News and Comment.
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Our Circulation (Certifie& is Double that of all Similar Journals Combined.
The Park Show will remain open until the 24111 instant.
The conunercial section is dealt with on pages 288 to 291 of tit's isue.
There is lirtle to be seen of novelty or interest, and any persons who visited Olympia will lose nothing if they refrain from going to Paris.
The company which has ben formed in Italy to build Thornyerolt motor vehicles and motor boats, as reported by us last week, is to be known as the Fabbrica Ligute di Automobili, Genoa, which will probably be abbre_ viated itno the '' F.L.A.Gr." Company. The secretary of Argyll Motors, Limited, asks us to state, in order to remove the misconception which has arisen, that the company's agents in Plymouth and district are Messrs. H. Andrew and Company.
Reports from Australia state that the demand for motor omnibuses is extending, and that Otis branch of the motor industry promises to be one of the most flourishing there.
The next annual show of the Manchester and District Cycle Trades Association, Limited, will take place at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Old Trafford, Nlanchester, from the 9th to 17th of February, both days inclusive. Everybody will regret that the dates clash with those for the
Liverpool Show. Mr. Carritte, of Prince's Chambers, 16, John Dalton Street, Manchester, is secretary, and he should be addressed by any intending exhibitors.
The borough surveyor of Doncaster, Mr. W. II. R. Crabtree, in a letter addressed to the secretary of the British Empire Motor Trades' Alliance, has drawn attention to the favourable position of Doncaster and district as a manufacturing centre. Mr. Crabtree points out that the rates are exceedingly low ; that seven railways serve the town, as well as a canal capable of carrying too-ton barges; that it is the centre of a famous coalfield and iron ore district ; and that the Corporation is prepared to let suitable sites for works on advantageous terms. Our busines, deptrintent is occupied in making NO analysis of various lists of builders and contractors, in order that the speciai isslic which has been announced by us fcr January t8th may be placed to the best advantage.
_Nveling and Porter, Limited, Rochester, asks us to point out that the price of that company's patent compound steam tractor, as exhibited at the Smithfield Silow, varies from 7:500 to 4320, subject to a small discount. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has made a grant of f,,so to assist the Western Road Carrying Company, Limited, of Bristol, to defend a claim made bv the local authorities for alleged road damage due to extraordinary traffic. The Molar Van and Wagon Users' Association is also rendering assistance. The total number of licenses issued by the London County Council, under the Motorcar Acts, to drivers of both cars and cycles is 2o,866 to the end of November.
Letters of allotment and regret in J. T. Williams and Company, Limited, have been posted. This company is fully occupied in dealing with new business for the Ross acetylene generator and lighting system, and Mr. Williams informed a member of our staff last week that he had received enquiries for quotations to equip two tramway systems in Belgium as one result of the particulars published in our issue of the 23rd November.
The first three omnibuses belonging to the Mersey Railway Company began a regular service on Monday last : these vehicles were supplied by the Motorcar Emporium, Limited, and are of that company's " S " type. Prior to the inauguration of the 6-minute service between Birkenhead Central Station and Charlesville, the vehicles were employed on Saturday last in connection with the New Zealand football match. Halfpenny stages are included in the company's schedule, and books containing so halfpenny coupons may be purchased at any booking office for two shillings.
The Southend and District Motor Omnibus Company has placed an order for three double-deck Dennis omnibuses. The secretary of the company is Mr. J. A. Berry, Southendon-Sea, and he hopes to start the service in February. Motor Vehicles, Limited, of Bank Buildings, Union Street, Bury, has recently closed a contract for the supply of .4.;20,000 worth of motor omnibuses on the hire-purchase
• systein to a London company.
The British Empire Motor Trades' Alliance, of ii, Red Lion Square, London, W.C., has received enquiries for the names of British manufacturers of motor horns, also of nickel motor valves. There is an undoubted tendency to-day to curtail purchases of such accessories from abroad.
The Mercury Motor Bus Company, Limited, has been registered with an authorised capital of ,4:20,000, divided into 2,000 preference shares of .1:5 each and ro,000 ordinary shares of j",t each. The registered office of this company, which will have for a nucleus of its rolling stock tlw old Hastings omnibuses, is at 69, Victoria Street, S.W.
The public health committee of the Poplar Borough Council is to bring up a report by the 3151 proximo is to the best manner to collect the house refuse of the borough without the intervention of contractors. It is understood that the question of horse versus motor traction will be exhaustively considered by the committee.
Marylebone Borough Council considered, at its meeting on the 7th instant, a letter from a ratepayer calling attention to the danger to pedestrians crossing Oxford Street by Quebec Street, in consequence of the motor omnibuses which stop opposite the " City of Quebec " public-house. It. was resolved to construct a refuge at this point.
An interesting function, last week, was the opening of the new works at Phcenix Wharf, Uxbridge, of the Steel Barrel Company, Limited. A large iron building has been constructed which covers about an acre and a quarter of land. This building, which is 29oft. long by 16oft. wide, comprises a boiler house, (Jon, square; a store, looft. by 6oft. ; the welding shop, t3oft. be 6oft.; the power house, &oft. by soft. ; a machine bay, 2301t. by soft.; and the finishing hay, soft. wide and running the entire length of the building. The Steel Barrel Company holds, exclusively, the rights of the British patents of Messrs. I3arraclough and Heaton, and the management of the works is undertaken by one of these gentlemen, Mr. Heaton. The manufactures of the company consist mainly of steel casks, in which the different parts :ire united by the process known as electric weiding. This most effective method produces a joint very sound, tight, and reliable, and impervious to the most penetrating and searching liquids, such as acetone, benzine, sulphuric acid, petroleum, and motor spirit. Petrol tanks for motor vehicles, therefore, constructed on this system should prove very efficacious. Special forms of drums suitable for this purpose, in five and ten-gallon sizes, are made by the company, as well as rectangular tanks for the storage of larger quantities of spirit.
