) to be based on the Continent, also for a long time yet we would not have the Editorial facilities to handle their output.
Based on this (and allowing an average of £18 for shipping and fares each trip) about £40 should cover vehicle and running expenses, £80 hotels and meals for two, and about £12 for the other items detailed - a total of about £130 for each average trip. There will, of course, be occasions when for many reasons, the actual mileage covered will be more (or less) or the visits shortened. It is impossible to propose a firm programme knowing the existing staff problems but I would like to aim at about eight excursions during the next twelve months at a cost of about £1,100.
We are already working on a tentative programme for an early five or six day logging trip to check some roads and routes around Paris and in the coastal regions, with particular reference to Le Touquet, but for domestic reasons and because of pressing departmental work, staff for this purpose cannot be released until just into the New Year. A short concentrated tour of this nature should produce excellent results and clear up a number of outstanding queries and also act as another kind of experimental trip.