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The Motor Omnibus World.

Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers: Third Meeting of Second Session.

The Chairman, Mr. F. C. A. Coventry, said that, before calling upon Mr. A. A. Campbell-Swinton to read his paper, be would ask the Secretary to read some correspondence with Lord Montagu in reference to certain proposals that came up at the opening meeting of the Society. The Secretary, Mr. C. E. Esse, then read the following letters :— " 1, Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, W., "December 4th,1906.

" The Right Hon. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, "168, Piccadilly, W.

" My Lord,-1 have the honour to inform you that, after prolonged consideration, extending over three meetings, the Council of this Society has, ultimately, decided that there is no occasion to proceed, at the present time, with the proposed deputation to the Chief Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. It was resolved, at the meeting held here last night, to convey to you the Society's thanks for your offer in the matter, and to express the hope that you will be equally prepared to assist the members, hereafter, should occasion arise. So many of the points which were under discussion have, during the last few weeks, been, at least to some extent, conceded by the police in effect, that the Council feel they have no real grievances to bring forward.

" If you desire to do so, the attached copy of the points which were under consideration may be forwarded to Sir Edward Henry with any letter you now have to send to him.1 am, my Lord, Yours faithfully, "C. E. ESSE, Secretary."

LIST OF PorxTs (Enclosure with above).

(a) A system of visiting inspectors to be instituted, so that delays may be eliminated ; (ta Only competent men to be employed, in order to secure uniformity of control ; (c) To explain to the Commissioner that quick repairs do not mean "scamping " of the work, and to protest against the refusal to pass on the score of insufficient time having elapsed for proper adjustment to have been effected ;

(d) To request that any small discrepancy which may be noticed by an inspector when a bus is presented for repassing may be carried out at the garage, without necessity for the return of the bus to Scotland Yard, on the necessary undertaking being given to that effect ;

le) An increased staff at Scotland Yard, in order that delays may be reduced.

168, Piccadilly, London, W., "December 56, 1906. " Dear Sir,—I think that the Society of Metor Omnibus Engineers were perfectly right in deciding not to ask that a deputation should be received by the Commissioner of Police, as there are no really new points to put forward. I will, however, send forward the suggestions which you send me in your letter, in order that Sir Edward Henry may be aware of the views of the Society.

" Please convey to the Society my desire to be at their service, with regard to any matter of this kind, in future.— The Chairman then called upon Mr. Campbell-Swinton to read his paper, and this was reported, at length, in last week's issue of " Tile COMMERCTAT. MOTOR."

Mr. Campbell-Swinton, M.Inst.C.E., M.I.E.E., said, before proceeding to read his paper, by the kind permission of the Chairman he would make one or two remarks in reply to a very remarkable document which had been circulated, he thought, among the Press, and paragraphs from which appeared in most of the newspapers that day. He referred to a report, made by the Highways Committee of the London County Council, which, he understood, was going to be considered at their meeting on the following day. He had with him a copy of the report, which a member of the Press had been good enough to give to him. He wished to remind them, first of all, that the London County Council, in interfering in the matter of motor omnibuses, were interfering in a matter in which, really, they had no possible concern whatever. They were

NOT THE HIGHWAYS COMNII1"FEE OF LONDON,

They were not the authority with regard to the roads. The Borough Councils were the authorities with regard to the roads, yet the Highways Committee of the L.C.C. had arrogated to

itself the name of the Highways Committee. But they had, as a matter of fact, nothing to do with the highways. The High. ways Committee was, really, a committee for managing the London County Council tramways. He believed they had, also, something to do with the bridges, but the roads were repairable, and in every other way looked after, by the Borough Councils. To begin with, in their report, the Highways Committee complained that they had no control over metor omnibuses and public stage carriages in London. That control was exercised, as they knew, by the Metropolitan Police. But the Highways Committee pointed out that, in all other towns of Great Britain, the municipality had that control ; the reason for this was, of course, quite obvious. In all other towns of Great Britain, the control of the police was, also, in the hands of the local authority. If Parliament in its wisdom liked to hand over the Metropolitan Police, who, after all, directed the traffic of London, to the tender care of the London County Council, then, logically, the control of all public vehicles would go with them, but to suggest that the licensing of public vehicles should be put into different hands from those who directed the traffic was, obviously, absurd. (hear, hear.)

