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News and Comment.

18th October 1906
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Page 12, 18th October 1906 — News and Comment.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

This journal !asters, represents, and chronicles commercial motoring in all its branches; it is recognised and supported by Users, operating engineers, and the motor industry at large.

The Lancashire Steam Motor Company, Limited, of Leyland, is now building 3-ton delivery vans, and the results of Mr. Spurrier's ro years' experience in road haulage are embodied.

Bass, Ratcliffe and Gretion, Limited, has placed an order for two 5-ton lorries, fitted with 4oh.p. internal-combustion engines, with the Ryknield Motor Company, Limited, of Burton-onTrent, and London.

The proposed conference on motor traffic in London, which is to be held at the instigation of the Islington Borough Council, will probably take place at the Westminster Town Hall, and not at the Kensington Town Hall, as had been proposed.

The s-ton steam tractor is to invade Lancashire roads, where the self-contained motor wagon has hitherto held almost undisputed sway. We learn that three Foster tractors have been ordered, for use in the Manchester district, in connection with the conveyance of cotton cloth, but we are not at liberty, at present, to give further information.

The L.C.C. is to invite tenders for the supply of one or two additional motor fire escapes for fire stations now in course of erection. With a view to reinhnising the danger of accidents occurring to motor fire appliances, nonskids are to be provided for the tires of those which are not at present fitted with an apparatus designed to prevent side-slip. The estimated cost is 4'61.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders continues to prose. cute active enquiries into the possible applications of alcohol for power purposes. We believe that more protnising alternative fuels, for use in internal-combustion engines, will shortly be available for use on road vehicles, but the enquiry, more particularly in reference to its bearing upon the development of Ireland and other agri cultural parts of the United Kingdom, should not he without useful results.

The Manchester police are exercising a greater measure of supervision over the axle-weights of steam wagons within their jurisdiction, and it is reported that several machines have been discovered with axle-weights as high as it tons I These Machines have been excluded from the Ship Canal wharves.

Ireland, whose authorities failed to encourage the Iveagh-Pirrie scheme of road transportation, is now turning its attention to the possibilities of canal traffic. Meetings of the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways have recently been held In Dublin, hut the prospects of agricultural salvation for the country do not appear very hopeful, from the standpoint of the Commission, according to the evidence.

The following new -appointments to district managerships of the company have been made by the directors of the Car and General Insurance Corporation, Limited : Mr. B. W. Milward, to the North-West London branch, 23a, Circus Road, St. John's Wood; Mr. Fred W. Saffery, to the Edinburgh branch, 29, St. Andrew Square; Mr. A. Ernest Unitt, to the Sheffield branch, Yorkshire Chambers, Angel Street ; and Mr. Percival Coombs, to the Brighton branch, 18, Queen's Road.

Mann's Patent Steam Cart and Wagon Company, Limited, of Pepper Road Works, Hunslet, Leeds, has, by a coincidence, received three interesting testimonials from users in a single week. The first, from the company's Belfast agents, Messrs. Reeves and Bramwell, of Wellington Place, Bel

fast, reads as follows The Suffolk Linen Company to-day took from us two high-pressure piston rings for their wagon, and they informed us that their wagon, during the tveo years which they have had it, has completed 20,000 miles, and carried to,000 tons. They add that this record, over the bad road which they have to negotiate, is extremely satisfactory, and their engine is in perfectly good order and condition, and lit for a long life yet. They wish to know what you consider would be the average nornber of revolutions which the engine has run per mile over this 20,000 miles, allowing for the slow and fast gear." The second, from the Harriseahead Colliery Company, Limited, Stoke-on-Trent, is terse and to the point, for it merely reads :— " Our experience of your steam wagon is, that it is better made, and capable of doing more work, than two others we have tried. If we ordered another,

we should get it from you." The third, from Cardiff, where other owners cannot make steam wagons pay on unsuitable work, is from the Secretary to D. D. Davis and Sons, Limited, of 7,

Bute Crescent, and it reads I am pleased to say the motor wagon, which you supplied to us about 12 months. ago, has been working during that period very satisfactorily. The cost of working, upkeep, and repairs has been_ considerably less than anticipated, and, although the roads at Ferndale are very hilly and rough, the wagon hashad no difficulty in proving its superiority over the system of horse haulage which was previously in vogue at our collieries. The economy effected by introducing this wagon has been substantial."

Motorcabs have answered so well at Nuremberg that the operating company has applied for, and received, a concession to double their number.

The Southport Town Council has resolved to purchase a motor tower wagon for its electric lighting department, in connection with the maintenance and replenishment of arc lights throughout the borough.

A large order for Royal Sirdar Buffer tires has been received for the Malay Federated States by the Sirdar Rubber Company, Limited, of 34, Baker Street, W., and Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts, for early shipment.

