The Naming of Houses.
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At first sight, the above title would seem to have but
application to. the movement to whose interests this journal_ is devoted. Slight coneideration, however, will enable our readers to perceive that there is no covert intention on our pert of appealing to the business instincts of estate agents or of builders and contractors. The proMiSetenei evening of residences, which to-day is The inalienable custom of the speculative builder, is the cause of endless confusion and delay in certain classes of delivery. This inconvenience, which has newadays become of considerable moment, has been particularly brought into prominence since the motor delivery-van has been definitely adopted as a. necessary part of the equipment of all laro-e retail trading houses. It is especially at this festive season of the year, that possessors of motor-delivery organizations wonder how they ever managed to be content with the facilities which congested railway systems and short-range horse equipment afforded their ayear or two ago. And it is at Christmas-time that many a driver of a motorvan, operating in a district which he does not know intimately, nearly takes leave of his senses in ins attempts to discover at which end of a. road of, say, 3.50 houses, Mrs. Brown-Jones of " The Limes "or" The Evergreens," lives. We dare not estimate the delays. Pretentious buildings, standing in their own eroends. and inhabitated by people who have some claims to local distinction', are readily detected. Such a residenee is not one of a row of some hundreds of precisely-similar edifices, and the delivery-van driver or porter is at no loss to ascertain its whereabouts from bystanders. It is not with the godfathers and godmothers of such dwellings that we have any quarrel: it would be useless to protest that isolated mansions, or even small houses, standim-t alone, should possess numerical distinction, for they are riot lost among their fellows. In scores of new roads, in the larger towns of this country, numbering is an unknown scheme. That is wrong. The class of road, which is manufactured i» one piece, all at one time, by a development company, is the principal offender; that road the product of the last few years—in which the houses, none of them detached. are built to be sold, complete with half the furniture hulk into the walls, by mouthy instalments over a period of nor more than fifty years, is the type in which the builders insist that each residence shall have its own name. That is but one class of road which is the despair of the delivery man, who is at a loss to know from which end of a long monotonous row to start lookin for " The Elms." when there is not a tree to be seen in the district. We are living in times when our tradespeople and caterers do not necessarily have premises in our immediate neighbourhood; most of us depend for certain domestic. supplies upon stores and large bru:inesses in central districts. The motorvan is increasing this depen
denev every day. Universal providers, be they in London or in provincial cities, in many cases have regular daily deliveries to certain suburban districts, but the man who brings one's stores from the central establishment, even though he know the neighbourhood, cannot be expected to memorize the whole gamut of hundreds of residential nicknames varying from " Llanfiwcheawdr ' to " Ly-eMoon." The driver on emergency service, like so many of those that were in full activity last week, is even worse pled. We are quite well aware of the difficulty of *limbering a road upon which only -a few of the projected houses are built, and nicknaming in sueh circumstances is an excusable expedient, hut if tins poor expedient remains when the street is completed, each householder should be compelled to exhibit an officially-allotted number, and the method of numbering should be standardized everywhere —odd numbers one side of the road, and even numbers the other side. In some provincial cities, a. municipal ordinance compels this regularity: it must, of course, hep initiated by local authority ; the individual lessee of a nicknamed house in. a street full of similarly-distinguished residences is powerless. We would not deprive the owner of a ;e20 house of the social distinction conveyed by Ins notepaper headed " The Lawns," Fulha-m, but we would, in the interests of the delivery-van owner, insist that his doorpost should also bear a number. Park Lane and Grosvenor Square are content with numbers ; surely, so might be " Kitchener Avenue " and " Klondyke. Grove."
1910: 1911: A Review.
The year 1910 has been one of real encouragement and sound progress for the commercial-motor cause. Scaremongering anticipations about the adverse effects of the petrel tax have been falsified, and temporary panic symptoms, which it was sought tofoster in certain quarters, were soon dissipated when dispassionate reason was brought to bear upon the situation by owners. Acceptance of that. tax was, of course, the bargain price of the Road Board. The advance in the volume of export and foreign trade has been most gratifying : these records of expansion have particularly occurred in respect of trade with Australasia, the Far East, India and South America. The allcommercial show at Olympia, which will open at the end of March next, was, during the months of November and Deeember, the outstanding topic of heavy-traffic politics. We supported the principle of holding such a show, having due regard to all that has transpired since the corresponding display in 1908, and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has endorsed that definite line of action as the eorrect one. The concerns of this forthcoming national exhibition transcend in importance those of any other project for the welfare of this country's hard-won international reputation as leader in the many utilitarian fields to which commercial motors are being successfully applied.