Again, they mentioned that, in Manchester, the Corporation there, influenced probably by the fact that they owned the tramways—although he did not want to impute any motives—stopped motor omnibuses from running. It had, also, been suggested recently, in the London County Council, that the Council should REFUSE TO LICENSE . .

any more motor omnibuses in London. They might just as well have the Local Government Board, or whoever issued dog licenses, saying there were too many dogs, they barked too much (laughter), and, consequently, they would not license any more dogs. (Renewed laughter.) The licensing by the London County Council was a pure matter of form. They gave a number to each vehicle, and issued a license to each driver, but the Act under which they did this, said that they 'shall" give this license. (hear, hear.) They had no option in the matter whatever. It was a purely administrative business. But, of course, it was quite clear, in regarding this report of the Highways Committee of the London County Council, to see what they were after. This report was drawn up by the Highways Committee, who ran the London County Council tramways. They were finding that motorbuses were, to a ccnsiderab:e extent, affecting

THEIR TRAMWAY RECEIPTS, and, therefore, they wished to be put in a position whereby they could restrict the number of motor omnibuses. In fact, being parties to a suit, they were anxious, in addition, to be judge and jury. (Laughter, and hear, hear.) This report, he thought, ought to be carefully dealt with. Of course, it was not public until the following day, as he understood, but he thought it ought to be carefully dealt with and carefully replied to in the public Press. Any remarks he had made on the subject, at the present moment, must be considered as purely preliminary, because it required very careful consideration all through. It dealt with a large number of matters which could not be dealt with on the spur of the moment. What was really influencing the London County Council in this matter was the report of the Royal Commission on Traffic in London. That Royal Commission recommended that there should be established a Traffic Board for London. That Royal Commission comprised every section of politics. One of the most influential was the present Lord Chancellor. That Royal Commission, unanimously, recommended that A TRAFFIC BOARD should be established in I.ondon, and that it should consist, entirely, of independent people. (Hear, hear.) It was discussed whether it should not be a Board representing various bodies,, such as the London County Council, the City Corporation, and other interests, but the Royal Commission decided a.gainst that course, and that it should be an entirely independent Board, consisting of gentlemen who would be paid a good salary, and who would be entirely independent of any considerations of profit or otherwise. Now, it was quite evident that the London County Council did not like this proposition at all, and he thought there was no doubt that it was due to the influence, the very considerable influence, that the London County Council, at present, exercised in Parliament, that the Government had NOT TAKEN ANY ACTIVE STEPS to carry out this recommendation upon which the Co.mtnission was unanimous, and the one recommendation. that !could have been carried out easily, namely, the establishment of an independent Traffic Board for the County of London. (Hear, hear.) At the conclusion of the reading of the paper, the Chairman said he begged to thank Mr. Campbell-Swinton, on behalf of the Society, for his most interesting paper. (Applause.) The subject was somewhat different from the usual topics discussed by that Society, but it had been most interesting. (Hear, hear.) He was sorry, personally, that Mr. Campbell-Swinton had not touched more on the commercial aspects of motor omnibuses in the country districts and the provincial towns. Running omnibuses out of London was a very different matter, in comparison to running a service in London, because the hours available for traffic were so short. Even in the bigger towns, as well as in small towns, in the country, the hours for the service were extremely short. In many districts people were not up until about nine o'clock, and they were all in bed by about eight o'clock in the evening. (Laughter.) Cnnsequently,

THE VOSSIBLE MILEAGE

that could be got out of a motor omnibus was exceedingly small. He did not know what hours they worked in London, but he supposed they were from about six o'clock in the morning, until about one or two o'clock the following morning. Then, again, iLL working country services it was generally impossible to do repairs at night, because, in many places, there was no electric light ; in some places, they had to do repairs by the aid of ordinary gas, and, in other cases, by the aid of paraffin lamps. That meant that repairs had to be done in the daytime, which, of course, involved the keeping of a large number of spare cars, in order to maintain the service irt a satisfactory condition.

