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 roughness of the roads over which it runs."—John Beattie Crosier.
The Dunlop Rubber Co., Ltd., has applied for 2250,000 of the new War Loan.
The Defence of the Realm Losses Royal Commission will today (Thursday) hear the claim for compensation to Messrs. Thomas Greenwood and Sons (Blackburn), in respect of motor-transport losses...
Proceedings of Local Authorities.
The Dunfermline T.C. is demanding 4d. per motorbus-mile in respect of services on new routes.
Cheltenham T.C. has authorized the purchase of a battery-equipped vehicle, at 21054, for the collection of house refuse.
-The Board of Trade has refused to approve a -loan of £8600, for which the Plymouth T.C. made application, for the purchase of eight new electric tramcars.
The Streets and Buildings Committee of the Edinburgh City Council is considering the steps to be taken to regulate motorbus passengers at Waverley Bridge.
, The Leicester Corporation has widely substituted lid. for Id. fares on its tramcar routes. Numerous other tramway undertakings are considering the abandonment of all id. fares.
The Health Committee of the Sheffield City Council has reaolved to purchase five additional batteryequipped vehicles for refuse collection, one at 21263, and the other four at £1065 each.
The tramways manager of the Walsall Corporation has been authorized to provide a motor omnibus to meet requirements between Hednesford and the military hospital at Rugeley Camp.
Hackney Borough Council has authorized the purchase of two Lacre motor sweepers at 2666 each, following the receipt of satisfactory reports about the working of machines of the same make and type at Glasgow_
The Whickham U.D.C. has made representations to the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., concerning the desirability of improving the motorbus service between Whickham and Newcastle-on-Tyne —especially on Saturdays and Sundays.
Dartford U.D.C. has been informed officially, by the Ministry of Munitions, that the Department is anxious to arrange with the L.G.O.C. for a motorbus service between Crayford and Ilartford, in preference to the scheme of the Council to provide electric tramcars.
c30 The County War Agricultural Committee of the Surrey County Council is now engaged in endeavouring to place ceders for 22000 worth of agrimotors. The Clerk, Mr. Ramsay IN axes, the County Land Agent, Mr. H. E. Cooke, and the Horticultural Expert, Mr. A. E. Burgess, are the principal officers of the Council who are concerned—Kingston-on-Thames. The London "Safety First" Council met on Monday afternoon, at Caxton Hall, under the chairmanship of Mr. W: Joynson-Hicks, M.P. Lord Sydenham was elected president, Sir George Oibb vicepresident, Mr. Joynson-Hicks chairman, and Sir George E. Welby (Mayor of Westminster) and Alderman E. A. O'Bryen (Mayor of Hampstead) vice-chairmen.
Agrimotor Control.
Mr. S. F. Edge's full description is Director, Agricultural Machinery Branch, the Ministry of Munitions of War, and the address Whitehall Place, S.W: His office, as a matter of fact, is in the Hotel Metropole (Whitehall Rooms entrance), and he is working in the closest conjunction with Lord Devonport and Mr. Protheroe.
The Ministry of Munitions, on Friday last, gave notice prohibiting "any person from carrying out, except under and in accordance with the terms of a permit issued under the authority of the Minister of Munitions, any work consisting in the manufacture or erection of any machine, implement, vehicle, or other article or any part thereof, designed or adapted or commonly used for agricultural or dairy purposes, provided that this order shall not prevent the completion of any work remaining to be done under a contract in writing entered into before the date hereof (10th January) upon any article• of the nature aforesaid intended for use in this country, or the carrying out of any necessary repairs."
Rights of Taxicab Drivers on Privately-owned Ground.
Many members of the public are unaware that a taxicab driver in London has the right to refuse a fare if his cab is standing on private ground; such as the forecourt of a railway station. A further decision in this sense was given last week, at the West London Court, by Mr. Tennyson D'Eyncourt, in respect of an attempt by a member of the _public to force a driver to accept him as a fare while the taxicab was standing outside Hammersmith Metropolitan Railway Station, but not on the public highway. Road Extensions in South America.