'We bare, during the year which is now closing, added the duty of undertaking arbitration services, which fourtions the expert Editorial staff of this journal is prepared to continue to discharge impartially. Calls upon that
:sited', in respect of expert opinion and advice, apart from the regular and gratuitous service of " Answers to Queries,' linve been well maintained, and have included instruistions from the Government of Natal, several British NI unicipal Corporations, and other buyers of -standing. Two unique compliments have been paid to this jeurnal, through its Editor : the first was the call to contribute the heavy-motor article to the 11th edition of the Eneyelopedia Britallniea, which 16 now ready for publication by the Cambridge UniversityPress; the other was -the in from the Rovnl Automobile Club that he should contribute, as one of Great Britain's representetiyes at the second Intern:16,nel Road Congress, in Brussels, the only paper from this COnntry on the subject of motorbusee in relation to trill-nears.
The year 1911 promises to witness developments in the _practice of direct-supply catering by the aid of motor l'On
veyance. It probably see the last of the horse-bus in the Metropolis, and the virtual disappearance of the linnsom-cab as well. Railway companies will take a leap forward on the goods side, in their uses of vans and lorries. In the motoreab world, there are evidences, both in London and the Provinces, that the period of " trying-out" is about to assert itself. At the next General Election (and who shall say that will not be in 1911 we forecast the wide use of motor chars-h-banes ill place of private -cars.
Agricultural Motors.
Dcveloismeiits in connection with both the construction and uso of agricultural motors have been of a distinctlyencouraging nature, in spite of the comparative failure of the R.A.S.E. trials in August last. Those trials, tardily announced and organized, after three competitions of an international character had been held at Winnipeg., did not. prove of comprehensive extent, and did not furnish that amountof information for which one might reasonably have hoped. It is becoming more and more appreciated, in competitive circles, that the prospects for the independent tractor, which itself traverses the land. are becoming brighter and brighter, and that the old-established system of steam ploughing. with two heavy engines windine the plough fa and fro between them. has at last been effectkely challenged. At the Royal Show. at Liverpool. iii June last, there were no facilities for the demonstration of agricultural motors, and this matter is one which we trust will be remedied in the future, whenever lecal circumstances permit. The multifarious applications of such -plant can then be effectively conveyed to the minds of interested visitors.
A satisfactory feature of the year's trading has been the • increasing demand frine all parts of the world, for both internal-combustion and steam tractors, due to the fact that these machines are now built upon lines which enable them satistactorily to travel over the apologies for roads which undeveloped or partly-developed countries offer.
Ambulances.
Orders for ambulances now go throtieb the meetines of the Metropolitan Asylums Beard. iind those of ether large er small purchasers, without a shadow of opposition. whieh fact provides the best-possible testimony to achievements in this branch. There was still, only two years ago. great hostilitY to the motor ambulanee in London. Economies and efeal running have converted the opponents of those days. and like records might be adduced in many other instances of nemicipal or joiet-board control. Types of motor ambulances railee from the single-deck motorbus. which is capable of aceommu-dating 20 persons, to the small conveyance for one patient upon a stretcher and a single attendant. Pressure on our space obliges us to omit a list of new sales during the year, but it is now ceirtnin that referenees to satisfied owners in this department have become sufficiently numerone to finable makers to refute the unfavourable statements of detractors.
'Commercial Motor Users Association.
The choice of Colonel R. E. Cromptim and Mr. NV. Re-s Jeffreys. Chairman and Sceretary. resoectively. of the Commercial Nfritor Freers .Sssociation. for the posts of ['hi e/ ziaiRriell officers to the Road Bormi. has to be reralled. A secceesor. naturelly, had to lie found for Mr. Rees -Tetfreye. lint Colonel Crompton. at least so far, has been able to arrange his duties so as to retain the Chairmanehip. At the end of September, affiliatiou to the Royal Automobile Club was arranged. and the Association's earlier agreement with that body has been embodied in the clauses of a new agreement. As from the 1st October last, an entrance fee of une guinea has been charged, and this has not deterred the influx of new members. During the year, the officers commanding the London divisions of the Army service Corps (Territorial Branch) have taken an active part in committee work, and have arranged that special prizes shall be put at the disposal of the Association, for next year's parade. fey award to drivers who have enlisted as 'Territorials. That parade may be at the Crystal Palace. The importance of tree circulation on the highways of heavy motorears of all kinds has been kept wellbefore the Executive Cummittee during the year. Fur example, on the vital question of bridge maintenance and repair, a representative joint cenimittee with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has been sitting, and this joint committee has had the advantage of consultations at its meetings with the Secretary of the Mechanical Transport Committee of the War Office and with officially-appointed delegates of the County Councils Association. In the result, the whole question of bridges is now prominently before the Road Board, and there is no doubt that somewhat-conflicting interests will, after the interchanges of views thus rendered possible, be reconciled in respect of adequate construction and fair distribution of cost.