With regard to the future, it was very satisfactory to know in what way the expenses might be cut down, because, at present, they seemed to absorb a very large amount of the takings. Fuel was, also, one of the important items. It seemed likely to increase, rather than to diminish in price, but he hoped they would have aome interesting remarks from gentlemen who were conversant with the fuel question. Maintenance charges, he thought, could, undoubtedly, be cut down in the future. Ile would hope that they could be cut down by at least 50 per cent. on some of the figures they had had lately, or during the past year. The other charges, such as for tires, would, he thought, come down, but not to any appreciable extent, because the price of rubber was not likely to diminish, and he did not think that any other suitaWe substitute was likely to be introduced. In reference to the proposed establishment of a Traffic Board in London, why should not that principle be carried further, and the general road control of the country be put under one head? At the present time, London might be made up of samples of road, but the country was certainly made up of very bad samples of road, and every small local Council could

WORK ITS WICKED WILL

on its own piece of road, and, in many places, make it absolutely impracticable for motor services. At present they were not running a particular motor service along a particular road, because the local authorities had dug a drain in the centre of the road. Having dug their car three times out of that drain, they had taken their motor service off the road. There did not seem any prospect, at present, of having the road put right ; but, if that had happened to a small company without any other services running, it might have led to ruin. (Hear, hear.)

Mr. Shrapnel! Smith, who began by seconding the vote of thanks, said, with regard to the remarks of the Chairman, that he, too, had hoped that Mr. Campbell-Swinton would have said somethiog on the commercial aspect of motor services in country districts and the provinces ; they all knew that Mr. CampbellSwinton was a director of the Bath tramways, where they had successfully employed motor omnibuses to feed their lines. Possibly, in Mr. Campbell-Swintoo's reply, he would be able to tell them something up-to-date about that service. He had made allusion to it on -previous occasions, which had led them to believe that the results there were very satisfactory. lie thought one of the most interesting points referred to by Mr. Campbell-Swinton in his paper was tho large proportion of revenue that was disbursed by the motor omnibus companies. It had always struck him, on looking through the weekly receipts of the different competing transport systems in London, that they found some of the existing motorbus companies, small as they were to what they expected them to be in a few years' time, had takings which were considerably more than the average of the "tubes," notwithstanding the huge capitalisation of these "tubes." That showed that the working expenses of the "tubes" were low as regards THEIR nisatiastemaisars ON WAGES,

and that, of course, the service of the large capitals absorbed very largo amounts. He thought, also, that the figures in relation to the London County Council, in which Mr. Campbell Swinton pointed out how the motor omnibuses, with their capital of one million, were able to carry more than the London County Council's electric tramways, with their capital of five millions, ought to place the affairs of the London County Council tramways in a new light. Mr. Campbell-Swinton had quoted from the report of the Highways Committee of the London County Council, and he did not hesitate to say that for

EFFRONTERY AND INACCURACY,*

he had never seen a document that was so bald. (Laughter and hear, hear.) There were two points in that report which struck him, as he had glanced through it cursorily. One point was this: the ilighways Committee of the L.C.C. asserted calmly that it was proved that the wear and tear of the London streets by motorbuses was very heavy; that had certainly not been proved, and it was not in accordance with fact or commonsense. (Hear, hear.) Another point was this : they asserted that the tramway tracks were used, in common with the tramcars themselves, by large numbers of competing vehicles. That was an obvious fallacy, because, in order to take advantage of the smaller resistance, the trams alone were allowed to run on flanged metal wheels; all other vehicles were hustled off the lines of track, and the extra expense of maintaining the roads at the sides of the tracks fell upon the borough councils, and not upon the London County Council, whose vehicles ran down the centre of the roads. He must just men tion the matter of the profits of the London County Council tramways, as stated by Mr. McKinnon Wood at a recent dis cussion at the County Council. Mr. Wood said: "Surely the trams must have paid, because we can show £450,000 towards depreciation and renewals account."

