Passing Comments
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And Now South America
THERE have already been two in the series of I Oxford and Qambridge inter-university expeditions, the first being the Trans-African and the second, the Far Eastern, when the members drove overland to Singapore.
, The third, and probably the last, left London last Thursday for Liverpool on the way to Georgetown, British Guiana. By September 21, the party, in three Land-Rovers, are expected to begin the drive along a cattle trail to start their work in the Rupununi Savannah grassland, which lies about 300 miles south of Georgetown. Here they will make a series of botanical studies and collections, and take films for the B.B.C. programme "Travellers' Tales." After two months, the vehicles will travel, partly by raft or ship, to Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon, where the Brazilian road network begins.
At Cuiaba, the road will be left for the Mato Grosso, where the work will continue for several months. The return to England is expected, to be in the autumn of next year.
The special equipment on the Land-Rovers includes power winches, rubber rafting, snorkels and 50-gallon petrol tanks.
Important Possibilities in Brazil
FEW peoplerealize the immense possibilities of Brazil. That country at present includes a very large area of South America, •and if the current negotiations with several neighbouring States be brought to fruition, it will cover an even greater area. Already it is even bigger than the United States of America.
Brazil is becoming industrialized to such an extent that several important commercial vehicle manufacturers in America and Europe, particularly Italy, now have factories in production there.
Roads, many hundreds of miles in length, are being built and on them are operating thousands of huge vehicles, including a large number of tractor-trailer outfits.
The sale of vehicles produced within the country is given a great measure of priorityr and already the production of commercial vehicles amounts to many hundreds a month.
The interior is rich in every respect and it is being rapidly developed. Here is a market which British manufacturers would do. well to investigate with a view to establishing production there, for its potentialities are vast.
On Hot Bricks
A REPRESENTATIVE of The Commercial " Motor returned this week from a coach tour of Italy somewhat shaken by the perilous manner in which overtaking is done in that country. Drivers are not dissuaded from passing other traffic merely because there are approaching vehicles on the off side, or visibility is limited by, for example, a sharp bend. If the density of traffic were the same as in Britain the accident rate•would be appalling.
As all coaches and heavy lorries in Italy have righthand drive, they have to pull out well to the crown of the road, when following large outfits, so that the drivers can see the road ahead.
Great skill was displayed by the coach driver in negotiating roads and streets that would. be banned to heavy vehicles in this country, and high Gruising speeds were maintained along the autostradas, although these were narrow and not too well surfaced. But there is much to be said for travel in Britain.
Another. Telford Tale
THE opinions as to road-making expressed . by Thomas Telford carried great weight, but this well-known authority on highways was in more than one sense, a. colossus. His great mind was contained in an unusually large frame and this inspired the rhyme from a wag amongst his contemporarie's:—
" When Telford walks abroad, the paviours cry: God bless you, Sirl ' and lay their rammers by."