In June last, after a short postponement in consequence of the death of his late Majesty King Edward VII, the Assoeiadun held its fourth annual parade for the encouragement of careful driving. This took place at Lincoln's Inn Fields, when upwards of 100 vehicles and tractors paraded. Prior to the parade, an official luncheon was given at the Waldorf Hotel, when the Association had the pleasure of including amongst its principal guests Sir George S. Gibb, Chairman of the Road Board, and Captain NV. C. W. Fitzwilliam, Master of the Stables in the Royal Household. Following this public assembly of up-to-date vehicles of all types, there were not a few orders placed as a direct consequence, of which we may quote thatof his Majesty the King for motor luggage-vans. The handsome silver cup, for the best " team " of six vehicles or tractors, offered by the proprietors of this journal, was won by the Pastern 3*lotor Wagon Co., Ltd., with me of its • three groups, each of six Foden. wagons. The cash awards exceeded £70. A correepoudent, immediately after the parade 'a as over, communicated a suggestion to our " Opinions from Others " columns, to the effect that the judges might in future years present a shurt report setting forth the most-commonlyoccurring abuses and faults which their examinations had revealed. This and other ideas will be considered.
The widespread demand, during the year, for the Association's traffic rules and recommendations, which were put into official circulation at the end of January, has been gratifying to all concerned. These rules, it may 'be recalled, were submitted to Sir Edward Henry, the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, before publication, and were considered by him to be suitable. They have been largely purchased in a variety of sizes and forms, ranging from a small pocket-size folding card to a large wall-card for store shed or depa use. It is not possible, in the space at our disposal now, to make even brief reference to others of the Association's numerous activities. Incidentally, under certain of the headings in this review of the year. mention is made uf some of them. It should be reemded. leiwever, that reciprocal arrangements with the Commercial Vehicle Section of the Scottish Automobile Club, which body undertakes like functions in Scotland, were approved at the December meeting of the Executive Committee. Details will shortly be settled.
Constructional.
Reduced number of dissimilar parts has probably been the ettiiine influence in lieW design. whilst economical production has been greatly aided by larger output. Chain drive iii the ..earboxes of motorbuses has been a success. Worm .gearing. for the final drive of motorbus and motorvan chassis, has reesived much attention at the hands of capable designers. and large numbers of vehicles now have this form of final drive, than which there is no more-silent or more-efficient method. provided both wheel and worm are accurately cut, made of suitable materials, and intelligently mounted. Highgrade steels and other materials continue to be increasingly need. although in some instances misapplied ; our continued arliele on the subject of " The Speeifiention and Testing of Motorcar Steels " indicated some of the misconceptions which ace, nnt for these occasional discrepancies:. Ball bearings have heeiene more general for the mounting of road wheels. and there appears to be better appreciation, thanks to the in‘estigations of Mr. A. Duckham F.C.S.. of the MIRE* of corrosion of the races when kept in store—see issue of the
15th September. Variations in the method of ivaijjuuach iii the case of locu.-type steam wagons, have liuL yet ceased, and evidence of this was forthcoming, in June, at the Royal Show. The Fournier saturated-vapour thermostat has been adopted by several makers, with results which appear La excel those obtainaule by any two-metal device.
The Development and Road Improvement Funds Act.
