WHEELS OF INDUSTRY.
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Leyland Capital.
The authorized capital of Leyland. Motors (1914), Ltd. is £400,000 in £1
shares, half of it being m. 6 per cent. cumulative preference shaves and thee balance in the form of ordinary. It is now proposed to reorganize -the capital by issuing three new ordinary shares for each old share and creating £7501000 7i per cent. preference shares. Although the accounts of the company have. not been presented, in consequence eof the difficulty of settling with the Government in regard to the munition's levy., etc., the company has evidently' aspen.enced a prosperous time and shareholders have participated in the profits. On account of 1918 11k per cent. as paid in September ; there was then a bonus of 50 per cent. in shares, free of tax and in January of this year a dividend of 3s. 9d.. free of Lax, was distributed, followed by an interim dividend of 2s. por share, tax free, on the 15th ult:
The New 46-seater Bus.
The new 46-seater bus commenced running on the number eleven service of the London General Omnibus Co., between Liverpool Street, and. Shepherd's Bush, via Fleet Street, and :Victoria. It fitted in with London traffio admirably, invoaved itsolf in no difficulties, -and proved a great public success. Mr. Shave, the manager for maintenance and the designers and constructors of the Alssociated Equipmeiet CO., Ltd., are entitled to considerable praise on, the result of their efforts to solve London's traffic problem. The extra takings due to the larger carrying capacity should alone mean a subetantial dividend.
The Dunlop Book.
Quite a book to admire is the Dunlop Book. At first, contact, the pressman admires the whole "get up,'" and. as he goes through from end to end that admiration increases, for, at every point, there is evidence of thought, tare, and consideration there are clever touches that indicate live compiler, and there is a. sense of completeness that grows with the examination of each feature of the psoductien. So it becomes apparent, after one has looked it through carefully and then has applied his own tests—a few places of interest, some tricky geographical details in the maps, souse of the hotels and the recently established repairers—that the information gathered together is not only accurate, and practically right up to. date, but that, a vast ameunt of it has been breught into the Compass of a single volume
and that the charge The two guineas is not unreasonable. The Dunlop Book is printed on India paper. and runs toe615 pages, in. addition to wiaich there is a complete set of 32'ma.ps ()Paha British Isles on heavier paper. The first Section of the'book issa concise guide to towns -and localities splendidly illustrated by Harper's pen sketchers, with street. plane of the larger towswand the set of maps already referred to. The. second section. consists of a aeries of excellent articles and notes on subjects
028 kindred to the use of the motorcar. Sec. tion three covens hotels, repairers engineers, and a great deal of technical legal and travel information, whilst section four is a clever key index to the whole volume. The work of compilation was done by E. J. Burrow, E. R. Cross, and A. J. Wilson, and the production is by A. J. Wilson and Co., Ltd.
Next Year's "Royal."
The 79th annual show of the Royal Agrioultural Society of England will be held at. Darlington from June 29th. to July 3rd, 1920. Copies of the implement regulations will be ready for issue after January 1st., 1920.
Fuel Importation.
Importation of motor fuel by esIncerns which were not included in the Pool ' Board may take place after October 31st, a nine months interval having been granted to the Pool Beard, on its termination on January 31st, for the units to become re-established.
"Key Industries."
Pending legislation, the Government's "Key Industry" policy will . be administered by the issue of a general lieence under the Prohibition of Import Proclamations to cover all goods with the exception of those set out in the list of "Key Industries."
Commercial Cars—Changes in Capital.
In connection, we understand, with forthooming changes in the capital of Commercial Cars, Ltd. of Luton, the present company is being voluntarily liquidated in order to conform with the requirements of the law. The secretary of the company has been appointed liquidator.
The F.P.D. and the Tractor Trials.
It is of interest to know that all the members of the machinery committee of the Food Production Department, Board of Agriculture, have been instructed to attend the Lincoln tractor trials, and to report individually and collectively as to the performance of the various machines and implements.
A Blazing Job.
A professional photographer sends us a photograph of a tractor at work harvesting, with an inscription which cannot, by any means be described ' as happy. It -reads : "In the kin, in the blazing sunshine with a boiling tank and 'red hot engine in front of him, the harvest motorman drives his machine over the lumpy ground hour after hour. He claims that his is the hottest job going; but farmers must take the opportunity to harvest the corn." In a laudable effort to be picturesque the photographer has given us one of those gems which Punch, used to classify under the head of "things better expressed differently."
Wolseley Report.
A large increase in net profits is shows by the report, of Wolseley Motors, Ltd., just issued. The report is belated, and only covers the twelve months ended September 30th, 1918. Presumably this is in part. due to the negotiations which are still in progress., with regard to the assessment of excess profits duty, for which, however, as , the previous year, a provisional amount has been set aside. The net profit for the period amounts to £316,800, against, £214,300 for the previous financial year. After payment of debenture interest and setting aside £100,000 for 'income-tax, and including the sum brought into the accounts, the balance available amounts to £191,400. Of this the preference 7 per cent. dis tribution k: bfiorbs £21,000, while £150,000, as against £50,000, is placed to reserve, which will bring the total of the fund up to £300,000. The balance carried forward is increased from £12,700 to £20,400.
Labour View of London Traffic Problem.
The Executive Committee of the London Labour pasty have issued a statement respecting the report of the Select Committee on London Transport, in which they say that while agreeing to a considerable extent with the analysis and criticism contained in the Select Committee's report, they consider it impracticable arbitrarily to separate transit policy from that affecting other Metropolitan public services, such as housing.
They agree that there ought to be a supreme traffic authority for Greater London, but they point out that the proposed authority would only make confusion worse confounded by adding another authority to the far too numerous conflicting public bodies already existing in the Metropolis. They hold to the view of the Special Conference of the London Labour party, held on February 1st, 1919, that the area of the L.C.C. should be enlarged to the Metropolitan police district, and that the Council should have powers to own and operate all form.s-of passenger transit over the Greater London traffic area, and generally function as the supreme traffic authority for the Metropolis.
"Our Chaotic Railway Transport."
In our next issue Mr. C. Le M. Gosselin, managing director *of H. Viney and Co., Ltd., of Preston, will reply to the arguments contained, Meths recent article-on " Our Chaotic Railway Trasaspart," by Mr. Gran, -ill° F. Bilbrough.
With the sanction of the ..-segistrar, General Motors (Europe), Ltd., have changed the title of the company to General Motors, Ltd. The alteration of name involves no change in the constitution ofithe company.