A MORE EXTREME CASE

of begging the question it would be difficult to produce in the history of politics or finance. It had been his privilege, within the last ten days, to visit Paris and Berlin, and observe the comparative conditions of three of the European capitals. He must say, having devoted all the time he could to observing the conditions in Paris and Berlin, that London presented the hardest problem of the lot. The pavements, to which Mr. Campbell-Swinton had referred, were, relatively, so inferior in London to what one saw in l'aris and Berlin, that one was bound to recognise that the noise and the wear and tear, and all the difficulties of the motor omnibus movement in London, hinged, almost entirely, on the question of road surface. (Hear, hear.) In that connection, he thought that the discussion among the borough councils, the previous Wednesday, at the Westminster City Hall, was peculiarly informing. That meeting was got up, he would not say by agitators, but by active people in the Islington and Kensington borough councils, who thought they would carry with them the 28 borough councils, with the City Corporation and the Westminster City Council, and secure the adoption of a series of resolutions which were entirely inimical to the interests of motor omnibuses. But what was the result? What was the outcome of that conference? It proved that this agitation was bottomless, and, so far from descending on the motor omnibuses, not one of the resolutions was carried; but, an amendment was carried, stating that it was desirable to take steps to regulate the traffic, not of motor omnibuses, alone, but particularly. of traction engines and motor wagons. Well, if the motor omnibuses were to be relieved of the troubles which ought to descend on traction engines and motor wagons, he thought it would only be the turn of those who were interested in traction engines and motor wagons. In his view, the motor omnibuses well deserved a rest from opposing factions. (Near, hear.) At the same time, it was very instructive, because that conference reflected public opinion in the whole of London, that those resolutions were, practically, abandoned, and every time the motor omnibus was mentioned, it was received favourably, whereas, when the London County Council was mentioned, it was received quite the other way.

Ile would say a few words on the question of

MECHANICAL otyytctoartas AND FAILURES.

Mr. Campbell-Swinton had quoted the early days of the electric light and the early days of the steam turbine. But the most interesting records of such difficulties as he had named went further back than those, and, if they could get to the records, they would find them in the history of the Liverpool and Manchester railway. They found in those records the hopeless state into which the services fell from the inability of the manage'neat to get suitable drivers. It was similar, in respect to the early days of electric traction in America: the great difficulty there was to get trained drivers. And so one saw, more recently, in this country, in the days of motor lorries, though that branch had now settled down.

He was glad to see that Mr. Campbell-Swinton, who was chairman of one London company, and a director of several ether companies operating motor omnibuses, admitted that the engineers were, often, unjustly blamed for break-downs which were due to inherent defects in their plant. Ile was sure that was an admission they all agreed with, and it would encourage some of those who had had difficulties on the road with buses which were not all that could be desired.

Mr. Walter Wolsey (a director of Thomas Tilling, Limited), said it seemed to him, so far as the commercial aspect of motor omnibuses was concerned, there were one or two points that wanted very careful consideration as to the future. First of all, the question of control by the authorities. He thought that might be left alone. If the control was left in the hands of the present authorities, he did not think they had very much to fear ; but, if they were going to be handed over to the

TENDER MERCIES OF A COMPETING BODY,

then he did not think they had very much to hope for. IIe thought they should do all they could to show, by agitation now and through the medium of the Press, the absolute unfairness of the position taken up by the London County Council. It seemed to him that they had been trying, from the very commencement of this motor omnibus movement, to crush it, first of all by reducing fares and putting on a huge service of tramcars which could not possibly pay. Finding they had been unable to crush the motor omnibuses in that way, they now came and cried, as it were, to the public—(hear, hear :)—and said : "Oh, these people are running their omnibuses over our tramlines and spoiling our track, and paying nothing to the rates." The L.C.C. failed altogether to let the public see that the tramways were not in themselves self-supporting, and that every passenger they carried cost the ratepayers something. On the other hand, the motor omnibus companies carried passengers for a set fare, and it did not cost a person who did not ride anything at all.

