Retrospect and Prospect 1900-1910, and After.'
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" Time will not, permit of going into any detail of the tour of 1900. Suffice it to say that, as a. demonstration of prac tical efficiency, it was a complete success. .No doubt many of the carriages were crude in design and workmanship, and, as regards the working parts, accessibility appeared to be a word which was scarcely known in the designer's vocabu lary. Tuba ignition was still quite cornmen, and, indeed, at that time I heard an enthusiastic and clever automobilist emphatically declare that ' tube ignition was the thing, and that no sensible mail would trust to the electric spark.' It so happened that one day, after lunch, he in lied ins to ride on his car, leaving a
ear with electric ignition Oil which I had
ridden in the morning. There was a strong wind blowing, and presently out went the heating flames, just as my electric driving friend passed us with a sar castic smile on his countenance We made seven stops in 16 miles, and used up a whole box of Bryant and Mays in coaxing the burners The cooling uf water was a heartbreaking difficulty in those early days. It is amusing now to look back on the instructiun for the Brighton run in 1896, in which a list of no fewer than 13 places was given, at which it had been arranged that water might be obtained. 1 do not doubt that everyone of the 13 sources was drawn upon that day.
" Noise also was a very marked feature. WileEl in the morning drivers crowded up at the starting point four and five deep, blocking the road for all other traffic, the deafening roar of 60 engines often running clutch out at their full speed, did little to commend looter traffic to the ordinary user of the road whether on foot. or by carriage. It is a wonder that we were on the whole so pleasantly received. Of course the general public looked on the reception as a novel kind of how, and probably not one in a thousand had the slightest idea that they had before them anything which could ever become a real factor in road locomotion either for passenger or goods traffic.' '
Improved Local Feeling.
" Everyone must have noticed the great change that has been taking place of recent years, in spite of all hindrances put in the way of the development of motor traffic. It is certainly a new thing to find that the local people in places where roads were closed, have successfully petitioned to have them opened, and that towns in England and even in Wales, have expressed through their
inhabitants to their governing authorities, their disapproval of the persecution of motorists, and their desire to have re. pressive action put a stop to, as oppression of the motorist lias led to damage to local prosperity. A very curious instance of the profit brought to a district by motorists, and of the effect of repressive measures in injuring business was found in the result of an inquiry made by the Scottish Automobile Club to the proprie
tors of hotels in the country districts. All the hotels but one reported that their businees had increased. The single exception was the Dreadnought. Hotel at Callender, the result of the Trossachs road having been closed to motor traffic. Tourists shun Callender because they cannot visit with their motors that part of the neighbourhood which is specially an tractive.'• Wealth and Roads. " At regards the influence of power traction upon the wealth of the com munity, there can be no doubt that rapid
and efficient conveyance of goods must add greatly to the sum of a country's
prosperity. The amount of unnecessary expenditure which is the result. of protracted journeys caused by slow locomo tion, and the knocking to pieces of horse and vehicle by bad roads is enormous, adding greatly to the expense of com modities, and compelling expenditure on feeding stuffs when the vehicle is not required at times, whereas the motor vehicle is only (treating cost when it is in use, and in proportion to the work it is put to do.
'Moreover, the advent of the power vehicle has compelled consideration to be given to the quality of the road, a matter which had fallen into grievous neglect from the time that the railway swept the traffic from the roads. Mud, either wet and filthy, or dry and formed into dust, has been the characteristic of the road. And 110 wonder, when the whole principles of Macadam and Telford were set at naught, as they still are to-day, in many places where the penny wise and pound foolish ' mode of dealing with road making and repair is practised, and roads are suffered to be mended by breaking any stones of any shape and any size, and trying to bind them with dirt soup. The other day, not 40 miles from London, I saw mixed stones and mud being rolled, a-nd I picked up two stones as specimens of what the dirt dressing was about to conceal—one as large as five macadam stones, and more like the business part of a flat iron, the other a humpty misshapen block. Such stones could never rest in a. road, would be certain to produce a broken surface, into which water would penetrate, the greatest enemy of the road at all seasons. . . . The advent, of the dustless road will be a great boon to the community, both as regards health and wealth, and will add greatly to the enjoyment of road transit, for the formation of dust and mud are the consequences of the roadway becoming broken up and uneven. The day is coming when the road will not be disintegrated by traffic, and consequently neither vehicle nor pasenger nor goods in transit will suffer the deterioration which they do at present. During last month the weather was exceptionally dry, yet on the Embankment no dust was to be seen, although more than a thousand motor vehicles were passing over itevery hour of the day. And notwithstanding the constant traffic, and the action of many horses' hoofs, the surface has remained unbroken, and what used to be a road filled with holes full of dust in dry weather and of mud in wet weather, is now an even surface, the only dust being almost entirely of dried horse droppings,, and that being steadily and sensibly diminished as the proportion of horse becomes more and more a smaller percentage of the whole."
