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Culled from Contemporaries.

25th February 1909
Page 26
Page 26, 25th February 1909 — Culled from Contemporaries.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A Selected Collection of Extracts from the British and Foreign Press.

Was it an Earthquake?

It is now thought that the violent agitation of the seismograph last week which led to the rumour of an earthquake greater than that at Messina originated in London and was caused isy one of Messrs. — motorvans. — Punch.

Why Won't We Walk?

We would spend our last penny on a ticket from Westminster to Charing Cross rather than walk. We simply will not walk, and the time is rapiely approaching when with all the will in the world we shall be Totally unable to do .so.—The Wakly Dispatch.

Our Motorbus Mobilisation.

It seems to us that motorbuses, at least those they have in England, before they can satisfactorily be employed in warfare must be considerably lightened and otherwise specially prepared. The experiments of the London officers will then be able to be resumed more efficaciously.—La France Automobile.

No Flying Pantechnicons.

Flight through the air may very likely become as popular a fad a few years hence as automobile racing is to-day; but it will have just as little relation to the serious, practical, everyday business of carrying freight and passengers for the great workaday world as have the 100h.p. automobiles that break speed records.—Eneineering News, New York.

Ignorance or Sarcasm' When Messrs. Pain, the well-known firework makers, were decorating Bayswater Road for M. Eallieres' visit last May a London General motorbus dashed into one of their carts, causing much damage. They brought an action recently against the bus company, and the case was heard at Southwark County Court.

Judge Willis expressed surprise when informed that the damage was done by a motorbus, as he did not know the General Company had motors—The Westminster Gazette.

Public Inconvenience in U.S.A.

The committee on municipal legislation of the Washington, D. C., Chamber of Commerce has undertaken to remedy conditions that have heretofore restricted the use of taxicabs in the capital city Under present conditions it is not possible for a citizen to hire a taxicab on the street, no matter what the conditions may be. To operate under a public license prohibits a taxieab service from working in conjunction with any of the large hotels and restaurants. If the taxicab is standing in front of a hotel a passing citizen may not hail it, unless he is a guest of the hotel. He must telephone to the ,taxicab garage arid must pay for the time consumed by the taxicab in reaching him. —Motor Age, Chicago. It May Be a Motor Then.

Mr. George Alexander is responsible for the following delightful story :— " I shall be sorry to see the last of the London cabman, but I suppose the day is not far distant. Will the taxicab driver develop a humour of his own? I hope so, or the gaiety of nations will suffer.

"Being in a hurry to get home from the theatre a few days ago, I walked to the corner of King Street. An old cabman with his hansom was the first on the rank, but I shook my head at him and called a taxicab.

"As I approached it the hansom cabby said: So, Mr G. A., you've no use for 'osses now ; but you'll 'aye to 'aye one to take you on the day you're buried.'

"I went home in that hansom after all."—Era Annual.

The Stupidity of Man.

The "17-mule team" hitched to a "prairie schooner" is the best illustration of the stupidity of man that can be found in any land. It is slowly percolating through the centres of intelligence of those who require goods to be transported, that the automobile truck is here, and is available for use for every purpose of goods transportation, without any limit whatsoever, and on a basis of decreased cost per ton-mile of the goods transported. If the automobile truck has appeared to be backward in connection with the work in question, it has been through lack of appreciation on the part of merchants, rather than lack of ability of the trucks. These outside retarding influences were unfortunate, in that they made it impossible to create a full measure of experience, and, on this account, improvements seen to-day on every hand may be regarded as tardy—Motor Age, Chicago.

Booming the Taxi in New York.

Any statements of enormous profits in the taxicab business abroad are pure misrepresentations. No doubt some of the promoters of taxicab companies in New York are playing the old game of quickly developing a seemingly very prosperous business, making a good showing during the first year's operation before competition has asserted itself and before the rapid depreciation of the vehicles is heavily felt, and then selling out to the public on the strength of this showing. It is hardly necessary to emphasise the harm which such promotion methods will do to the legitimate business. It will give the entire taxicab business a black eye and cause investors to shun it for years to come, after the misrepresentations have once been exposed and the boom has collapsed.

We are convinced that the present schedules allow of no more than a reasonable profit, if everything is taken into consideration. New York taxicab rates are about twice as high as those of European cities, but the regular cab

fares and street car fares are also about twice as high here, so that taxicab fares do not seen, excessive.—Horseless Age, New York.

No Need to Hurry.

Overheard at the foot of Southampton Street last Wednesday :— Page : "']re, what's the good o' you turning up? I whistled once."

Cabby: "Weil, I thought as—" Page: " One is for a taxi, ain't it?" Cabby : "Yus." Page: "An' twice is for a 'ansom?" Cabby : " Yus."

Page: "Well, when we wants you we'll send yer a post-card !"—T it-Bits, London.

The Utility a Exhibitions.

it is certainly of use to exhibit commercial motor vehicles but it is of far more importance to demonstrate their practicability. As a matter of fact, it is not sufficient for anyone, wishing to conduct a business enterprise with the aid of motor vehicles, to see that the chassis consists of a motor and transmission gear, all mounted on a strong frame and carried on iron or rubber-shod wheels. Such a man knows, and has known for a long time, of what parts a chassis consists ; he knows very well, too, that the coachbuilder is capable of securing comfortable seating for passengers and carrying capacity for goods. What he actually wants to know is the cost of the machine, its strength, its probable life and its cost of upkeep. No exhibition can teach him these things. Experience, based on carefully-ascertained costs, is the only thing which will enable him to come to a decision.— Auto, Paris.

Yankee Criticism of the Ways of Scotland Yard.

It is an old saying, "They do some things better abroad." When it comes to regulating this, that and the other thing, or at least drawing up rules for so doing, no one, we think, can approach the Englishman. Ile goes into detail to an alarming extent, liberally sprinkling his directions with adjectives and qualifying phrases, such as safe," " suitable " and "in a proper manner" leaving the interpretation of them, however, to those who do the real " regulating," and at the end of his list of "musts and must-not" he puts what he should have put first and thus have saved himself a lot of writing and others a lot of reading, for after all in a few well chosen words he leaves everything to the judgment of those who are to interpret his adjectives. In the regulations drawn up by the Scotland Yard authorities for the licensing of taxicabs for operation on London streets there are 40 numbered paragraphs with subheadings and after the fortieth is a short note, which in substance says that even if all conditions above expressed be complied with, yet if the commissioner does not like the cab it won't be licensed.--Motor, New York.


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