News and Comment.
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This journal is extensively read by the heads of many wealthy commercial houses.
Topical Subjects.
Our leading articles this week deal with the following topical subjects : (1) " The Middlesex Toll Confirmed "i (2) ''Provincial Parades " ; and (3) "Courses in Highway Engineering!'
More Motor Mails.
The Surveyor, G.P.O., Cardiff, is asking tenders for a motor-mail service between Llanelly and Penygroes, and in the reverse direction. The average weight of mails will be 3 cwt. (maximum 31 cwt.), and the work may be undertaken separately or jointly with station services at Llanelly. In the station services, provision must be made to carry a maximum of 12 cwt. of mails. The contract will he let for three years, and quotations must be posted on or before the 3rd prox.
Germany's Export Trade Lower.
German manufacturers of commercial-motor vehicles are this year experiencing a very quiet, foreign demand for their productions. The latest returns available are those for the four months ended with April last, during which period only 227 machines, estimated at £1e5,950 in value, were exported from Germany, as against 302 and 1209,900 respectively in the first four months of .1913. There has been an increase in the shipments to Turkey, Finland, Australia and Great Britain, but this is more than counter-balanced by the falling off in the exports to Russia, Brazil, Austria and Roumania.
Parliament's Intentions.
Further to the Ministerial announcements which we recorded a fortnight ago (page 472 ante), we find that Mr. Herbert Samuel, 1.1.P., President of the Local Government Board, has been reiterating his promises in these regards. We refer to his speech on the occasion of his taking the chair, on the 16th inst., at the annual meeting of the Urban District Councils of England and Wales. Mr. Samuel again announced that a Joint Select Committee of the two Houses of Parliament was almost immediately to be appointed, to inquire into the general question of motor-omnibus traffic on roads ; he stated that Lord Balfour of Burleigh was to be chairman. The Departmental Committee of the Local Government Board would consist of those who had expert knowledge of the sub
ject, and its chairman would be Mr. Lewis, the Parliamentary secretary to the Board. Its duties would be to examine into all technical points and regulations affecting .heavy motor vehicles and traction engines. The Committee would consist mainly of engineers, and it would report upon the weight, width of tires, and other matters which affected the use of the roads. The Committee would at the same time suggest any alterations that might be required in the law in order to secure efficient regulations on these matters.
Palladium Sales.
Mr. John Richards, of Palladium Autocars, Ltd., Normand Road, West Kensington, W,, has now started on a tour of the world in a 12-22 hp. Palladium car, to advance the general sales interests of his company_ After spending six weeks in South Africa, he will proceed to New Zealand, Australia, India, China, Japan and the West Albion Sales.
We learn that a very satisfactory record of sales of Albion vehicles has been made by R. E. Jones (Garages), Ltd., of Swansea, the latest sale by this company being a fourth 16 h.p. Albion two-tonner to the Swansea Old Brewery Co., Ltd. This well-known agency has submitted to us its list of Albion customers in South Wales, and has invited us to express our opinion its ts representative character. We do not publish this list for obvious reasons, hut we may say that the 40 odd names which are comprised in it include some of the best-known owners in Cardiff, Swansea., Bridgend, Newport, Llanelly, Neath, and other towns to which the activities of the agency in question extend. Going to the other end of the country, we learn that C. Vane and Sons, Ltd., of the Sunderland Brewery, have ordered a 32 h.p. three-tonner Albion, thus bringing up its fleet of this make to six.
Going farther afield, and taking a current Albion report from overseas, we find repeat orders from the Gold Coast, Nyasaland, Uganda, and Southern Nigeria, for vehicles with load capacities between 20 cwt. and 3 tons. The Albion patent paraffin carburetter, which has been specially designed for use in tropical countries, is specified in most of these eases.
Taxation of Motor Spirit.
Major Hope, on the loth inst., asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he had yet decided when he would be able to meet the depu, tation representing the Scottish mineral-oil trade On the subject of the taxation of home-produced motor spirit,
Mr. Lloyd George : I have suggested to the Scottish Mineral Oil Association that having regard to the very technical nature of this subject it would be useful in the first. instance if they would be good enough to arrange an interview with my official advisers.
The Motor Trade Association and Restraint of Trade.
Me. Chiozza Money last month (reported in our issue of the 9th inst.) raised the questionof the action of the Motor Trade Association in fixing a minimum price at which certain goods might be sold by the retailers, but failed to get any satisfaction from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade. He has now turned his attention to the Law officers, and in the House of Commons last week he asked the Attorney-General if his attention had been directed to the existence of agreements between manufacturers on the one hand and retail tradesmen on the other, by virtue of which the former bind down the latter not to sell oods to the public for less than a efinite fixed price ; and whether, in view of the artificial raising of prices caused by the widespread practice of this trade policy, he would advise proceedings to be taken to test the legality of this practice, as it had been tested in the United States of America.
Sir Stanley Buekmaster (Solicitor General): I regret that I do not know what kind of proceedings my lion, friend refers to. I cannot advise the Crown to take proceedings unless illegality appears to exist.
Mr. Chiozza Money : Will the right hon. gentleman allow rime to send in specific instances of this particular practice?
Sir Stanley Buckina.ster : I have no objection to receiving particulars of any instances the hon. member may forward.