On the question of the cost of fuel in future, perhaps they would have somebody to tell them something about that later on. It was a very big question. It looked like going tip in price, and, if it did, it would be a very serious matter for all of them. Tires also would have a very large influence on the future. As to economies in working, he imagined those would be effected as time went on. both by standardisation, and by the improvement of their drivers. A great deal of their cost,

he was convinced, was due to the terrible ignorance of their drivers, and it was not to be wondered at, seeing the large number of men who had been suddenly called into this business without their having had any mechanical training. They had had to put them on motor omnibuses, and turn them into the streets, without any sufficient chance of training. These were all troubles which they would get over in the course of time. What they wanted was time. lithe authorities and the public

would only give them time, he was fully convinced they could run motor omnibus services which would be satisfactory to the public, and, he hoped, to their shareholders. (Applause.)

Mr. E. Beaumont said he had listened to Mr. Campbell-Swinton's paper with very considerable interest, and all of them, whether they were omnibus engineers or not, would, as engineers, be interested. The London County Council had certainly been for a long time open to suspicion, and it was time that they should come out, as it were,

INTO THE SUNSHINE OF TRUTH.

It seemed to him, although it might be, perhaps, repeating what had been already mentioned several times, that their troubles were almost entirely due to the rapid development of what would, undoubtedly, be an enormous industry, and due to that very rapid expansion. All those troubles were being experienced by the companies, both large and small. That was, of course, with omnibuses that might not, perhaps, be perfect, although some might be worse than others. Of course, difficulties would arise through men who would not handle an omnibus properly, but there were other difficulties which would take a very considerable time to remedy. One of those difficulties was brought about by the condition of the road surfaces.

It seemed to him, having regard to the newness of the industry, that sufficient consideration was not given to the vehicles used. It was a matter of common observation that omnibuses of the same type might be seen sometimes running quite quietly, and at other times making an abnormal amount of noise. And more often than not, that noisy vehicle was the one that was travelling at the highest speed. It was a little difficult to understand why these high speeds should be popular. The public did not seem to desire it, and he had heard complaints that people who wished to travel by these omnibuses could not board them, although the omnibuses were not filled. He had himself waited several times, until three or four partially-filled motor omnibuses had gone by. It might be quite true that it was quite possible on some roads to run omnibuses at as high a speed as the traffic would permit, but very often it happened that passengers were lost through such high speed. As regards the types of vehicles that were being used, there had been for some time rumours of the introduction of some cf those systems of a combination of petrol machinery and electrical machinery, and, from the point of view of noise and silence, something might be done in that way, whilst, with regard to the cost of working, a good deal might be expected from them. He noticed, towards the final part of the paper, some recognition of the work now being done by motor omnibus engineers ; he was not one himself, but he had had considerable opportunities of seeing what is being done, and recognising what an extremely difficult problem they had to deal with. It was disheartening to have to keep vehicles on the road that, although they were, perhaps, generally of good design, had been very indifferently made, lit fact, as was very frequently said, some of them had been "thrown together." Consequently, not only had the reasonable repairs to be carried out, but they had to be partially rebuilt while they were being used. On the other hand, it was noticeable, particularly with regard to one or two designs, that in spite of bad treatment by drivers, the endurance of certain parts was perfectly remarkable. The condition of what might be called the active parts remained exceptionally good, after an extremely long period of service. Reverting, again, to the figures given in the early part of the paper as to the tramway costs, it seemed to him that, if allowance was made even for their optimistic nature, they still remained very remarkable figures, and very suggestive of what might happen in the near future. It certainly seemed very surprising, however, having regard to the fact that these tramway costs concerned everybody present, as residents in London, that a stronger demand had not arisen for the truth, so that the public might be able to judge as to the wisdom or otherwise of their expansion.