Considerable lengths of nem roads are about to be constructec in Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia The coaching road between Atoehz and La Quiaca, coupling th( Bolivian and Argentine railways, E distance of 125 miles, is on( scheme,another concerns th( route between Bogota and LE Dorado (Colombia), a distant( which may reach 270 miles, varyini with the result of the survey.
Steersmen without Licence.
The county magistrates at th( Manchester Police Court, las. week, imposed fines of Sc.. each or Thomas Hulbert, corn miller Broadheath, and King Bros., Ltd. carriers, of Stockport, owners o self-propelled motor vehicles, •foi their failure to provide licensec steersmen.. Mr. Grace, solicitor submitted in one case that th( driver had sole. control of till mechanism and of the steersman.
The views of this journal on th4 foregoing matter have frequentk been repeated. Our advice is ti licence a second man who may a any time he in control of the three lion of motion of the vehicle.
Destruction .A Luggage in Moto Wagon.
A test case, at the Burslen County Court, has been decided b; Judge Ruegg in favour of the owne of the motor wagon, a Foden. Thi plaintiffs claimed that the de fendant company, the Edward Carrying Co., Ltd., of Burslein was to be classed as a eommoi carrier, but the judge decided tha the defendant company had not as slimed the liabilities and responsi bilities of common carriers. Hi Honour pointed out that if the com pany had been a. common carrier like railways and canals, it woul( have been insurers of the good carried, and would have been re sponsible if the goods entrusted t it were destroyed. The law put on obligation uppn a common carrier and a different obligation upon th person who did the same thing m one definite occasion, although h did not know why this was so. Th law, none the less, was clear. I was admitted that the goods wer burned, but he doubted if there hal been any sparks, as alleged by th plaintiffs. No negligence had bee proved, and he Was unable to mak the defendant company liable.
Expert evidence in regard to th construction of the Foden wago was given for the defence by Co: R. E. Crompton, C.B. Chairman c the . Commercial Motor User Association. The M.T., A.S.C. Fund.
The list of cash receipts is this week brought up in our records (page 449) to Saturday last, the lath inst. It will be observed that the total income, since the, establishment of our Campaign Comforts Fund on the 22nd October, 1914, has been no less than £14,695. This total is, of course, exclusive of the considerable Value of the gifts in kind which have reached us.
Mr. F. W. Berkeley.
We learn that Mr. F. W. Berkeley, of 39, Victoria Street, Weitrninster, S.W., formerly of the Surveyor-General's Department of Cape Colony, who continues to. specialize in steam-traction engineering, is now happily on the way to recovery from a recent serious attack of lung trouble. His clients will no doubt appreciate the reasons for the recent partial interference with attention to them.
A Tribunal Point.
The Hull Tribunal recently had before it the case of a tramcar driver, aged 38 and married, on behalf of whom the Corporation made no appeal for exemption from military service. The man made his own appeal, on the ground that he was in a certified occupation, and submitted that the decision of the Corporation not to appeal did not affect the situation ; he was over 25 and married. The tribunal upheld the man's view, and granted him exemption from military service.
Companies Struck efif.
The undermentioned companies have been struck off the Register of Joint-Stock Companies, and are dissolved : —Anglo-Russian Motor Transport Co., Ltd. ; Auto Accessories Co., Ltd. ; Earl Street (Yala,m) Motor Co., Ltd. ; Eastgate Taxicab Co., Ltd. ; G.W.T. Mechanical Starters, Ltd.' General Haulage Co., Ltd. ; H.L.S. Auto-: car Supply Co., . Ltd. ; Holmes Motor Speed Controller, Ltd. ;
" M.B." Cars, Ltd. Nailsea Motor Co., Ltd. ; South African Motor Transport Co., Ltd. ; Westgate Taxicab Co., Ltd. ; Autocoach, Ltd. ; Automobiles (Birmingham), Ltd. ; Auto Electrics, Ltd. ; Automobiles de Luxe (1913), Ltd. ; Barnstaple Motor Char-k-b.ancs Co., Ltd. ; British Motor Lighterage Co., Ltd. ; Express Carriers (1913), Ltd. ; Express Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd. ; International Aviation and Motor Co., Ltd. ; London and Brighton Motor and Sports Co., Ltd. ; London Omnibus Workers' Co-operative Syndicate, Ltd. ; Malay Motor Bus Co., Ltd. ; Potteries Taxi Co., Ltd. ; Viking Motors, Ltd. Women Conductors in London.