The question of an independent source of petroleum spirit supply is attracting much notice at the hands of those who are vitally interested in the motor omnibus. It is quite likely that importers of spirit will affect to recognise an old and ineffective cry in the protest against monopoly which is now shaping to a definite end, but a distinctly new feature is introduced, and one which has never existed before, in the fact that a powerful and wealthy industry has a common interest in the matter. From a number of communications that have been addressed to us on this subject we have only room to quote the following. Mr. H. G. Burford, managing director of Milnes-Daimler, Limited, writes :—" Pro-. bably you are not aware that this question was fully discussed some IS months or two years ago at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, who, in fact, were in touch and were about to organise a company on the lines indicated. I agree that any combination that can be made by our friends in the petrol trade would be detrimental to the interests of the automobile industry. Further, I think it is the bounden duty of those who are leaders of the industry to take immediate steps to protect themselves and their users from a monopoly which may end in ruining the industry." Mr. Sidney Straker, president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, says :—" I think that the matter should be dealt with by my society, and propose to submit the whole thing at our next meeting. I quite agree that it is a matter of the greatest importance."
Colonel R. E. Crompton, C. B., chairman of the Motor
Van Wagon Users' Association, who is time COMIllalldins officer ot the Royal Engineers E. E. (Vols.), rendered the greatest conceivable assistance to the railway authorities on toe night of the disaster at Charing Cross. lie received a telephone message at 6.25 p.111., and immediately mobilised two sections of the corps with 24-inch projectors, lamps, cable reels, and limbers. Without waiting for horse transport, the whole was taken through the streets by drag ropes, got into position at Charing Cross, and the light, turned on by 8 o'clock-95 minutes from receipt (ii. the appeal for aid—and every help given in the work ot rescue. At the meeting on Saturday of the Metropoimm Asylums Board, the ambulance committee reported having received tenders for a motor omnibus. They recommended that the tender of Clarkson, Limited, to supply a Chelmsford omnibus to seat 16 persons, including driver and attendant for I:66o, inclusive of all necessary lamps, be accepted. Mr. H. Thomson Lyon, the chairman of the committee, explained that the various tenders had been referred to an expert (Col. R. E. Crompton, C. B.) and that it was upon his advice that the committee were acting. Col. Crompton had drawn attention to the fo,lowing points in favour of the Chelmsford omnibuses :—The silent and smooth running of these vehicles, their freedom from jerks or shocks at starting, which are very objectionable to invalids; there is no odour of petrol or objectionable smell given off when running; the tire risk by the use of liquid fuel is minimised, as the paraffin employed in non-inflammable it ordinary temperatures; the cars have no change gear, clutches, batteries, coils, coimnu. tators or other complicated gear to get out of order, and are exceedingly simple to drive. It was unanimously agreed to accept the Clarkson tender at £660.
Since our last fortnightly census of the omnibuses working in the Metropolitan area there have been considerable extensions. The Associated omnibuses running between Kilburn and Victoria, both horse and motor, have been extended to Cricklewood, and the Straker-Squire omnibuses belonging to the Road Car Company, which were hitherto plying between Putney and Charing Cross, have been extended along the Strand, Fleet Street, Aldgate and W'hitechapel, and Burden Road. An account of the last-named service will be found on pages 282 and 283. The number at work has now reached 203, and, at the present rate of increase, it will not be far short of 300 by the 3 rst of the month. Competition between the horse and motor omnibus has become so keen on the Cricklewood Road that a large number of the horse omnibuses have had to be transferred elsewhere. A new route has been opened between St. John's Wood, Elgin Avenue, Westbourne Grove, Kensington Church, and Knightsbridge to Piccadilly Circus; this service is entirely composed of horse omnibuses that used to be on the Cricklewood Road, and others have been transferred to various parts of London. More of the horse stables are being demolished at Dollis Hill. Cricklewood, and accommodation for motor omnibuses built in their place. So far, the policy of the horse omnibus proprietors has been to transfer the horse omnibuses to other routes rather than to disrontinue them, with the exception of six of the Road Car omnibuses, which were sold out of service some months ago. IL will, however, soon be impossible to find remunerative work for all the horse omnibuses, with the present steady increase of motor services, and we may expect to see a large reduction in their numbers early next year. The following summary may prove of use :—Principal owners—London Motor Omnibus (Van_ guard), 56; London Road Car, 48; London General, 2o; London and District (Arrow), 19; Tilling, tti; London Power, 12. Principal makesMilnes-Daimler, 99; StrakerSquire and Bussing, 27; Diirkopp, 22; Germain, 14; ScottStirling, T2 ; De Dion-Bouton, 9; Leyland, S. Principal routes-Cricklewood and Elephant (Vanguard), 41; Peckand Oxford Circus, 23; Hammersmith and Charing Cross, 23; Cricklewood and Law Courts, 22; Putney and Waterloo (Arrow), 19; Putney and Charing Cross, 13.