There had been reference made to the nuisance caused by

. THE DROPPING OF OIL

upon the street surfaces, and it was, certainly, noticeable that, at the places where the motor omnibuses stopped and started, there was an accumulation of oil sufficient to amount to a nuisance. It was, also, noticeable that many, in fact the majority, of the motor omnibuses were not sufficiently protected, or provided with sheathing which would prevent them from dropping the oil on to the streets. It was, perhaps, a small matter, but it was one that was comparatively readily cured. As it was one of the things that might prejudice people against motor omnibuses, it should be more speedily attended to, and remedied, than anything else. From the engineer's point of view, it was the question of economy in the lubricant which had more interest for him than the question of dropping oil on to the streets, because, although lubricants, as such, might be frequently despised, they WerC extremely expensive, and, in some cases, the economy that might be realised in preventing the escape of oil from the chambers might result in an increased dividend.

Inspector A. Bassom (Scotland Yard) said he was certainly not prepared, when he received the invitation from Mr. Campbell-Swinton, to make a speech on the commercial aspects of the motor omnibus, and he thought, decidedly, he could not be called upon to criticise the early part of the paper with regard to the police authorities of London.. (Langhter.) He was very glad to see that Mr. Campbell-Swinton recognised the dropping of grease on the roadways as a nuisance, and he sincerely hoped that those of the motor omnibus companies which were represented that night would take note, and try to overcome that nuisance. It was not the wish of any person connected with Scotland Yard to interfere with or to hamper the motor omnibus companies in their work. Rather, they wished to assist them, if possible, and, although they had done it in a way that was not acceptable to the whole of the companies, yet they had done it in a way that seemed to them to he most desirable.

Reference had been made to the question of noise, and noise, he supposed, was the bugbear of the motor omnibus companies at the present time. Reference was also made to the attitude of the Commissioner of Police in trying to devise some

MACHINERY FOR STANIURDISING THE NOISE.

He agreed that it was a most difficult question, and it was only those who had to test motor omnibuses for noise who could realise the difficulties that one had to contend with in trying to recognise whether a vehicle was making an undue noise or not. As they all knew, the Commissioner of Police was not relying on one person. Personally, he was very glad it was so. (T.aughter.) The Commissioner of Police had appointed a committee of three gentlemen who were entirely independent. They had nothing to do with the Public Carriage Department, except, of course, that Mr. McNaughton was indirectly concerned with it. It was said that in a multitude of counsellors there was wisdom, and he hoped that there would be wisdom in that committee of three. He thought most people would agree that this question of noise was being dealt with in a very fair manner, and he did not think anyone would, really, be able to complain that anything had been "turned down" but that which was absolutely unsuitable to go upon the roads. (Hear, hear.

fie did not think he could go into the question of the commercial aspects of motor omnibuses at all. It did not concern them at Scotland Yard, but he must say that they were not unsympathetic with regard to the running of motor omnibuses. Personally, he should be very sorry indeed to 9ee motor omnibuses unduly hampered either by the London County Council or by anybody else. it certainly was not their wish at Scotland Yard to do so. Mr. Beaumont had just made reference to the ease with which something could be done to prevent oil or grease from dropping upon the roads. Well, he thought motor

omnibus engineers had rather a difficult problem to construct something to do that. Those trays that were fitted underneath were effective up to a certain point, but, after that point was reached, then they got a nuisance as bad, or even worse, than before. If the driver was careless, and over-lubricated, so that they got the oil running out, they got the tray flooded, and, if he came to an incline, he got more oil on the road than if he allowed a small quantity to drop on the road in different places. The problem was not so simple as it looked, but he was sure that motor omnibus engineers would not sit down and say it could not be solved. Ile hoped they would seriously take it in hand, and find something that was truly and continuously effective in preventing the dropping of oil upon the roadways.

