The Wheels of Industry.
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" The wheel of wealth will be slowed by all difficulties of transport at whatever points arising, as a carriage is by the røufiess of the roads over which it runs."—John Beattie Crozier.
Proceedings of Local Authorities.
The Heston and Isleworth U.D.C. has invited the National Steam Car Co., Ltd., to extend its local service.
The Dundee District Committee of the Forfar County Council is about to purchase an additional steam tractor.
The Ripon City Council is making a further application to the L.G.B. for consent to the purchase of a motor fire-engine, having regard to new local circumstances, The Watch Committee of the Leeds City Council has agreed, at the suggestion of the Local Tribunal, to license women to drive taxicabs plying for hire.
The Fire Brigade Committee of the Bath City Council hopes to sell its old horse-drawn engine to the War Offiee, which Department is apparently inquiring for the type.
The Electricity Committee of the Loughborough Town Council has decided not to purchase a batteryequipped vehicle at the present time ;_ the purchase price of 1840 is considered too high.
The Medical Officer of Health for Hastings, in his annual report, confirms the well-known fact that road-scavenging is rendered easier, and can be done more thoroughly, by reason of the improvement of road surfaces which has followed the general introduction of selfpropelled traffic.
Mr. C. H. Webb, engineer and
• manager of the Stourbridge Gasworks, wishes to buy a light motor van, subject to the taking-over of an old van in possession of his department; tenders will probably
therefore only interest local dealers, and they must be lodged on or before Tuesday next.
The Sussex County Council is reported to have informed the Shoreham-by-Sea U.D.C. that the question of a contribution by motor owners towards the maintenance of roads has been referred to a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament. This notification, if correctly reported, is an anticipation of probabilities.
The Watch Committee of the Birmingham Corporation has issued instructions that passengers who arrive by motorbus at the NewStreet terminus cannot be permitted to retain their seats for the outward journey. They are to be required to get out of the vehicles, and to take up their position at the end of the queue.
Mr. 3. McElroy, manager of the Manchester Corporation Tramways, has adopted fixed stoppingplaces on the motorbus service at Northenden. Instructions have also been given that each motorbus must be emptied of passengers on arrival at the terminus, in order to prevent people from retaining their seats for the return journey.
Kendal P.C., in conformity with the recommendations of the Westmorland County Council, has resolved that the following routes be recorded as having been regularly used by motorbuses plying for hire prior to the 1st March, 1016 :— Windermere Road ; Stricklandgate ; Highgate ; Kirkland; Milnthorpe Road ; Netherileld ; Lound Road; Burton Road ; Sande.s Avenue ; Station Road ; Longpool and Far Cross Bank West.
The Carnarvon Town Council has recently enforced the taking-out of motorbus licences under the Town. Police Clauses Act, and has threatened certain local owners with pressure ifthey do not comply forthwith. No fewer than 19 summonses were issued, in order to bring the-local owners under licensing control, which apparently has not been exercised in the past, but these were withdrawn on payment of costs, in the case Of the owners who complied.
The Newhaven U.D.C. has decided that, on the resumption of normal traffic by the Southdown Motor Services, Ltd., the frequency of service must be specially considered in relation to the convenience of Newhaven residents. The same council has informed the Brighton and District Motor Carriers, Ltd., that,1 as Newhaven is now a special military area, applications for further facilities in respect of motor traffic cannot at the present time be entertained.
The Newark T.C. has decided to purchase a traction engine and two trailers, for road-construction work.
The Rochdale T.C. has purchased a steam motor gulley emptier from the Yorkshire Commercial Motor Co., of Leeds.
It was in respect of a new route to Chichester, and not to Horsham, that the Midhurst R.D.C. last month gave consent to the Aldershot and District Traction Co., Ltd., for motorbus extension.
Petrol by Train. At the Tredegar Police Court a motor-vehicle owner was last week fined 40s., with £3 3s. costs, for taking tins of petrol in a trunk by passenger train. Such a course of action is an offence under the Railway Companies Explosives Act.
Motor Manufacturing in Russia.
A correspondent suggests that an output of 2000 commercial motors per annum, from the proposed new motor works in Russia should not amount to one hundred million roubles annually. We quite agree. We based our paragraph of last week upon a reference in. the Dutch journal "De Auto," and we can only conclude that the above-mentioned output of commercial vehicles is but a portion of the total output.
Definition of "Motor Spirit."
Several more cases have occurred, in which owners of motor chars-kbanes have been prosecuted under the Defence of the Realm Regulation of the 18th August last. Two of the cases were heard before the Chesterfield Borough Bench, the defendants being Cyril Ibbotson, of High Green, near Sheffield, and Henry Pyle of Ash Street, Buxton. Ibbotson pleaded guilty to using a mixture of petrol and petrol substitute, whilst Pyle stated he was using a mixture of petrol and paraffin. The Court declined to defer the cases pending the decision in the appeal from the recent decision. of the Conway magistrates, and imposed a fine of £3 in each case. A. successful defence was raised at Peebles, on Friday last, in a case which was brought against the Rapid Motor Transport Co., Ltd., of Glasgow. Mr. Alex. Steuart, managing director of the company, and one of its drivers were charged with contravening the Order by using motor spirit for the purpose of a char-k-hancs trip. The prosecution proved that petrol had been used for heating the engine, but The defendants showed that, although petrol had been so used before the char-i-bancs was started, the run was made on paraffin oil. The Sheriff held that such use of petrol was not a contravention of the Order in Council, and acquitted the accused.
The Conway Appeal.