The that year of the operation—in a technical sense only— of the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act, 1909, to which Act we made full reference in our issue of the 23rd December, 1909, has to he recorded, but the Development Commissioners (see issue 5th May), the Road Board (see issue 12th Mey), and the Board of Advisory Engineers (see issue 3rd November) have scarcely got to the stage where effective admiuistration can be said to have been reached. We are in a position to state that no grants far road or bridge improvements have so far been formally made by the Road Board ;it'd appioved by the Treasury. That full consideratii)n should precede the approval of any such large schemes is emitiently desirable, whatever small voted may be made in the cases of particular villages, and it is a matter far congratulation that the Board, on the. 21st November last, publicly intimated that it intended to make grants for road strengthening, in preference to any for road widening. The allocation of the proceeds of the petrol and other-taxes (increased licence fees on private and certain other motorcars) is one which naturally presents great difficulties to those who are charged with the duty, but we have reason to knew that the greatest activity prevails in the matter of the securing of statistical information, in order that fundamental relations between traffic and road cost may be established for different areas. In this connection, for example, the extraordinary situation disclosed in a leading article in our contemporary " The Motor," in its issue of the 11th October, and which me reprinted in our issue of the 1311 idem, in the course of which article it was shown that the present taxation of motor vehicles more than pays the total cost of many typical highea'', and particularly so in London, must have come to many readers as an absolute revelation. We consider that it furnishes one of the strongest arguments to justify the existence of the petrol tax as a means of securing a quid pro quo from the road authorities, and without which argument the case elf the owner might shortly become a precarious one. We insistently adhere to the line of argument, which we adopted in July, 1909, in respect of the petrol tax: that it will prove to provide owners with a torus in many awkward circumstances. and not least of all in relation to the likely antagonism of owners of private cars, who are quite ready to allege that it is the imperfections of heavy motorcars winch damage weak roads, and also, that it does give a legitimate basis for the enforcement of demands upon road-makers. It is not improbable, as has been evident to us for the past two years, that a reasonable tax upon axle-weight, so far as concerns steam wagons and tractors, cannot for long be resisted. London motorbuses, in the absence of material votes to Metropolitan Borough Councils for specific improvement purposes of appropriate character, will be held to be a ease apart, and the justice of that policy has been supported both by the C.N1.12,A. and the R.A.C.
Export and Foreign Trade.
Tho demand for the thin-paper edition of this journal has been well maintained, and that has been a measure of interest in the Colonies and abroad. This journal was responsible for the initial steps which resulted in the placing of certain hitpm-hint British rights with American manufacturers, and which precedent was quickly turned to account by several other import-ant British manufacturers. 'Visitors to these offices included : the Hon. W. A. Deane, of Natal; Mr. S. Bereersen. the chief of the motor-transport department in Southern Nigeria: and ()they friends from the Federated Malay States, Patagonia, Australia, India, etc., etc. The increase of inquiries, both personal and in writing, from overseas, readers, is the natural outcome of special attention which we have given, since the month of March, 1905, to the distribution of special issues fin English and in other languages) to further the " missionary " side nf our obligations. No maker, nowadays. we are glad to see, sneers at exnart trade, or believes that the best course to follow is to look ha business at his own door only.
The end of the year witnessed the completion and 11:spatch of " The Dominion and Overseas Special " number. ii order that it might arrive nut for the New Year, and this issue as divided, after suitable Editorial introttuetion, into seven seeuens, as follow : petrol vans and lorries; steam wagons, tractors and road trains; motorbuses, motorcahs, chars-a-hanes and ambulances; agricultural tractors, power plant, mowers, rollers and railcars; motor fire-engines; tires, wneels and taximeters; tools, stores and accessories.
Fire-brigade Matters.
The turbine pump has become established more firmly than ever in the esteem if chief officers and firemasters, and these officials are gradually realizing that they can best of all rely upon motor manufacturers for their equipment. County developments, which branch of expansion has been a particular anticipation of ours for 2L years, are slowly coming to the front : Scotland has taken the move, and the counties of Renfrew, Lanark and Forfar are to be congratulated on the historic leads which they have given. In England, whilst no county council has yet divulged its intentions, there have been some hali-a-dozen isolated cases of provisional co-operation between rural and urban authorities.
In February last, at Glasgow, severe comparative tests under equal conditions were made between several representative engines, all of the internal-combustion variety, and it is important to note that the London County Council, in a report which was issued early in July last, definitely pronounced against steam fire-engines, and in favour of internalcum bustiun types, and ordered turbine pumps. Amongst the home authorities, for whose areas motor equipment has either been delivered or put on order during the year, we find the following: Barnes (subsequently deferred), garry, Belfast, Birmingham, Brwthey (Kent), Birkenhead, Bury, Cambridge, Chesterfield, Ealing, Glasgow, Harrogate, Keighlev, King's Norton, Leeds, Leith, Lincoln, Londonderry, Manchester, Merton, Merthyr, Northampton, Newcastle-ouTyne, Penge, Oldham, Salford, Southgate, Southport, Stockport, Sheffield, Torquay, Wallsend, !Vath-en-Dearne, Willesden and Worthing. Amongst those in the Colonies, and abroad, we have to include : Freemantle, Pretoria, Calcutta, Bombay, Sofia, Christchurch, Kimberley and Johannesburg. At the dose of the year, many local councils arc engaged upon investigations into this all-important branch of their duties, including Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
Legal.
