Correspondence.
Page 14
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A Message from Japan.
The Editor," THE CON1MERC1AL MOTOR."
Sir :We take the liberty to inform you that we lately received a sample copy of your journal from one of our business friends, and had the pleasure to read the interesting supplement written in Japanese, regarding commercial motors. We beg to say that we appreciated very much your suggestions as to the introduction of motor transit into our country, as it is one of its necessities in the present conditic.m. Although there are several difficulties in the way, we have no doubt that our people will see, in the near future, the advantage of motor vehicles. As you know, we have already motor transport in two or three cities, which is working without any trouble, and you may bring a great deal of trade in this line if the business is carried on properly to suit our conditions. We shall be very much pleased to place your journal in our reading-room. We are now preparing to publish a monthly "journal, the " Gaiho," the object of which is to give interesting news of foreign commercial and industrial affairs, and also, especialiy, to introduce foreign products to our buyers. As we believe the supplement of your journal published on November 30th will interest our readers, we take the liberty, with your permission, to reprint the contents of the supplement, and to publish them in the first number of our journal. We trust you will appreciate our comments, and hope they will give some benefit to you as well as to our readers. As soon as it is ready, we shall not fail to send you a sample copy.
As we shall be very glad to have catalogues, etc., regarding British-made motors and allied manufactures, will you kindly notify to the readers of your esteemed paper that any printed matter sent here will be kept on file in our Catalogue and Sample rooms for the use of our buyers and importers? Thanking in advance for your kind attention.—Yours faithfully,
T. MURATA, Managing Director.
7, Hachikancho, Kyobashiku, Tokyo, January t3th, toofi.
Motor Omnibus Management.
The Editor," THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—Having read the letter from " Motor Man," and the replies to it by Messrs. Spiller and Frost Smith, 1 should like to make a few remarks thereon. I deprecate anonymous letters on any subject, and more especially if they are of a jx:rsonal nature. At the same time, I must confess there is undoubted grounds for some of the remarks made, having seen men (friends of directors and others) put into responsible positions, for which they have had little or no experience, to the great disadvantage alike of the shareholders and of the staff.
I contend that the managership of a motorbus company is one of the most trying and responsible positions, and requires a thoroughly practical knowledge of engineering generally and motors in particular. With a comprehensive grasp of what will meet the public requirements and ensure a commercial success and a fair return to the shareholders, a manager must, while considering them, also consider his staff : contented employees, satisfied that their -interests are being studied, means a tremendous relief to the management.
I cannot agree with Mr. Frost Smith that nothing is to be learnt below stairs. I have spent 38 years engineering, 33 of which I have been in charge, viz., 2 years in general engineering, 14 in locomotive shops, and 17 in business. I also succeeded in taking honours at South Kensington, but I certainly do not consider that I have nothing to learn from my staff, whom I always encourage to express their views and to make any suggestion which, if I think good, I adopt ; the result is that for the past year my working expenses per mile were less than any company in England, with an average of 84 per cent, of cars always in work. I have known Mr. Spiller for the past zo years, and endorse the opinions he so ably expounds in your last issue, whilst I know him to be a thorough engineer. I have not had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Turner Smith long, but I must say he made himself extremely popular, both with the staff and officials at Eastbourne, and turned a loss into a
profit in a very short time. Ile can, therefore, easily understand one of his old servants [We presume Mr. French refers to "Motor Man."—Eod speaking so highly of him. The Trade is so young, and there is so much experience to be gained that the public may have complete confidence in those responsible for this already popular means of travelling.—Yours faithfully,
W. FLEXMAN FRENCH, M.Soc.M.O.E. Sussex Motor Road Car Co., Ltd., Worthing. February toth, 1906.
Idle Rumours Concerning the Tourist Trophy Race.
The Editor," THE COMMERCIAL MoToa."
Sir :—It has come to our knowledge that certain ignorant and prejudiced persons are spreading false reports with reference to the Arrol-Johnston cars which ran in last year's Tourist Trophy race and gained first and fourth places. It is stated that in order to reduce weight they were fitted with paper bonnets, mudguards, etc., and that all extras were taken off with the same object ; and, further, that the petrol tanks were placed in absurd positions with the object of gaining power, the position being an impossible one in an ordinary touring car.
We wish most emphatically to deny each of these state
ments. Our cars were bunt from parts of standard design throughout, with the exception of the frame and wheels, which duller from our standard practice in 60 far as they are made lighter to allow the chassis to come within the maximum limits as to sizes and weights imposed by the stringent rules laid down by the Automobile Club. As a matter of fact the weight of the chassis was only a few pounds below the maximum imposed, so that it is apparent that no attempt was made to produce a light racing machine for the Tourist Trophy event only, but a machine was produced which has proved itself capable of the hardest work under ordinary touring conditions. As to extras, the car of course ran with a complete set of lamps, spare parts, tools, tyres, horn, dashboard clock, air pump for petrol tank, and, in fact, all accessories that are usual and necessary on motorcars. With regard to the position of the petrol tank, this was fitted under the back seat in a usual position, and it was pressure-fed from the exhaust.
We, in common with other manufacturers, received before the racing certain rules as to sizes and weights, and we were careful that the car was built in such a way as to comply with these rules in every respect, so that no alterations of any kind were either suggested or demanded by the Club officials before the race, and both cars, therefore, raced exactly as they left the works. The winning car has been, and will be exhibited, at Olympia, Edinburgh, Liverpool and the Glasgow Motor Shows, and is there seen exactly as it ran in the race, so that the public may satisfy themselves as to whether it is a standard vehicle or not. It has been stated that our cars were very low, specially-built racing machines and that, consequently, great speed could be obtained. This is not the case. The Arrol-Johnston chassis was higher from the ground than that of any other competing car with but two exceptions. The height of the backs of the seats was also higher than is this year fixed as a minimum. The fact of the case is that the car looked lower than is usual, this optical delusion being due to the fact that the car was fitted with a low and broad bonnet, and had large tyres on the wire wheels, the tyres being Continentals, 8151nm. by tostrun., on all wheels. We were able to fit a low bonnet on account of the centre of gravity of a horizontal engine being very much lower than in the case of a vertical engine, and we fail to see why we should fit a high bonnet—which affects the speed and petrol consumption of a car—merely because other people require to do this on account of the design of their engine. We are surely entitled to take all the benefits we possibly can derive from the use of a specially-designed and efficient engine such as ours is.
We trust that you will see your way to publish this somewhat lengthy letter, but the persistent manner in which the statements referred to are being circulated is annoying.— Yours faithfully,
Paisley. JOHN S. NAPIER,
Managing Director. Managing Director. (For the New Arrol-Johnston Car Co., Ltd.),