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By "The Extractor."
Engines for Tanks.
A name that was new to me was imparted by a friend as the maker of a new lorry engine, so the next time I was in that neighbourhood I took esixe to try to see it. I found quite a fine factory, saw the principal, who explained courteously that he had certainly started making a commercial vehicle engine, but he had been quickly diverted into constructing a special engine for war work ; it was quite secret, and he could not even describe it much less show it, 'so I had to retire full of nothing but chagrin and disappointment. The information was volunteered, however, in another works hard by, with some detail that I cannot publish, that my new people were one of the three local firms making engines for Tanks !
A Bare-faced Proceeding.
It is not fair for a man to shave off a thick, handsome moustache, after wearing it all the 'days one has known him, and then simply to smile at one without announcing who he is. Why, I read recently one of Mr. W. W. Jacobs' stories, where a man had a most comprehensive shave and could not induce his wife to recognize him, with very nearly disastrous results, certainly with complications. I happened into the Ministry of Munitions the other day, and observed in the corridor a stranger who burst into a simile, but as I was hurried I never stopped to investigate, and instead kept on puzzling myself. Later on, I learned from a friend that the new recruit to the ranks of the bare-faced was Mr. Herbert Ferodo Frood.
A Science Professor's View.
It has, apparently, occurred to many minds that there must necessarily be danger.in the use of coalgas for motors. The same outcry was made when gas for the household was originally introduced. The • Chief Constable of . Nottingham pointed this out severely to Mr. Barton, and eventually brought with him Professor Simpson, of Nottingham University. A mostMinute examination of the flexible holders was made by -the profesSoi, and his Verdict was that they • were vastly interesting, but certainly not dangerous. If any mischievous person applied a match, there would only be a flare up'away from goods or passengers.
Go Down.
One difficulty in connection with the gas container on the roof of a van was explained toine by a friend. When fully, or even partly, inflated, it would be impossible to get into his garage, arid alterations would mean the giving up of the first floor, besides considerable outlay. It did not occur to him that he could make a dip in the floorjog at a very small expenditure of labour, as tramway people have had to do under bridges. Tram and bus people have met with just the same difficulties, and the exercise of a little resource will remove the trouble.
Through the Windscreen.
It is not often we hear of windscreen accidents in these days, but Mr. Fred. Morris, head of the firm of John Morris and Sons, motor fire engine makers, of Salford, had the ill-luck recently to be precipitated through the glass and was badly cut. He seems no worse now, however, eicerit for slight effects of the shock.
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Another Rip Van Winkle.
It does not surprise me in the least to find riuch a priceless gem as the following in an Uxbridge paper. Years ago, when the Great Western Railway main line was being laid, the plan was to carry it through Uxbridge on to Slough, Maidenhead and Reading, but the wiseacres of that locality rote in a body-proteSt-• ing against such an iniquity. They made such a case of a railway's "manifold horrors" that Uxbridge was eventually left a fe.w miles from the main line, high. and dry, and even now is, like G: P. Huntley's famous Ippleton, "on a branch line." ,Many times have I listened to the wailings of progressive " .Uxbridge people as to the density and shortsightedness of their forebears. But some Rip Van Winkle is carrying on the good work in that neighbOurhood; motorists are.. still described as "a class who have already created. deadly peril to life and limb," and are severely admonished for what he calls the latest "effrontery ! ". Thank goodness there are others.- From the Uxbridge "Advertiser and Gazette '? :— Motorists' Encroachments.
The Cranford Parish Council bad a rather extraordinary communication from the Commissioner of Police on Tuesday, asking for Observations on a proposal to erect storage
• supplies on the roadside, or over footpaths, of fuel, water, and, power, etc. . Why the Commissioner should trouble about such a matter, or " get the ch4stnuts out of the fire" for a class who have already encroached on public rights and liberties far too much, it is difficult to understand. It is satisfactory to learn that the Cranford Parish Council was not so easily beguiled into entertaining the cool suggestion, and it is to be hoped that all local authorities will take a firm stand against such effrontery. As we are assured that advertisements are now appearing of installations for the supply of petrol by flexible hose from a standpipe on the footway, it would seem that the notion is making headway, and that power for electric trucks can be similarly supplied. • The police should be emphatically assured that the congestion of traffic in Greater London is now so serious and dangerous, that any means to encourage vehicles to draw up in lines by the roadside is to be greatly deprecated, and will be vigorously opposed. The added ugliness to the roadside, already disfigured by the widespread announcements of oil and tyres, by the erection of tanks; sheds, or standpipes, will increase the manifold horrors of an overburdened civilisation; While the increased dan-. gers we shall be subject to, by a class who have already created deadly peril to life and limb at eVery turn, and the.increased expense to the community, by reason oi road widenings and improvements, the enforcementof rear lights, and so on—wS,11 all be added to by this7' latest effrontery.