There have been a few legal decisions of general interest. One of these, in Scotland, concerned a driver of a steam wagon into whose machine, in consequence of the exhibition of a white light as a tail lamp, instead of a red lamp, an overtaking motorcar was driven by the owner ; a charge of culpable homicide was dismissed. Another case, in respect of the lighting of vehicles, in the South of England, was raised about a Foden steam wagon, it being alleged that the front paraffin lamps should not be carried close to the boiler shell, at the front extremities of the frame, but that the one on the off-side should he placed farther back, along the body of the vehicle, at. the point of extreme width: this contention was not sustained. The need for a licence for the second man upon a steam wagon, in respect of a driver's " mate " who had charge of the steering wheel, was settled against the owner by a Yorkshire stipendary, and we decided, after consultation with legal and other advisers, to recommend owners to see that ally second man, who may at any time share the control of the vehicle to the extent of being responsible for its direction or its motion, should take out an annual licence at a cost of 5s. 'The importance of the furnishing of correct particulars of body-work, equally as regards type of body and colour of paint, was brought home, through a case in Kent, where an owner had not properly corrected the records at the office of the registering authority, which he might have done, by letter, without incurring any extra charge. Confusion between the names of joint-stock companies, in the case of the Car and General Insurance Corporation, Ltd., and the Law Car and General Insurance Corporation, Ltd. (now in liquidation), has recalled the classic action of the Daimler Motor Co., Ltd., versus the London Daimler Motor Co., Ltd., and has enforced the necessity for some alteration in the discretion which now is allowed to the registrar of joint-stock companies, in respect of his acceptance of titles for new companies. To a new and growing industry, like that with which this journal is concerned, the matter is one of more than passing concern. A dispute between a taxi-driver and his " fare," which resulted in the bringing of an action for 9d. against the Great Western Railway Cu., showed that the holder of a hackney-carriage driving licence is not entitled to insist upon the placing of packages outside the vehicle when they can 1.ya taken inside.
So far, under the Finance Act, there have been no farisaching legal decisions, but numerous questions have been addressed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and to the Treasury, in regard to the exact meaning of certain clauses which refer to exemptions and partial exemptions from the petrol tax. We dealt with various of these questions and answers in our issues of the 21st and 28th July and the 4th August: the Chancellor of the Exchequer has not given way on the matter of payment of the full 3d. per gallon upon private-hire vehicles and hotel omnibuses.
Is a taxi-driv.r a servan ? Toe C..urts have decided both that he is and that, he IR not, but the latter view appears Bow to be upheld. A case at Bolton (issue of the 14th April) had an important bearing upon the problem of motor traffic and unrestrained children who play in the London streets.
Military.
Captain A. E. Davidson, RE., succeeded Captain R. K. Bagnall-Wild, as Secretary of the Mechanical Transport Committee of the War Office, early in the year. The War Office has increased its motor-vehicle stock by a total of 32 vehicles and tractors during the past twelve months.
One of the most-promising tractors for military and allied purposes—that by Marshall, of Gainsborough—completed it road and other tests early in the year, and we described it fully in our issue of the 24th February. Mr. T. FL Harrison, of the transport department of Waring and Gillow, Ltd., contributed suggestive arCeles to our pages, beginning in April last, on the subject of " War and the Motorvan." Captain C. Battine, who has seen much active service, has helped greatly, both by lectures and writings, to widen interest in the doings of this important arm of the service, and to render proper appreciation of the factors more easy for the general public, all of which has aided general progress.