An interesting paper was read before the recent meeting of the Law Society, at Manchester, by Mr. W. E.. Rowcliffe, who, in addition to his practice as a solicitor, is closely identified with the Hercules Motor Wagon Company, of I.evenshulme. The paper deals with various interesting aspects of motoring legislation, both light and heavy.

The agency control scheme of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders is being further enquired into by that body, and it is anticipated that practical results will issue from the representative meeting held at the society's offices, Maxwell House, Arundel Street, W.C., last week. It is probable that a separate section for agents will be formed.

Mr. F. J. Brethcrton,. of r, Gliddon Road, West Kensington, XV., whose name will be well known to our readers in connection with the firm of Messrs. Bretherton and Bryan, designers and builders of steam wagons, advises us that he is open to accept a post in connection with the running of steam motor wagons, or tractors. He has had a large experience in all parts of England, including the Metropolis.

London's motor shows, between this and the end of March next, will be three in number. The usual Annual Show of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders will open on the r5th proxinio, and will close on the 24th of that month; the same society's Commercial Motor and Motor Boat Show, also at Olympia, will be held from March the 7th to 16th; and, lastly, there will be Cordingley's Annual Show, at the Agricultural Hall, Islington, N., from April the 6th to 13th.

No company has made more rapid strides in the manufacture of solid rubber tires for commercial motors than the Dunlop Rubber Company, Limited, of Aston Mills, Birmingham, and .Clerkenwell Road, E.C. These tires are rapidly increasing in popularity with motor omnibus engineers, and the -company appears to have secured an assured position in the esteem of users. Some of its tires have a mileage in -excess of 20,000 to their credit, and numbers have reached 18,000 miles. Not only are they well adapted for omnibuses, but their merits should appeal to owners of delivery vans, and other types of commercial motors, for use with which a reliable and economical tire is of the greatest importance.

The Eclipse Machine Company, Ltd., of Oldham, has received a repeat order for a motor delivery van from Dronsfield Brothers, Ltd., of that town.

There are at present about 400 taximeter motorcabs on the Paris streets, more than half of them being twocylinder Slip. Renault..niachines.

"The Local Government Officer," with which is incorporated "The Public Health Engineer," quotes largely in its issue of the 6th instant, from a paper read by Mr. Shrapnell Smith, before the annual congress of the Association of Cleansing Superintendents of Great Britain, at Salford Town Hall, on June 20th last.

Messrs. Frank Little and Company, of in and 2, 'Westgate Road, Newcastle-on-Tyne, who are manufacturers of the " Blandford " convertible bodies, to which a reference was made in our issue of Septbmber 27th, in the course of the article on "Convertible Cars," advise us that the registered name " Blandford " applies only to the body-work, and that they employ chassis designed and built by the Albion Motorcar Company, Limited, of Glasgow, whose sole concessionaires for England and Wales are the Lacre Motorcar Company, Limited.

The motor lubricants department of the Vacuum Oil Company, Limited, of which Mr. Albert E. Newton is in charge, has issued a new edition of its booklet entitled "A word in season on motor lubricants." This small brochure gives interesting particulars about the company's manufactures, the various classes of packages in 'which the oils and greases are supplied, and some useful tables of lighting-up times, registration index letters, and the like_ A copy will be sent to any reader of this journal who makes written application to the company's offices, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C.

Mr. E. J. Soares, M.P., who is an excessively keen advocate of a heavy sumptuary tax upon pleasure cars, is of opinion that any tax on motors used for professional or trading purposes should be levied with due regard to the purposes these vehicles are intended to serve. It will be remembered that the M.V.W.O.U.A. Committee instructed its representatives before the Motorcar Commission to agree to a reasonable tax upon commercial motors, and to the expenditure of the money so raised upon road improvement and maintenance, subject to proper central control and supervision.

• The construction of a motor road is under consideration by a committee of the Rhodesian Agricultural Union, and it is hoped that a scheme may be fixed upon which will commend itself for adoption in preference to a railway. It is estimated that a metalled road, some 18 feet wide, can be constructed at a cost of L'500 per mile, and that no gradient will exceed r in in. The proposed route is from Gwelo to the Charter and Victoria districts, with a View to the development of the vicinity by means of motor traffic. Further particulars may be had from the Secretary of the British Empire Motor Trades Alliance, it, Red Lion Square, W.C.

The 28111 Annual Brewkfs'Exiiibidon will be held, at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, N., from Saturday next, the 201 instant, to the following Friday, and the exhibits will include several examples of steam motor wagons.

The Motor Union will hold a celebration dinner on November r4th, to commemorate the coming into operation of the 1896 Act. The dinner will be held in London, and it will be open to members of the Motor Van, Wagon and Omnibus Users' Association. Mr. J. Edgar Lound, of the Beaufort Motor Company, Limited, suggests that something might be done in the nature of a parade of heavy vehicles, but we think that owners find these machines too useful to take them off their duties for such a purpose.

