Passing Comments
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Pegging the Prices FFORTS are being made in of Synthetic Rubber L-JAmerica to stabilize the for Tyres prices of synthetic rubber, which should also prevent the great increase in the cost of pneumatic tyres which had been thought possible. According to unofficial reports, Buna-S will be priced at $6 cents a pound against a former cost of 50 cents, and neoprene at 45 cents against 65 cents. The price of natural rubber in the States is still 22 cents.
ONE of our most pleasant experiences was that of lunching in the delightful home in Lisbon of Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Harvey. Mr. Harvey is well known as the general manager of the tramway and bus services of the capital city. His home is designed on Moorish lines, and the garden, which rises towards the back, contains a profusion of semi-tropical plants. We wonder if any other transport manager is so well placed in this respect. Our visit was paid during a trip which we made about three years before the war, and which included Casablanca, Rabat and Gibraltar.
e20 British Manager Controls Lisbon's Passenger Fleet . .
At that time we noted that there was a certain amount of dissatisfaction amongst the Moroccan natives, probably the result of insidious Nazi propaganda. So far as Gibraltar was concerned, the rock galleries and the method by which rain water is collected on a huge sloping expanse of concrete were perhaps the most interesting things we noted, but the biggest thrill was to obtain a bottle of 20 u.p. gin for about half a
crown Reverting to our friend, Mr. Harvey, we have not heard from him for a long time and wonder whether he is still carrying on with his transport work in Lisbon.
Plenty of Work CARMING is not the only Tackled by Tractors I industry calling for tractors. at Aerodromes. . . For example, many Fordsons are employed on vital work in the Services. One notable task is the hauling of long trains of bombs, weighing up to four tons each, to the R.A.F. aircraft bombing-up for their visits to Axis-occupied territories. Others haul the giant 'planes into position for their take-off, and, later, back to the hangars when they return to their aerodromes. When occasion demands, such tractors are also employed to keep the aerodromes clear of snow. Renewed Promise of rIPERA.TORS are justifiably Fair Treatment of 14-1concerned as to their future
Licensees position in respect of the vehicles they may run in the post-war years. In this connection the S.J.C., so far back as March, 1940, received a letter from the M.O.W.T. stating that the position is governed by the provisions of the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, but opportunity has been taken of discussing this point with the Licensing Authorities, and the Minister is informed that they are keeping careful records of all vehicles deleted from licences during the war. This is with a view to giving the most sympathetic consideration, in the circumstances then prevailing, to applications at the end of the war for the reinstatement of an equivalent number of vehicles. This is a feature we shall watch very closely.
Tractors Come to the A NYONE who feels disposed
Rescue in VVorld War to question the steady No. 2 development in the use of agri cultural tractors should take heed of a few important facts. In 1914 there were in this country 15,750,000 acres of arable land and 5,000 tractors. After the 1914-18 war the acreage fell away until, in 1939, there were only 13,000,000 acres under the plough, at which time there were 52,000 tractors. Now there are nearly 6,000,000 more acres under cultivation and over 120,000 tractors, of which over 80 per cent. are Forclsons. A farmer ploughing with a three-furrow plough drawn by such a machine produces, in one day's effort, enough to make 15,000 1 lb. loaves, or 86,000 plates of porridge, or 30,000 weekly sitar rations, or 180,000 helpings of potato chips.