Hired motors were largely used during the various manteuvres in all parts of the country, and we took particular notice of the conditions under which mechanical transport was ern ployed during the grand manceuvres of September last. In our leading article of the 22nd September, considered references were made to the grave risk of chaotic differences due to supposedly-standard units, unless reasonable steps were taken at an early date to secure an agreed measure of stalldardization, and we are glad to know that our article has berne fruit in both manufacturing and military circles. More important, however, was the dissatisfaction of registered owners, which situation disclosed itself at the end of September, and in consequence. of which this journal convened a meeting of owners, on the 31st of October, in London. This meeting was limited to owners in the Aldershot and London areas, and the proceedings were reported in our issue of the 3rd November. As the outcome of this conference, to which the necessary degree of publicity was given, and the objects of which were furthered in certain other ways, it is now probable that an early. official announcement will be made in regard to an increase of the annual subsidy. This increase will naturally be accompanied by more-stringent conditions .in regard to service, mechanical efficiency, tank capacity and other points. Abroad, Germany has done her utmost to maintain her subvention scheme. and this year's tests have been more severe than on arty previous occasion. That country, of course, with fewer than 4,000 commercial vehicles of all types within her boundaries, must take abnormal steps to get a nuchus together, and for that reason her subvention terms are extraordinarily generous—for the time being. This country. none the less, must. strike a happy mean between her present parsimonious £2 per annum and Germany's £200 down with £50 a year working bonus for five years.
The Motorbus World.
The year 1910 will prove to have been the last year of what mar he termed " marking time,– both as regards Metropolitan an provincial enterprise. Decreases in the totals of horsestock have been most marked ; for example. the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., which owned 8.588 horses at the 31st li:cember. 1939, noa.owns a total of only 3.415. The official views of the Traffic Department of the Board of Tradeare all in favour of motorbus extensions. and Sir Herbert Jekyll, the head of that branch, whose latest report is now awaiiing the assembly Id the new Parliament before it can he made public. has most-decided views upon the bright future which lies before the mot :rbus. Low fares and long routes have beet' marked features of the year. and 17 miles for 6d. is now a not uncommon fare in London. schedules ; yet the trading results of London's principal companies have been highly satisfactory. On the revenue side, we have had occasion to express regret at the continued lack of adequate steps to secure advertisement, which indifference compares most unfavourably with the activity of London's underground systems. L.G.O.C. shares closed in the neighbourhood of £60 per £100 of stock, and they certainly should, once the serious matter of depreciation is taken properly in hand-, tend to appreciate in value, if not reach par. The year ends with fully 1,100 motorbuses in regular service, compared with 950 at the 31st December, 1909. There should be another 250 or 300 in service by May.
Owing to our intervention, the local councils of Folkestone and Tuebridge Wells, which had previously insisted upon particular examination qualifications for public-service drivers, decided to grant liceticos to any drivers who had at any time held a licence from Scotland Yard.
Persistent efforts to forward the interests of the tracklesstrolley system have to be noted, and all who have the welfare of the in-dependent motorbus at heart will require to be on the alert to combat the financial and other influences in question. The Editor, in his paper_ before the Brussels Congress,. in August last, set out some of the principal arguments against the introduction of this electrical system, which involves a three-wire overhead equipment.
Chain drive, between the gearbox shafts, has been adopted as a standard by London's premier company, but it is an idlecontention, in our opinion, to claim that there is no other way to /wake change-speed transmission effectively silent. The so-cffled " electrobuses " were withdrawn from service at the beginning of the year, due largely to bad organization and management. Splashguards have been fitted to the vehicles owned by the Metropolitan Steam Omnibus Co., whilst the appearance of the conductors of the L.G.O.C. has been materially improved by their being put into uniform—a practice which has for some years been adopted by the Great Eastern London Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd.
So far as constructional features are concerned, in this particular department, apart from the chain-drive gearboxes already mentioned, it should be put on record that several new models have successfully passed Scotland Yard's requirements under the regulations of August, 1909, and of these we may mention the vehicles by Leyland, L.G.O.C., StrakerSquire and the Metropolitan -Steam Omnibus Co. Cast-steel wheels tend to become standard.
In the Provinces, services continue to be successfully operated at, amongst other places, Banff, Eastbourne, Folkestone, Hull, Hastings, Ilfracombe, Keighley, Killarney, Loughborough, Pontypool, Todmorden, Tunbridge Wells, and Widnes. A new development during the year has been the purchase of small motorbuses, by the London and North Western Railway, far inter-station services. Abroad, Paris hits adoptzd single-deckers exclusively, but each vehicle carries a number of standing passengers on the conductor's platform. An electric-traction scheme has been rejected at Weymouth, after considerable discussion on the claims of motorbuses, and the Liverpool Corporation has taken over a local motorbus company which was responsible for the set-vices to and from the neighbouring suburb of Woolton. An important petition agaiiist the extension of electric tramcars in the -West End of London is now before the Kensington Borough Council, and opposition to such extensions will be of a vehement description. The outstanding success of motorbuses, during the past year, has proviLd frsh and valuable evidence to enable opponents of electric traction to resist its further extensions, and thereby to protect other users of the highway against inconveni:nccs of a gross nature.