At the meeting of the London County Council, on the igth instant, a full discussion was anticipated on a report in relation to motor omnibuses, which was printed upon the agenda, and in which the highways committee, after comparing motor omnibuses with electric trams, of course to the advantage of the latter, went on to recommend that steps be taken to regulate motoromnibus traffic, and that the Government be approached with a view of promoting legislation to enable a tax to be put on motorbuses. When the report, however, came up for consideration it was, without any reason being advanced, or explanation given, withdrawn on behalf of the committee.

At the request of the Mersey Railway Company, Messrs. Linkiater and Company have forwarded to us a copy of the undertakings given by the corn pany on the hearing of the appeal from the judgment given in the case of the Birkenhead Corporation v. the Mersey Railway Company, and reported in the issue of " COMMERCIAL MOTOR for March i5th last.

The undertakings are as follow :— 1. To run their omnibuses to or front a railway station upon their line and in connection with trains upon their railway and not otherwise and to so advertise their omnibus service, and not to advertise or hold themselves out as carrying on a general omnibus business or as carriers r of passengers in their omnibuses otherwise than to or from one of their railway stations.

2. To make all fares charged in respect of their omnibus service fares to or from some one of their stations and not to make or charge any sepa

rate fare between places neither of which is such a station.

3. To run their omnibus service as a service for railway passengers, and as far as reasonably practicable to confine their service to passengers to or from some one of their stations.

Sir J. H. A. Macdonald, K.C.B., who is one of the oldest and most strenuous advocates of commercial motors, in presenting the prizes to a recent gathering of members of the O.R.V.B., R.S., Rifle Club, at its gdinburgh headquarters, once more advocated the development of a scheme of effective mobilisation, by means of power vehicles, to repel any possible invasion of this country. He was of opinion that 4o,000 men could be conveyed a distance of zoo miles in eight or ten hours, by means of motorcars. In this connection we feel that the use of motor omnibuses, with their greater carrying capacity, would enable a large body of men to be conveyed with equally good results, and we look for the organisation of London's motor omnibuses as a means of effective transportation in the event of any such contingency as that contemplated.

The accompanying illustration of one of the buses belonging to the motorbus company in Birmingham is interesting, as illustrating the great stability of the motor omnibus. At the time the photograph was taken, the omnibus was being supported upon. its wheels anti was at the point of overbalancing on to the off-side. The jacks seen in the picture had little or no pressure upon them—in fact, a touch of the finger was sufficient to cause the axles to rise off the jacks. There was no support whatever on the off-side, although, of course, some timber was placed so that, should the omnibus have overbalanced, it would not have turned completely over. The bus was raised in the first instance by the chain blocks seen hanging. The actual angle which the omnibus made with the vertical was 45deg. 8min. more than a right-angle. It is worthy of note that the result agreed very closely with that arrived at by calculation. The experiment, also, shows the great strength of well-built wood wheels. The original purpose of the experiment was to allay the fears of the police, who, owing to the excessive camber of some of the Birmingham roads, were very doubtful of the safety of the motor omnibuses. It is of interest that, within a very short time after this experiment, a Corporation electric tramcar overturned, happily without loss of life. The latest Fiat chassis, which is described on pages 370 and 371 of this issue, has a channel-section steel frame 4 inches by 2i inches by 5-t6 inch. The workmanship throughout is excellent, and the engine, in particular, shows finish of the highest class.

The Home Secretary, in reply to a recent question in the House, stated that the average working day of motorbus drivers was about 9?., hours, except in the case of the "Vanguard " Company, which, on one of its routes, employed drivers for 13;': hours a day, giving them one day's rest in three, which came to the same thing.