It is interesting to note that there are now more than 2000 women conductors in the service-of London motor-omnibus companies. The wages vary between £2 and £2 5s. weekly.
Denmark's C.M. Census.
On 1st September, 1916, the number of commercial motor vehicles registered in Denmark was 723, as against 351 two years before. The 723 are divided into the following classes, the figures in parentheses showing the number in these classes in 1914:—Up to 6 h.p., 192 (109) ; from 6 to 12 h.p., 344 (165) ; over 12 h.p., 187 (77). The number of passenger cars registered for 1916 was 4995. These included 1461 cabs and omnibuses, as compared with 1131 in 1914.
What's Wrong ?—Petrol ?
To know what a symptom indicates, and to know where to look for the indication, is a duty for all drivers. But there are often of course, many possible causes for a single defeict, and to have them neatly and clearly classified is a boon to any driver. A little book,. let, issued by the Lodge Sparking Plug Co.,. Ltd., consists of such a, classification, and there could be no simpler method of locating faults in the petrol engine. " Troubles " are divided into the following headings :—Starting ; Stopping ; Missing; Overheating ; Noisy Running ; Power ; Speed • Turning by Hand ; Pre-ignition; hxhaust. Reading right aoross the double page, there are four columns, the first giving the symptoms, the second indicating the parts to be examined, the third stating the cause of the trouble, and the fourth the remedy. Thus, if the symptom is a thick and bad exhaust flow, one is told to examine the
lubrication, the trouble being that there is too much, and the remedy to adjust lubricators.
National Traction Engine Owners and Users Association.
A further link between owners of traction engines and of commercial motors has lately been forged by the election of Mr. Norman E. Box, a member of committee of the Manchester, Liverpool and Counties C.M.U.A., as 'chairman of the National. Traction Engine Owners and Users Association. Mr. Box is responsible for the carrying out of very important heavy-transport jobs in the vicinity of Manchester, chiefly by means of traction-engine haulage. The vice-chairmen of the N. T.E.O.U.A. for the ensuing year are Messrs. Charles Burrell, John Allen and G. Arnold.
Export to India.
The po-sition in regard to the ex. portation of motor vehicles, chassis, or parts and accessories (other than tires) to _British India has been further complicated by a decision of the Indian Government. The India Office notifies that the Government of India, has prohibited all such importations, including commercial vehicles, whether of British manufacture or not, unless the goods imported are licensed on behalf of the Indian Government by the Collectors of Customs at the ports of importation into India. Applications for licences, or rulings on particular cases, as well as inquiries, have to be addressed to those collectors at the respective ports at which it is desired to import the goods into India. This decentralization of control, and its being placed in the hands of officials overseas, appears to us to he wholly ridiculous.
Major T. B. Browne.
We are pleased to note the special mention of Major T. B. Browne, for meritorious service, in Sir Douglas Haig's last despatches. Major Browne is well known to many of our readers as a past President of the Institution of Automobile Engineers, and as Chairman, prior to the war, of the Parade Committee of the Commercial Motor Users Association.
The Electric Vehicle.
The December (quarterly) issue of " The Electric Vehicle," the official organ of the Electric Vehicle Committee, is an excellent character study of the electric lorry. Machines, as welleas men, should be judged by the work they do, and in' the short articles here printed we get, illuminating glimpses of 'the work and the cost of such work, by the, electric vehicle, under various conditions. We see it saving manpower ,in the. transportation of goods in factories, assisted by ingenious loading and unloading devices ; 'conveying cable two-and-a-. half times quicker than a horsevehicle for a city corporation ; saving 40 per cent. in laundry dcliveries; delivering bread: tipping out refuse • and manifestly inaprovMg the efficiency of fire .departments. Even from Vienna eomee the news that the electric vehicle is much favoured for use in city areas, owing, to some extent, to the short,
age of petrol. .