Motorcab Topics.
Motorcalis have been widely used for official purposes—for the distribution of election writs, magistracy conveyance, insp.-ctions, and the like. Bodies have become more and more elaborate, regardless of consequential additions to upkeep charges. The General Motor Cab Co., whose accounts were fully reviewed in our issue of the 15th inst., has encountered s.A.ions handicaps in respect of both organization and maintentinc1!, and proposals are afoot for an amalgamation with the " W. and C." concern.
Sales of our " Twenty Points for Users of London Taxicabs," and the demand for the same particulars in wall-card form, have been very considerable: upwards of 45,000 copies are now in circulation, those in the wall-card form being distributed amongstthe principal clubs, hotels, restaurants, theatres, etc.. in the Metropolis. Recorders to issue tickets have not yet been placed on the market, but this perfection of taximeter service is about to he achieved on commercial lines.
The London Cab Proprietors Association completes its first year of aetivity, and it has many useful, if unadvertised, results to its credit. This association provides a much-needed opportunity for conferencos between the principal ownere, but it was not responsible for the agitation, in July Just, on the matter of earnings of taxi-drivers. The journal, owing to our realization that the public was uninformed on various important matters, such as the registration of " estrus " and the average of gratuities received by drivers, took steps to bring about publicity in the daily Press, the circumstarices ef which will be fresh in the minds of all interested parties. The totals of London motorcabs have, at the 31st December,
for the past five years, increased as follow : 1005, ; 1906, 06; 1907, 723; 1908, 2,805; and 1909; 3,956. At the end of last menth, the offical total was 6,227; at the moment, it is probably about 6,400.
Apropos the increase in the number of licensed cabs, it is an unsatiefaetory feature that there is an undoubted shortage of drivers, und we would refer to the data which we gave in our issues of the 11th and 25th August last ; in spite of the continued increases in the numbers of vehicles, we trust that thia deficiency will be adjusted before May next, and it is gratifying to know that large numbers of men have beau attracted to the occupation of motor driving, by advertisement and otherwise. There was, early in the year a tacit CCMspiracy amongst the drivers not to disclose the real facts eh:nit their common earnings for the year. We are, re' course, well aware that certain of the older two-cylinder cabs fall well below that result in respect of what tbey yield to the drivers, but the great majority of Metropolitan drivers, provided they elect to stick to their work, can unquestionably make Ed a week after meeting legitimate expenses.
The exprrimental equipment of a cab-rank with a telephsene set, attached to an electric-light standard, in Kensington High Street, near the corner of Melbury Road (telephone No. 437 Kensington), is a departure from which i fareerushing tsetse.quences may arise, and the effects are being closely watched
many interested parties. The object is to facilitate the calling ui a cab, other than from one uf the comparatively-few ranks upon which shelters have been erected. The .c.,,pense of this experiment has been borne by the Commercial Meter Users sasseeiatiore It may also be noted that new regulations in respect of the readiness. of the first two drivers ois any rank, and other matters, were issued by the Public Carriage Office of Scotland Yard in May. An insignificant strike of drivers occurred in August, and lasted a few days: the bulk of the men had in :re wisdom than to yield to the pressing recommendation of certain Union officials, and the strike did not spread. the Provinces, the establishment of new services, or the expansion cf those which were already in force, have to be noted at the following places, amongst others : Aberdeen, Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Eastbourne, Exeter. Glasgow, Flull, Maidstone, Yewcastle, Reading, Rh I. Sheffield, Suttee, Swansea, Stockton-on-Tees, Walsall, Warring•ton, Wimbledon, and Yarmouth. Unfortunately, foolish tariff regulations have in many cases hampered progress in various towns. sparticedarly at Manchester and Oldham, whilst the oppesinen of local jobmaaters has been particularly felt at Scaebosough and Weston-super-Mare. Generally speaking. taximeter mechanism has been perfected to the point that most of these regulations can be met by small internal modifications, although certain of them, such as the omission of auy charge for the first five minutes of waiting, have led to adjisitunents of a aharacter which in the end certainly do not beLieht the " fart," for whose protection they are intended.