The Law and Parliamentary Committee of the Westminster City Council has decided, after mature consideration, that it cannot, usefully, intervene in the matter of the regulation of motor omnibuses in London, and it has deferred any further consideration of the question until the effect of the new regulations has become more apparent.

Willesden Urban District Council, at its last meeting, granted licenses to the following : The Victoria Omnibus Company, Leinster Road, Carlton Vale, ipoo gallons of petrol ; the London Power Omnibus Company, Langton Road, 6,000 gallons of petrol ; and the London General Omnibus Company, Dollis Hill, 1,395 gallons of petrol.

Apropos the recent appointment of Mr. W. Flexman French as the London manager of the Ryknield Motor Company, Limited, it is interesting to recall the favourable repbrts, issued some seven weeks ago, when the Manchester agitation was at its height, by a number of municipal officers from Lancashire towns. Copies of the opinions and views of these gentlemen may be had on application to Mr. French, whose address is 314, High Road, Balham, S.E.

The shareholders in the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, met on Friday last at the Holborn Restaurant to consider the amalgamation scheme, which was explained in our pages last week. At the conclusion of somewhat turbulent meetings, the Chairman declared the resolution,: in favour of the proposals to be carried. It was necessary to take a poll of the preference shareholders. In the end. however, the scheme of amalgamation was approved by the general body of shareholders, after the vice-chairman of the company, Sir Henry Seton-Karr, had explained that, although the deferred shares were to be converted into ordinary shares, these original oneshilling shares would stand in no better relation to theother stock of the company than heretofore, owing to the fact that every ordinary shareholder was to receive preferred shares.

The shareholders of the other three companies concerned, the Motorbus Company, Limited, the London anti District Motorbus Company, Limited, and the London and Provincial Motorbus and Traction Company, Limited, held meetings the same day, when the schemes were approved,

The London Power Omnibus Company, Limited, is the second Metropolitan operating company to publish its accounts. The issued capital is £101,204, in an authorised total of £200,000, and there are no deferred shares in this company. Freehold land, buildings, and equipment have been valued at £19,468, and 41 omnibuses, of which eight are of the single-deck type, at 4'26,887, after depreciation at the rate of 24 per cent. per annum upon the double-deck vehicles, and the writing down of the single-deck vehicles to L:2oo each. Other points of interest on the credit side of the balance-sheet are : payments in advance to contractors against vehicles to be delivered, £20,475; sundry debtors, £722 ; cash at bank or in hand, £5.755; payments made on variation of contract, less amount written off, £2,984; preliminary expenses, less amount written off, £11,872; and balance, being loss, £16,9o. Turning to the revenue account, we find that the "revenue from all sources" amounts to .4;15,022, and it will be, approximately, correct to assume that £14,000 of this has been derived from passengers' fares. The receipts and working have been on too small a scale for us to undertake an analysis comparable with that published in connection with the first " Vanguard " report (see "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR " of October t8th last, pages 120 and 121), but, as the total number of passengers carried was 1,965,235, the average fare per passenger carried was, on the assumed basis of fare revenue, 1.71d. This compares with I.57d. for the first year of the " Vanguard " Company. The operating and administrative expenses have

been : traffic expenditure, 9,143; maintenance and depreciation, which we are sorry to see have been "lumped together," in accordance with the " Vanguard " precedent, L'12,986; administrative and other management charges, L'5,35r ; and amount written off preliminary and other expenses,

4:4,484 The chairman of the company, the Hon. Ferdinand C. Stanley, in moving the adoption of the report, dwelt, at some length, upon the fact that the contractors had been very much behind in delivery of chassis. For example, i8 chassis were due at the end of February last, but only five had been delivered ; 25 were due at the end of March, and eight were delivered ; and 70 at the end of August, when 33 were ready. They had deducted £2,500 on account of penalties, at the beginning of November, and the contractors had retaliated by suddenly breaking off the maintenance contract, as a result of which the company had commenced legal proceedings against these contractors.