Happiness by Motor.
" The prospect before. us is an enlivenment of life, a diminution of death-rate, and a general increase of convenience of transit, which spells advantage to the trader and the consumer. It is now that the next or fiital great step of progress is about to be made. The real day of the commercial muter is dawning. There are signs everywhere that a great boom is coming in the commercial department of transit, as there has been recently in so marked a degree in the passenger-carrying department, whether private or public. One can see in the streets daily how the commercial horsed lorry and van are rapidly being superseded by the powerdriven vehicle. This week 1 observed inhalf-an hour in Piccadilly 15 commercial motor lorries and vans. Three years ago it would have been a surprise to see -so many in a whole week, and anyone who has been in the country in the near neighbourhood of London has seen vehicles with the names of Maple and of Harrods, of Whiteley and of the Stores, Peter Robinson, etc., etc., passing and re-passing to and from London, at distances which would have, been quite impossible, in the days of horse haulage. And, of course, such vans are a means of telling advertisement, and if one in a trade uses such advertisement, others must follow_ If Peek and Preen run vans with names in large letters, Puntley and Rainier must do the same over the Bartle areas.'" Commercial Motors Assured of Success.
"I shall be much mistaken if we do not see a great acceleration of the development of commercial motor traffic iha the near future. This department has always had more interest for me than the limousines and the landauleta and the cabriolets. For it is in the advancement of commercial transit that the real benefit to the whole community will be found.. Rapid road transit will break the oppression of excessive railway rates, facilitate the reaching a markets by those whose farms or kitchen gardens are far from market towns, and so increase the value of land in outlying places. It may tend, and it is to he hoped it will, to develop, small holdings. In the great cities it will increase the facility for moving heavy goods at a rate similar to light goods, and facilitate the delivery of goods over e large radius. It would be impossible in the time reasonably at my disposal to speak of all the departments of private and public utility in which, the usefulness of the auto-vehicle is asserting itself. One reads not only of ambulances, and of fire engines, but even off, hearses and Black Marias ' run by petrol. And doubtless many new uses. will be found for an engine that is ready to start at any moment, can run for many
days without special attention, and for which the power can be obtained now in every second street of town, and in every village, even in the most distant parts of the country."
Military Needs.
" The military authorities have already recognized its value tor the use of general and staff officers, who can now mneh more effectively oversee and direct maliceuvres on a larger scale than was possible when dependence had to be placed on the riding horse alone. Inspection of positions, control of mameu. vres, and the conveyance of information and reports have all been made easier, and, therefore, more efficient, by the employment of the motorcar. The War Minister is also alive to the great power for conveyance in case of invasion or threatened invasion which is provided by the presence in every district of the country of vehicles in large numbers which are suitable for rapid movement, on the shortest, notice. My own fear is that the potentiality of this valuable aid to concentration will not be made the most of, if the attempt is made to develop the scheme, as from headquarters at Whitehall. It must in any view be a scheme based on an appeal to the patriotism of the civilian, to hold himself ready to apply his vehicle to the conveyance of troops on special national emergency. If the attempt is made to carry it out otherwise than by laying down a few simple rules, and leaving those entrusted with the carrying of them out to adapt the organization for that purpose to the circumstances of the localities according to their capacity and their facilities, many difficulties which gentlemen in office rooms at Whitehall cannot, and cannot be expected to realize will arise. Believing as 1 do that the defence power of this country could be practically doubled by an efficient organization of motor conveyance for purposes of rapid concentration, and further believing that the detail for such use of the power vehicle will require much consideration with regard to the differences which exist in the nature of particular localities and in the particular distributions of inhabitants, 1 would humbly, but with earnestness, plead that this whole subject should be investigated by art inquiry, in which not only mili tary authorities but also practical men would take part, men from different parts of the country, who, though not in the Army, have a knowledge of locomotion problems, and could give wise counsel as to the best way of organizing for rapid movement and concentration of men, at such points as might be ordered. And here let me say that I have seen that generals and writers on this subject have laid it down as if it were an incontrovertible proposition that the best and quickest way for moving infantry troops is by railway. I take the liberty of saying that the proposition is open to the gravest doubt as to its accuracy. If the opportunity were given, I say with confidence that experiment would prove that, with proper organization, the roads would bring troops to any point required in lees time, and more satisfactorily as regards the different corps reaching their positions without long marches, than could be done by railroad transit, where those conducting the movement in most cases would be tied to the use of one line, and the terminus of that line might be more than a day's march from the place on which concentration had to be made."