Motor Mails.
The huge economies that are to be effected by the conduct. of mail services, both for parcels and letters, has led to numecrus developments in all parts of the United. Einedom. and nut only in and around London altme, whilst. the Stores Department of the General Post Office has added te its own rolling-steek by the purchase of three petrol vans. Further early esten.sions FIFA contemplated ; seine of these are for distances hi excess of 100 miles, and are therefore comparable with the LuncTon-Birmiegham service. On these long-distance services, whilst the latest mailings cannot conveMently be made a ynitable for dispatch by road, no less than 85 or 90 per cent. of the total mail can be so sent, and almost-incredible savings effected. We may remind our readers that the contract between the Government and the railway companies, in respi et of parcels mails, is to pay 55 per cent. of the postage r,ctiv«I. for statieu-to-station conveyance, the Post office servants having to deliver and collect to and front the traies. The record of these motor-mail services are highly creditable on the performance side, and the number of failures is almost negligible. Undue conmstitioe botween the leading 12:.mtrac
tors is still a factor in this branch of enterprise, but several of those who were the worst, offenders have amended their ways, particularly in relation to quotations for mileages below 50 per diem, end few contracts are in force below is. ld, per mile run for a two-ten vau. The Post Office, in our judgment, according to experiences to date, can well afford to pay Is. 6d. per mile, and any quotations below that figure are unnecessarily low for the size of van named. A* a matter of fact, the Post Office would still make a handsome profit if it were to pay 2s. per mile for a two-ton van, as compared with the abovementioried railway charges.
Overcrowding Underground.
Beginning in March last, and extending: to the end of August, we have directed criticism upon the lack of adequate seating accommodation in London's tube railways, and nut without effect. A series of cartoons, drawl] by 'Mr. Arthur W. Windsor, a member of the Editorial staff Of this journal, was started in the issue of the 7th April, and the last of these cartoons was published on the 25th August. Acting upon the advice of Mr. W. Joynson-Hicks, we had several altereatire courses put before us for the bringing of a test action against one or other of the undergroend companies, but the occasion for that action was removed by the lengthening of the trains upon ties worst-offending lines. Our object, of course, was to direct public attendee to the unfair distinction between the rigid supervision cd the police on the surface (motorbuses), and the absolute lack of supervision underground (tubes), for which lack of effective supervision the Board of Trade is primarily responsible. Apparently, that Department dues not consider it derogatory to its imposed duties, that an accident should be allowed to occur before any action is taken, end there are still cases in London. particularly where the conductors' platforms between the coaches are nut integral parts of the coaches, where closer engineering supervision is badly needed, and where to-day's conditions are scandalous.
We ha.ve urged upon London maarbas interests, that some rejoinder should be made to the retort of the tubes that " Our road is our own." We have suggested, and we now repeat the suggestion. that motorbus proprietors could not do better than to publish abroad, by means of all-possible devices, both itt the shape of catch-line and pictorial posters, the fact, that " We catty you all the way." Underground passengers, as is generally' well known, have to carry themselves a large proportion of our journey, by walking to the trains, climbing and descending staircases, etc.-something on the lines indicated in oar cartoon about " The Snakerlao Railway," in the issue of the 14th April.
Petrol Vans and Lorries.
Developments of light types; for loads of 10 cwt, and less, have been actively prosecuted, particularly during the second six months of the closing year, and new models are due to be placed aeon the market about March next. In the Manehester district, the development in application, at the ether end uf the scale, has been in respect of five-ton petrol terries. which type of vehicle is becoming more and mere favoured by carriers, cotton manufacturers and others. Amongst well-known owners. who have made considerable addition to their fleets of vans, we may mention Lever Bros., Ltd. of Sunlightsseap fame, and Joseph Lyons, Ltd., of catering fame. In February last, the B.U.R.T. Co., Ltd. (Brithh United Read Traction Co., Ltd..), toils over the sole concession for Halley vans and other Halley vehicles— excepting fire-engines. R. has become evident, in spite (if the progress made by internal-combustion, that atearn-engined vehicles, when mounted upon rubber tires, in many cues effectively compete with petrol lorries for three-ton loads. There is no more-workmanlike Or more-attractive serwhille upon the road, from both commercial and engineering points of view, than standard steam lorries for ti-tree-ton loads, and they " run petrol close."
(To be cariclude:I.)