The Halifax Bus Bill.
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The parliamentary committee of the West Riding County Council, reporting on the Halifax Corporation Bill (Omnibuses), states that unless the corporation be disposed to meet the objects of the committee, by offering to amend the Bill in certain respects it will he necessary to oppose the Bill when it comes before a committee of the House of Lords. The Bill will confer upon the corporation express powers to ruu buses on any of the tram routes in the county, and on eight other routes specified in the Bill. The existing powers of the corporation. with regard to buses can only be exercised with the consent of the local and road authorities (including the county council) and the Minister of Transport.
The granting of powers for specific routes as proposed will deprive those authorities of this right of veto respect lug such routes, and the introduction of a clause into the Bill conferring right of appeal by Halifax to the Minister of Transport, where an authority has refused consent under the Act of 1915, win have the effect of depriving the authorities of discretionary powers respecting any other proposed routes..
Another clause of the Bill will enable the corporation to remove any of its tramway R.
A further ground for objection has reference to the right of the. corporation to enter into agreements with ether authorities as to the joint running of buses. The committee will ask that this power be limited, as was done in the ease of Bradford last year, to 10 miles from the town hall, and be made subject to the consent of road authori ties. .
The committee has been in commenication with the various local authorities, whose districts are affected by the proposals of the Bill, .and some of these authorities desire the co-operation and aseistanee of the committee with a view to securing satisfactory amendments of the Bill.
I. of T. Informal Meeting.
An informal meeting of the Institute of Transport will be held in the tea room of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Victoria Embankment, London, W.C.2, to-day (Tuesday), March 19th, at 5A5 p.m., when Mr. Philip Burtt (a vice-president) will initiate a discussion on the subject: " What Education Does a Transport Man Need?"
Thornyerofts for Railways,
An extension of the Southern Railway Co.'s road motor services is indicated by a repeat order which the company has recently placed with Sohn I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., for a forther 19 2-ton lorries. It is officially announced, too, that the Great Western Railway Co. has placed a contract with the company for 11 BC-type six-cylinder chassie with forward control.
Amongst overseas orders which this company is executing is one for two 8-5-ton rigid-frame six-wheeled chassis, with 3-ton trailers for the Cordoba Central Railway,
Idling Control for L.G.O.C. Buses.
All types of bus run by the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., are now being fitted with a simple control to regulate the idling speed of the engine. This should result in fuel economy, as the natural tendency is to set a carburetter so that the engine will tick over regularly when cold. After the temperature has risen, however, the engine will be running faster than is necessary, thus causing waste: The device used consists of a ratchet-held wheel carried on a bracket clamped to the steering column. By rotating the wheel in a clockwise direction the idling speed is increased. Safety Posts for Highways.
The Minister of Transport has approved the Automobile Association' proposal, by which safety posts nay be acquired and erected by highway authorities, the expenditure qualifying for classification grants from the Road Fund, where the posts are erected an Class I or Class II roads.
These posts have resulted from extensive experiments carried out by the Association and are patented ; they will be issued under licence, but without any payment (royalty or otherwise) to the Association.
The Question of Physical Examination
for Drivers' Licences.
The public control committee of the London County Council has completed its consideration of the desirability of physical examination of applicants for licences to drive motor vehicles, and has decided to take no action in the matter. The committee has taken evidence.from several London coroners, has reviewed the conditions of the issue of licences in other countries, and has considered the national importance of the question in relation to the Royal Commission on Transport and the Road Vehicles Regulation Bill.
Covent Garden Traffic Congestion.
Arrangements are being made for the introduction of one-way working from east to west in Maiden Lane, but it is not practicable at the present time to make any further arrangements of this nature with a view to relieving the congestion of traffic in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden -Market.
International Oil, Chemical and Colour
Trades Exhibition.
The second International Oil, Chemical and Colour Trades Exhibition will be open at the Royal Agricultural Hall, London, until March 23rd.
The oil, chemical and colour trades form a highly important branch of British industry, and it is abundantly clear, from the representative displays in each section that British manufacturers are not lacking in enterprise. The exhibits include a comprehensive
• range of the various grades of fuel, industrial and edible' oils, petroleum, chemicals and coheirs, coal-tar products, .etc.
Further G.W.R. Bus Enterprise.
The keenness of the Great Western Railway Co. in connection with the development of bus services is illustrated by a recent letter from the company to the Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council. The council had proposed to extend its bus services to the Aberdare district, by entering into an agreement with the Aberdare Urban District Council and a private bus concern. The Great Western Railway Co. now writes that, instead of such an arrangement it would be better for the Merthyr authority to make a joint MerthyrAberdare service agreement with the railway company, which already has running rights over the route.
When this matter was discussed by the Merthyr Council, membere pointed out that the railway company was a " considerable ratepayer to the council. It was ultimately decided to enter into such an agreement with the Great Western Railway Co.