The industry is wisely peering beyond the war-horizon ; plans are being formulated by British manufacturers, While the Government has recognizedthe national economic impertance of the electric vehicle by its favourable consideration of the importation of electric vehicles for seemenercial purposes. A. circular has been sent from the committee to ever British automobile
manufacturer, pointing out the expediency of considering• arrangements for the manufacture of commercial vehicles After the war. The Committee is also doing valuable work . in endeavouring to obtain from the Local Government Board the sanction of a longer period than four years to Municipalities for borrowing money for the purchase of motor vehicles, when the war is over. It has already a case of six years to its credit as an augury of better treatment.
A remittance of 4d. to .the Elec-. trical Press, Ltd. 13-16, Fisher, Street, Southampt:sn Row, W.C., will bring a copy of the issue by return to any applicant.
New Order by Ministry of Munitions.
The Minister 0f Munitions, under date the 6th inst. (aide `,` The Laudon Gazette" of 9th idem, pages 377 and 378), has slightly varied his earlier Order, dated the 3rd Novena:ver, .1916 "(published in " The London Gazette" of the 10th of that month); concerning motor,vehicle manufacture or assembly. The differences between the two. Orders are small, although the significance of the alterations, in practice, • may. prove to be far-reaching.
• We • requote the original Order, enclosing in round brackets the words which are not found in the new Order, and printing in italics fresh% words which have been intro:, dueed :—" The Minister of Muni
tions . . . hereby prohibits, until further notice, any person, firm, or company (engaged in the manufacture or repair of any vehicle designed for mechanical transport or traction, or any pant of v such vehicle) from carrying mit) (in any factory, workshop, or other premises), without a permit issued ueder the authority of the Admiralty, • the Army Council, or the Minister of Munitions, any work consisting in or connected with the manufacture, assembling, Or erection of any new or unused motor internal-combustion engine, designed or adapted for mechanical traction, or of any new or unused motorcycle, motor' chassis, motor wagon, or of any tractor or other motor vehicle of. any kind Propelled • by mechanical means, subjeee however, to the following exeeptmns:—
" Work' required to complete contracts placed by the Ad. miralty, the War Office, the 'Minister -of Munitions, or an Allied Government, on or before the date of this Order: (3rd .day 'of, November, 1910.)
" For. .the purpose of tlt-is Order. the expression assembling ' shall be' deemed to include the placing or re-, placing in position of any part,' ; • Boys on Trailer-bars.
• There was a typical accident, at Old Meivton, near Ipswich at the, end -of last month, when a boy. named Oliver Cecil Orris lost his life by' falling off a trailer-bar between a tractor and a trailer. The, jury returned a verdict that deceased met his death through being,
accidentally run over, and recommended that steps should be taken
to make the danger of such practices by children as publie aa possible. Mr. F. Rose, the owner of the tractor, made a suggestion that reports of such accidents should be read to children in schools by their teachers, -and the Coroner undertook that this suggestion should be forwarded to the county education authorities. This course is undoubtedly one which may help to, reduce the difficulties by which drivers of steam wagons and tractors with' trailers are so frequently faeed.
" The Times" History of the War.
Part 125 of "The Times" History of the War, published under date the 9th inst., price 9d. net, contains Chapter CLX dealing with "Mechanica.l Transport." This chapter extends to some 22 pages, inclusive of illustrations. It does not purport to be an exhaustive treatise on ehe subjeet, but it conveys an ins teresting and well-written summary which goes far to show the essential features of heavy-motor transport in war service since August, 1914: The article properly gives credit to Major-General S. S. Long, Brige: "dier-General A. R. Crofton Atkins, and Lieuts-Col. H. N. Foster, amongst -others, for the work which has been accomplished ; the mini; Sion of the neme of Colonel Sir IL C. L. "Hoiden, F.R.S., and of other names to which we might re:. fer is no doubt an oversight. There are brief references to the work of the Red Cross and of His Majesty* Land Ships. The best illustration is undoubtedly that of a tank in action.