Mr. Chiozza Money : Is the right hon. gentleman aware that such proceedings have been taken in the United States of America in the Supreme Court?
No answer was returned. Mr. W. Rinman, whose head office is at 19-21, Queen Victoria Street, E.C., with a garage at 154, Newport Street, Albert Embankment, SE., has lam appointed London agent for Dennis Bros. 0.913), Ltd.
We are in receipt of an example of the brooch badge which Commercial Cars, Ltd. is issuing to drivers of its vehicles. These badges can be obtained by a written application to the Luton works, or to any of the recognized Co min e rca r agents.
Car and General.
The Car and General Insurance Corporation, Ltd., has moved its head office to 83, Pall Mall, London, S.W.—next door to the Royal Automobile Club. The telegraphic address remains " Insucar, London," whilst the new telephone lines are numbered Regent 0160. Part of the old head office at 1, Queen Victoria Street, E.C., next door to the Mansion House, is retained for purely city business.
Ferodo Sales.
So great is the demand for Ferodo, that the Herbert Frood Co.. Ltd., of Sovereign Mills, Chapel-en-le-Frith, is extending it works by five acres. Steady increases of demand have necessitated the addition of more than 50 new looms during the past few years, but the future appears to impose even greater requirements. It is interesting to learn that recent very considerable experiments, on the part of London motorbus concerns, with a view to finding substitutes for Ferodo as brake linings, have not given the satisfaction whieb was anticipated, and have proved much more costly. Ferodo fabrics are again to come into their own upon London motorbuses, the use of spring steel for brakes being Relit-et-1 to country services.
Traction-engine Traffic.
Tha Perth Comity Council iccently brought an action againa the Perth Town Council to recover i;761 (subsequently reduced to £500), being the amount of allegal expenses due to extraordinaa traffic by the employment of traction engines to haul stone over certain of the eatinty roads to Perth. The. work was carried out by Messrs. Martin and Macfarlane. of Errol. aad this firm was joined as defendants with the Perth Town Council. The traffic consisted of stone from certain quarries, but the average tonnage per week was shown to he not greater than in certain previous years. The first division of the Scottish Court, of Session unanimously decided against the County Council, and held that the traffic was neither exceptional nor extraordinary.
1316 Milnes-Daimler Outing.
The tenth animal workmen's outing of Miines-Daimler Mercedes, Ltd., took place on Saturday last when over 70 of the staff journeyed to Ramsgate The party left Victoria soon after nine o'clock and upan arrival at the resort made their way to the .Royal Oak Hotel, where luncheon was served, during which various toasts, were proposed and responded to by different members present. Mr. W. Dewis, the chairman, referred to the successes of the Milnes-Dohnler cars in the recent Grand Prix race, pointing out that it was no ordinary achievement for three cars of the saute make to finish in the first three places in such a noteworthy event_ The party left Ramsgate soon after seven in the evening, and, after much merriment on the return journey arrived at Victoria about 9.30 p.ru., all expressing sa tisfaction
Importalt to Owners; and Invaluable Medium.
Amongst the important testimonials which have reached our Business Department daring the last few weeks, as to the value of our advertisement pages for parties who may not always have occasion to book large spaces or to make displayed announcements, we have to note one from Mr. A. Aldersley Taylor, now a director of S. S. Nevill, Ltd., of Parkhurst Read, London, N., as follows : " I have from time to time during the past few years, while trading under the title of 'Industrial Motors Exchange,' made frequent use of your classified advertisement pages in THE COM ERCIAL MOTOR, and I think that you will be pleased to know that my announcements in them have invariably brought large numbers of replies, and that the majority of these have uniformly been of a satisfactory character. Whenever I have offered a secondhand vehicle for sale, genuine inquiries have reached inc from all parts of the United Eingdom, and sometimes, though naturally not so often, from abroad, and I have nearly always been able to effect a sale quickly. It has been no uncommon thing to receive as many as 20 or 30 genuine replies to a single advertisement of four or five lines."
Halley Facts.
The latest Halley sales literature consists of a 50-page booklet en titled " Facts not Fiction." Pa contents are directed to supporting the claims of the galley Co. to produce efficient, reliable and economical commercial motors, and they certainly bear out those claims in worthy fashion. Typical running costs are given, and these are drawn from all parts of the country. Representative testimonials from satisfied users, together with illustrations of different types of Halley models, make up the balance of an up-to-date brochure.
Motor Truck Carries Thawing Outfit.
An electric thawing plant carried on a motor truck is a novel device for use, in Los Angeles, on water pipes in freezing weather. It can be transported readily to the danger point and put to efficient use on a very short notice. The outfit consists of a 50 h.p. engine operating an electric generator and a. drum carrying two lengths of cable, each 210 ft. in length, for making taps. For making contact on hydrants and on any size pipe from threeeighths of an inch to two-and-a-half inches, a number of bronze clamps are carried, together with hand nuts, etc. The method of thawing an underground pipe is to include it in an electric circuit, which results in rapid melting of the ice next. to the inner surface of the pipe ; after that. the flow of the water helps the thawing process until the pipe is completely clear. The capacity of this portable outfit is the melting of 12 pounds of ice a minute. The outfit is operated by the Columbus (Ohio) Water Softening and Purification Works.