News and Comment.
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Our Circulation (Certified is Double that of all Similar Journals Combined.
The i)unlop Rubber Company has despatched an expert representative to Japan, Formosa, and Korea.
It is reported that other members of the motor and allied industries have the same up-to-dafe project in mind. Our Japanese supplement, which was published and circulated three weeks ago, was brought out with the same object—to anticipate the foreigner in a market of enormous potential value.
The eleventh special issue of this journal promises to exceed anything we have hitherto accomplished. With the Heavy Motorcar Order definitely in working order, and on consideration of the numerous records of successful use winch we are gathering for publication on January i8th, further recruits to the ranks of users will be found by us among the 5,000 builders and contractors, brickmakers, quarry owners, and stone merchants, to whom that extra number of copies, over and above our ordinary circulation, will he specially addressed. We were able to make the exclusive announcement last week, in the course of our report on the Paris Show, that Messrs. Renault Freres had served a writ on one of the leading British makers of motorcars for alleged infringement of what is claimed to be a master patent on the combination of a differential gear with a live back axle. IViihout giving away the sources of our information, and with every belief in the payment of royalties to the real and true inventor of any device or process whatsoever, we shall be greatly surprised if the action is sustained in this country.
THE REAL.
This 5-ton Coulthard steam wagon works excellently in trips of 10 to 50 miles round Watford.
The local authorities have resolved to sanction an extra expenditure of ....L;7,350 on the new lire station in the Suarezstrasse, Charlottenbarg, near Berlin, this excess being due to the adoption of a complete motor equipment. Life membership of the Motor Union can be secured for the small contribution of ten guineas, and the secretary of that body, Mr. W. Rees Jeffreys, 16, Down Street, W., will he pleased to hear from any gentlemen who desire to become life members.
Motors of all kinds, but simple and easy of management, should have a good future in Formosa. British Consul Wileman states that the existing means of trans-port, in cases where the railway is not available, do not allow of packages exceeding gewt. in weight. In the case of steam wagons, as coal is not found in the island, they should be provided with a furnace for burning "paddy husk " if for rice mills, and a " bagasse " furnace if intended for sugar mills. In any case, the enforced consumption of very inferior coal, or of wood, should be provided for. The Liverpool motor show, which is to be opened on February 9th, promises to contain a representative number of commercial motor builders. We are informed by the secretary, Mr. Thomas Price, 77, Lord Street, Liverpool, that the latest spaces in the commercial section have been taken by Fodens, Limited; Beyer, Peacock, and Company, Limited; J. Blake and Company, Limited; and the New Arrol-Johnston Car Company, Limited.
It is interesting to note, as having a bearing upon the letter from the Roads Improvement Association which appears in our correspondence columns this week, that Mr. J. Patten Barber, M.Inst.C.E., engineer and surveyor to the Islington Borough Council, has established comparisons between casual and regular labour in road repairs and other work. He finds, generally, that men drawn front the " unemployed " are from 25 to 30 per cent, more costly in the end than men regularly employed by his department. There are some exceptions, for the costs were found about equal in sewer reconstruction, trezs-plantillig in public roads, shingling, trench repairing, and painting work. Mr. Patten Barber points out that the loss increases as the percentage of inexperienced men, and that a considerable variation arises through differences in the inen's condition. The view that the unemployed problem may be solved by a carefully-conceived scheme of road improvement and construction gains adherents daily.
Recently introduced into Australia, the commercial motor is growing in favour, and. the number in use is steadily increasing. Throughout New South Wales and Victoria the roads are kept in excellent condition, and, as little rain falls away from the coastal districts, an ideal condition of affairs is found for automobiles. According to the U.S.A. Consul at Newcastle, NSW.—" Business men in many towns isolated from the railways are, or will be, using automobiles io convey passengers and freights to and from the trains. These will prevent the necessity for building costly railways through sparsely settled districts, yet furnish rapid means of transit for many who now depend on ox teams as carriers. For this rough work a very sulistantial machine must he supplied at a minimum cost hero. One man who carries the mail 17 miles every day, a large amount of freight hi small parcels, and passengers, is now arranging to use two automobiles for this work. These machines are very popular here with country physicians and travelling representatives of business houses. The trade in automobiles is certain to increase, but it is necessary to send energetic travellers and to carefully study the wants of the people."
9-17 Manc1iu:4er Motor Show iRoyal 12 Soc. M.O. Eng.: cmtnoil and
Leipzic cab-owners are about to adopt motor cabs.
Messrs. Nuttall and Company, the well-known contractors of Manchester, have recently completed a contract for the paving of 20 miles of streets in Cape Town. Eight 3-ton .Leyland steam wagons, with patent telescopic tipping gear, were successfully employed on this work, and nearly all the material was conveyed by them.
The general purposes committee of the London County Council, in a report issued on Monday, puts forward an experimental scheme which they have provisionally adopted for the establishment of a motor ambulance service to deal with street accidents in London at an estimated cost of 43,2oo for the first year, including 42,200 for the initial outlay. Two stations are to be equipped, and the City 'Corporation, it is understood, will establish another. The committee stated that the question as to horse v. motor traction for the ambulances had been gone into, with the result that the members were of opinion that motor ambulances would be preferable to horsed vehicles, but they had not yet arrived at a definite decision as to whether electric or petrol cars would be the more suitable or serviceable. The finance committee, in reporting that it has adopted the estimate, states that there can be little doubt that, should the scheme be found successful, its extension must be anticipated at an early date. The official report on the trials which took place in France at the end of July last, and which were fulls reported in our issues of August 3rd, loth, and 17th, adds nothing of interest to what has already appeared in our pages. The highways committee of the London County Council, in a report issued on Monday, stated that, as a number of men are employed in the tramways department to drive motor lorries, the committee considered that a rate of pay should be fixed for this class of employee : it had been decided that the rate should be from 3os. to 4os. per week.
The Austrian Automobile Club's fifth international motor exhibition will be held at the halls of the Horticultural Society, in Vienna, from March isth to 28th. Particulars can be obtained from the secretary of the club, which is in negotiation with the authorities respecting the free carriage and exemption from duty of exhibits. The space is considerably larger than that of last year's exhibition. Address Den Sekretar des Oesterreichen Automobil Clubs, Wien, Kiirntnerring to, British makers should not hesitate to participate in this display. The Railway Commissioners have supported the Great Northern, Great Eastern, and Midland Railway Companies in the increase of rates on potatoes front 7s. :d. per ton to 8s. 4d., and 95. 2d. per ton for 3-ton and 4-Ion lots respectively, between the Spalding district of Lincolnshire and London—a distance of about 93 miles. It appears that, in and before the year 1892, the Great Northern Company's station-to-station rate for 4-ton lots had been 95, 2d. Competition then led to this being regarded as a collected rate, and the several railway companies interested subsequently allowed a rebate of 2S. per ton to farmers who did their own carting to the stations, but the rate was not altered in the rate-book from 9s. 2d. per ton (4-ton lots) station to station. In March, 1903, the companies issued notices to the farmers and traders that the old rate would be reverted to, as was done in respect of 4-ton lots, though a new rate (8s. 4d. per ton) had been introduced for 3-ton lots. It was held that the rate of 7s. 2d. per ton, which obtained from 1887 to ;903, constituted an undue and unreasonable preference for the district, and that the legitimate process of "levelling up "the Spalding rates had been followed by the companies. The Court was composed of Mr. Justice Bigham, Sir F. Peel, and the Hon. A. E. Gathorne-Hardy.