Passing Comments
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Futuristic Idea to THE loading and unloading Overcome Traffic-conI of goods vehicles in main gestion Problems . . thoroughfares is undoubtedly
a contributory cause of traffic congestion, but if the idea of Mr. E. A. A. Rowse, principal of the Architectural Association School of Planning and Research for National Development, should come to pass, a root cause of the difficulty would be removed. He envisages the time when London will be raised one or two storeys above ground, the ground floor being allocated to garaging and to the dispatch and delivery of goods, and the first floor to storage. Pedestrian traffic would, under his scheme, pass at second-floor level.. Roads will, he think',, operate at reasonable efficiency only when all business establishments "park" their own vehicles.
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WE have received some interesting reports from overseas of vehicles equipped with Koela producer • gas plants. They point to the importance of using charcoal that is clean and of the proper size. When this is done, power and acceleration are said to be practically as good as with petrol. An engineer in India, however, employs a device for quickly changing over from gas to liquid fuel, and refers to it as useful for the brief generation of full output. He remarks also on the much cooler running obtained. A. user in British Columbia describes a very arduous journey when 120 miles were covered on 85 lb. of charcoal. Gas producers enjoy greater popularity abroad than at home, because of the respective low prices 6i liquid fuel and of charcoal.
Satisfactory Running Overseas on Producer Gas E ncou rage Reciprocal Trading with Britain Overseas
NJ EW ZEALAND has, for I the first time, become the biggest overseas purchaser of British motor vehicles, with South Africa as the next best customer. This emphasizes the importance of reciprocity, and in connection with our requirements which it is necessary to import, everything should be done to foster trade with Britain overseas.
Buses Can Beat Trams UPPORTERS of the tram in Foggy Weather in osi often urge that this type of Manchester . . . . vehicle provides a better ser
vice under foggy conditions. Recent investigations at Manchester show, however, that during the severe weather in December last the buses maintained mileage and revenue to a greater extent than did the trams, Due to bad weather there was a drop on tramway mileage of 5.2 per cent., whilst the buses showed a decrease of only 3.5 per :cent, of the standard mileage. The fall in receipts on the tramways amounted to 11.59 per cent. on the corresponding week a year earlier, whilst the drop on the bus receipts was 11.32 per cent. Stockholders Lodge TT is rather interesting to find Co mplai nt Against irailway shareholders criticizRailway Service . . ing traffic arrangements, but, recently, the committee of the British Railways Stockholders' Union drew the attention of one company to the unsatisfactory fashion in which the Christmas traffic was dealt with-, • which, it considered, was not attributable to the weather conditions. It was added that there was a great deal of delay and confusion which should not have occurred.
Improvement Follows CRITICISM may often be Criticism Resulting `,--"an• indication of strong from Appreciation . . approval, and certainly seems to be so in the case of the Hounsfield Tensometer, the well-known testing machine for small specimens of material. Over 400 models of the lever type have been sold, with the result that numerous suggestions for its improvement have been received by the maker. These have been incorporated in the new worm-gear type, the'scope of which is much wider. than that of its predecessor, although all the good features have been preserved.