A New Issue.

A prospectus will be found, as an inset supplement to this issue, in which the Car and General Insurance Corporation, Limited, offers for subscription ‘49,500 in Zr shares at a premium of 2S. per share. The Corporation was established a little more than three years ago, and its third annual report, issued yesterday, discloses a balance, after setting aside the sum of £27,486 as reserve for unexpired risks at September 30th last, of ,A,,e3. The reserve quoted amounts to one-third of the net premiums for the period covered, and it is proposed to pay a dividend of 5 per cent., to place £2,500 to reserve, and to carry the balance forward. A steady inceease of business is reported for the three years, and the net premium income is now at the rate of zoo,000 per annum. The Corporation's investments, in consols and other first-class securities, exceed -L-34,000, whilst the total security for policy holders is, approximately, „82,000. The Corporation now has 5,536 agents, and 28 district offices, throughout the United Kingdom, and it should be noted that nearly all the members of the London board, as well as numerous members of the various local boards, are well-known workers in the motoring community. During the first two years of its existence, the small sum of .4.7,822 was charged to organisation account, but the whole of the additional establishment charges, for which the full return will not be apparent for another few years, have, for the last twelve months, been charged against revenue. Having regard to the results disclosed in the prospectus, to the improving character of the risks covered, and to the enormous growth of motoring in all branches, the extra capital should be usefully applied, and it is evident that the Corporation is rapidly taking its place in the front rank of the accident insurance world. The principal reason for the new issue is to enable the Corporation adequately to deal with the increased business that will be created by the operation of the new Workmen's Compensation Act. Parisian Motorcabs.

At an early hour last Friday morning a body of motorists and some members of the early-rising public were gathered round half-a-dozen motorcabs near the Madeleine preparing for a race through Paris. Even in a city giving almost entire liberty in the matter of the speed, of motorcars, it had not been thought advisable to draw the attention of the public to the event, and the spectators were confined to those who were " in the secret " and a few idle passers-by. The " circuit " consisted of the Rue Royale, the Place and Pont de in Concorde, the Boulevard St. Germain on the south side of the river, the Boulevard Henry IV, and the Grand Boulevard back to the Madeleine; the circular trip had to be covered three times, making a total distance of 31.5 kilometres-. The " racers " were six taximeter motorcabs, one of each of the makes now plying in the city, viz., Chenard and Walcker, Tony-Huber, Renault, Panhard-Levassor, Bayard, and Link. At seven o'clock Tampier, the A.C.F. official timer, started the Panhard-Levassor, the others following at two minute intervals, each cab haying an observer on board. Although it was a fine, dry morning, the cabs were somewhat handicapned by the wet state of the streets. The Parisian Boulevards have their morning bath between 4 and 8. In the Boulevard Henry IV the road is roughly paved; tram lines run along the entire length of the Boulevard St. Germain, and these are in a bad condition at certain places; on the whole, the track was only moderate, though there were no hills. On the first round, the Tony

Huber led, its time being zomin, sosec. The Panhard-Levassor was last with 24min. t5see. On the second round the Chenard and Walcker made fastest time with 21min. 9sec.; the Panhard was only a few seconds behind, and the Unic last. An exciting finish was witnessed. The blue Panhard cab and the red Renault raced " neck-andneck" from the Opera to the Madeleine, the Panhard gaining a slight advantage as the end of the Boulevard was reached. At the turn into the Rue Royale the Panhard driver cut out a corner and finished a yard ahead of the Renault, but lost on time allowance. Sixteen minutes remained for the Chenard and Walcker to arrive and win. Thirteen minutes passed, and then the yellow, both' rushed round the corner, followed closely by the TonyHuber. It was a close race, as is seen

by the official list for the three rounds : —/, Chenard and Walcker (Jarnois), 4-cyl. /4-2oh.p., / hr. 3min. 355ec.; 2, Tony-Huber (Boutin), 2-cyl.

thr. 6min. 24sec.; 3, Renault (Galome),

z-cyl. ihr: 7rnin, iosec.; 4, Pan.: hard-Levassor (Heret), 3-cyl. 8h.p., /hr. emin. 9sec.; 5, Bayard-Clement (Ouercy), 2-cyl. 8h.p., /hr. //min. 59sec.; 6. Unic (Francois), 2-cyl. 8h.p., skidded and collided with shelter.

All the vehicles were taken at hazard from those in daily use on the streets, and were in their ordinary running condition. With the exception of the accident to the Unic cab, which skidded round on itself three times and finally came into collision with a shelter, everything passed off smoothly, and no cab had to stop for mechanical . or tire troubles. The winner averaged /9.5 miles an hour.


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