It is understood that the statement of the case by the Conway magistrates, for the appeal which is being supported by the C.M.U.A., has been delayed for legal reasons, but that it should be available for the information of the C.M.U.A. and the defence generally at an early date. It is pirobable that the long vacation, which some members of the legal profession continue to enjoy, has had some bearing on the tardy procedure, although possibly,the difficulty of stating the case has not been without its effect upon the time required.
Muddle in Petrol Control.
The current issue of our sister journal "The. Motor (dated the 10th inst.) deals with the extraordinary state of muddle into which the offices of the Petrol Control Committee apparently fell in July and August last. We trust that this state of affairs has by now been remedied, although the, gross slackness which evidently did exist is a grave reflection upon the direction of the Committee's work. It appears that, as a result of these flaws of organization, and of an inexcusable lack of 'foresight in making provision for obvious requirements in the matter of staff and supervision, the commercial and professional classes in the United Kingdom have suffered quite unnecessarily_ We learn that hundreds of postal orders, for example, became separated from the documents to which they referred, and that these have in large numbers of instances not yet been identified as to their sources. The senders had to pay twice, or 'do without petrol.
The Ban on Chars-a-Bancs.
It has now been announced by the Defence of the Realm Losses Royal Commission that the general character of the interference with the use of motor chars-k-bancs may be held to deprive owners of such vehicles of rights of compensation. We comment upon this point of view on page 127. The matter will no doubt engage the attention of the C.M.U. A., but it appears -to us that the time has come for everybody who is interested to consider Whether a determined effort should not be made to obtain a relaxation or withdrawal of the ban. Private-car owners are now to have a minimum of 16 gallons of petrol per month, in many cases for .purposes which are less capable of justification than is the use of spirit to propel a motor char-a-bancs — the poor man's motorcar. There is, fortunately, an interval of a few months available, before the existing hardships become calamitous, in which to work towards a solution of the present unsatisfactory position. Fowler-WyIes Motor Plough:
The price of the 10 h.p. FowlerWyles motor plough is 2174, and not 2270 as was stated in the table which we reproduced on page 122 of our last week's issue.
Shell Spirit.
Owing to the accidental dropping of a line of type from page 113 of our issue of last week, the list of the divisional offices of the Shell Marketing Co., L14.,, read incompletely, as published. The Plymouth office is Shell House, East Street, Plymouth ; the Hull office is Shell House, 21, Story Street, Hull.
B.S.A. and Daimler.
The annual. meeting of the Birmingham Small Arms Co., Ltd., took place, at Birmingham, last week, under the chairmanship of Sir HalleweIl Rogers. Considerable references were made to the activities of the Daimler Co., Ltd., which company is a branch of the Birmingham Small Arms Co., Ltd., and owned by it. It was announced that the Daimler works had consistently increased its output during the war, and it was agreed, on the motion of Mr. E. Manville, that the thanks of the shareholders were due to the "brilliant, hardworking and patriotic staff" at the Daimler works. The ordinary shareholders of the B.S.A. received a further interim dividend of 15 per cent., free of income tax, in addition to the interim dividend of 5 per cent. paid in April last. It was also agreed in future to pay the directors' fees free of income tax.
Smith's Accessories.
Mr. Samuel Smith presided at the second ordinary general meeting of S. Smith and Sons (Motor Accessories), Ltd., at Winchester House, Old Broad Street, E.C., last week. The company's net profit for the past financial year was 242,169. The chairman referred to the development of the company's new paraffin carburetter, and announced that further factory resources had become necessary. Government sanction had been received for the erectionof a new factory, and it was proposed that the capital of the company should be increased by the . issue of a further 100,000 shares of 21 each, making the capital 2300,000. The existing ordinary shareholders would have the right to subscribe for one share in respect of each two shares now held. The resolution to increase the capital was unanimously adopted. The dividend for the past financial year is at the rate of 7d. per share, bringing the return for the year, with an interim dividend of 2i per cent, (less tax) already paid to approximately 10 per cent. free of tax. Watch Russia.
It is extremely important that British manufacturers should keep a sharp eye on the Russian market. There is every evidence that both the Russian Government and the principal business concerns have realized the importance of motor transport, and to that end are even now improving their roads.
Since the war the Russians have given serious attention to the benzole supply which previously was exclusively provided by Germany. Even at present the previous German exports have been exceeded and 1,200,000 poods have been distilled. It is anticipated that the present output will be augmented by 100;000 poods per month. A pood is 36 lb.
Petrol Storage.
. This journal has been consistent in its advocacy of the wider adoption of bulk storage of users' motor spirit. The high prices which are being charged to the petrol companies for cans, quite apart from questions of shortage, lead us once again to draw the attentien of consumers, large and small, to the advantb,ges of such storage plants. Some of the best systems of the kind are regularly advertised in the pages of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR, and their merits have been described on sundry occasions in our text pages. No course Hes more readily within the control of large users of spirit, for their own relief, than the one which we indicate: Once such an installation is laid down, the petrol-supply companies give the benefit of their lowest bulk quotations, and the savings which are thus effected on the purchase price of the spirit quickly make good the capital outlay on the storage plant.
The United Induction Co. Ltd.
The exhaust-heated induction pipe, which we described as No. XVI of our two-fuel series on the .7th September last, is, we gather, doing very well.
A prominent and large user in the Smith of England has recently placed an order for a large number of them, and in the course of conversation with Mr. Thomas Higson, the service manager for Gaston, Williams and Wigmore, Ltd., we were informed that his company is putting a sample of this carburetter to a thorough test, and so far is very well pleased with the results. It is fitted on a works lorry, a two-ton internal-gear-driven Selden, which at the present time is busily engaged helping to nemove the company's goods fromTideina Road to the new Service Station at
IT moven.
The manufacturers of this carburetter are the United Induction Pipe Co., of 8, Penarth Road, Cardiff.
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