j Motors for Builders and Contractors. The eleventh section in our
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series of special numbers appears as part of this issue. It is addressed more especially to Builders, Contractors, and Brickrnakers, in all parts of the United Kingdom, and the pages which are thus devoted to a continuation of our missionary efforts will bring conviction to not a few intending purchasers who have mechanical transport under consideration. We have been unable to include more than typical letters from users, but those which are given convey ample testimony to the work of the 5-ton wagon in particular. It is clear that not a few building operations call for the introduction of a tractor, whose larger wheels and lower axle-weikhts permit both it and the single trailing vehicle behind it to go over soft ground without difficulty. Contractors who have purchased a heavy steam wagon, the rear axle-weight of which may reach eight tons at times, and whose driving wheels may be only three feet in diameter, have experienced troubles by reason of the " sinking-in " when running over unmade surfaces, which might have been avoided with a tractor : each class of machine has its proper spheres of usefulness. Wrong applications in certain instances are not proofs of inherent faults in motor vehicles generally, and it is unfair to condemn the sell-propelled wagon to-day because some of those which were constructed under the 3-ton tare limit, when the 1896 Act was in force, gave disappointing results. The Heavy Motor Car Order, 1904, allows a 5-ton tare, and this has rendered practicable the adoption of large wheel and tyre dimensions, whereby the intensity of load per unit of tread is reduced, in some cases, by as much as half. Many who see this journal for the first time will, we hope, peruse the announcements in our advertisement pages, for these, too, bear witness to a great development in the utility vehicle department of motoring. Experiment has given place to successful use, and there is no longer occasion to hesitate by reason of any fear that the purchase of a commercial motor involves expenditure for the benefit of others only. Not the least interesting of uses for up-todate firms is the employment of the. vehicles for the conveyance of working gangs and their tools from point to point. This extension of the field may be turned to profitable account, both in town and country, and we are acquainted with owners who save both time and money in this way. The trades we address of necessity put their plant generally to severe tests, but motor vehicles are sturdy enough to withstand the hardest usage. Under the most trying conditions £643 has proved sufficient for a year's repairs, whilst some machines earn their cost in 18 months.