1909: 1910.
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The closing year will go down, in the annals of commercial motoring, as the turning-point in the fortunes of that branch of the industry which is destined to overtake the more-popular recreational branch. It is marked, as will appear later in this review, by the tardy admission of railway companies that success has been achieved on the goods side, and by the forced confession of London's oldest omnibus company that motors pay while horses do not. We forecasted, a year ago, that a period of revival was at hand; our anticipations, ni spito of temporary panic symptoms due to scaremongering about taxation, have been completely fulfilled. The New Year cannot fail to witness substantial progress, as the merited result. of experiment and costly labour in past years.
Traffic Control.
as in January, that L.C.J. Alverstone and JJ. Bigharn and Walton, on a case stated by the Bradford Stipendiary Magistrate, reluctantly upheld the conviction of a motorist who had overtaken a tramcar on the near side. Scotland in the month of February, and England two months later, got rid of this anomaly, the former by declaration of the Secretary for Scotland that a tramcar or other vehicle on rails is not a carriage, and the latter by a rescinding Order of the Local Government Board. These changes, of course. are of general interest to the country as a whole, but they relieve the motordriver of an unpleasant sense of uncertainty. He now knows that he may go on either side, when overtaking a tramcar, according to the circumstances of each case.
The Corporation of the City of London successfully promoted a Bill to give it greater powers in the control of street traffic, and the omnibus companies had to rest content with the safeguards that any proposed regulations shall, after discussion in an open meeting, not become enforceable until they have been confirmed as an Order by the Home Secretary. The first official notification concerning an excess-speed alarm for cabs and omnibuses, to give "loud and continuous " warning so long as the appropriate speed limit is being exceeded, was issued from Scotland Yard at the beginning of April, and obligatory fitting was expected by August. Experiments are being continued, and we were given to understand, in September last, that a margin of 10 per cent. above the respective limits will be allowed in the setting, and that temporary excesses, as in acts of overtaking, will not cause summonses to be issued. Our view is that the public will have none of it, and we again ask what use it will he when new motorcar legislation raises or abolishes the existing limits. The congestion of some London thoroughfares, which has been consequent upon the extension of the L.C.C. tramcars. has proved, during the year. a source of repeated delays for other forms of traffic. It is hard to estimate the losses which follow this crowding of ordinary wheeled vehicles to the sides of the highway, but they are undeniably very great.. The tramcar drivers have continued to ignore the Board of Trade by-laws, which require them not to draw up beside another car on a parallel set of rails, and not—,except at termini or junctions— to be nearer than fifty yards to the ear in front of them. Another threatened encroachment by the L.C.C.—the use of
two 78-seated electric tramcars coupled together—has given an indication of the tendency to unwieldy units in this direction. Our cartoon, " What we may come to yet," where the unfortunate motorbus was shown cut down to hold one passenger each inside and outside, and the L.C.C. tramcar had became a three-decker with a band and bars, which appeared in our issue of the 22nd April, may be recalled in this connection, as well as our comment upon the outstanding unfairness of the prospect from the competitive standpoint. Under the auspices of the County Councils' Association, and with the assistance of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, an important Road Congress took place, in London, at the end of April. NVc fully reported its proceedings, so far as they affected or promised to affect owners or makers of commercial vehicles and tractors. Every representative body in the United Kingdom sent delegates, including the R.A.C., the C.M.U.A., tho S.M.M.T., and the N.T.E.O. and U.A., whilst all the Government Departments concerned were in attendance by nominees. A permanent, Central Committee of road-makers and road-users was appointed for the purpose of collecting particular statistics of " user," and it is the writer's privilege to represent the commercial side of motoring thereon. Owing to the inability of a special committee to come to terms with the directors of the L.G.O.C., an experimental " HorseleAs Sunday " in the City of Westminster had to be abandoned; the originator of the scheme, Mr. H. Thomson Lyon, received widespread support, including a vote of 2100 from the funds of the S.M.M.T., which money, of course, there was no occasion, for the above-named reason, to claim. Side-slip law has tended towards settlement, and we have reviewed several leading cases at. length (e.g., issues of the 22nd jelly and the 28th October). These weaken any claim which is based on the general plea that a skidding motorbus is a mnsance, or that the act. of running a motorbus which may skid on a greasy surface is evidence of negligence.
Petrol Vans and Lorries.
The preserve of the one-horse van is now being successfully invaded; the Great Western and other railway companies are satisfied that loads of from 10 to 15 cwt. can be economically conveyed in towns by the mechanical vehicle, and they have initiated a programme of substitution to which we first made a reference on the 22nd April (page 128). " As cheap as the one-horse van? " was, the title of a short leading article in our issue of the 24th June, and we there showed that, the rnotorvan excelled its rival somewhere between weekly totals of 120 and 180 miles. Although few owners of horse-drawn vans take the trouble to obtain records in order to inform themselves of the inclusive working cost per mile run, those who do so find that a one-horse van, when driver, fodder and bedding, shoeing and " vetting," stable labour, repairs, insurance, sundries, rent, interest, and depreciation are duly brought into the account, seldom costs less than 51c1. a mile on the basis of 120 miles of service a week_
It has become amply evident, since last June, that there is an increasing body of confidence in the ability of approved makes of motorva.n to carry loads below the pre-supposed useful minimum of one ton, and we feel quite justified in putting certain of °these smaller vans into the category of machines which aro worthy of general employment. The one-horse van yields place, now, after some ten years of attack, mainly by reason of applied lessons from heavier fields of service; experience has taught simplicity of design, and good construction has removed the necessity for any high standing charge debit in respect of depreciation. Thus, at last, one can safely assure the buyer that he is not faced by the earlier fixed load of a compulsory annual provision irrespective of the mileage. Fashion and obsolescence have disappeared from the van proposition: a safe life of 120,000 miles has, as a divisor into the first cost, taken the place of a sinking-fund reserve of 15, 20 or 25 per cent, per annum upon it. This testimony has only been forthcoming during the year which is now ending, and it is one of the most-noteworthy facts of which our readers ran be reminded at this date.
In the sphere of the larger vans and lorries, progress has been well maintained. There have been no backsliders, no disappointing abandonments; contrariwise, there have been several notable reversions to the movement, of which we may quote Guinness's. Haulage and mail contractors, parcelcarrying companies, big forwarding houses, co-operative societies, furnishing warehousemen and stores, laundrymen, and many sundry users have gone forward—have increased their fleets. Beyond these, of new comers we have observed with great interest the addition of not a few brewers, soapmakers, furniture-removers, cotton-spinners and established transport undertakings to the growing list of owners who find the higher point-to-point speeds and load-ratios of the petrol van or lorry, in comparison with steam vehicles for equal net loads, to prove more than a sufficient compensation for the greater first cost, and the greater running cost.
Stearn Wagons.
The steamer remains the cheaper, both in first cost and in running expenses, and we wholly fail to see how those advantages will be taken from it., but we must not shut our eyes to events of the year. These include a further recognition of the fact that costs are only part of the story—that there must also be regard for performances. It is here that the rubbertired petrol wagon scores. It costs at least 2d. a mile more to run, but the machine does the job in half tho time : it is back at the works, from the warehouse or the docks, when the steamer has barely reached the end of its outward journey. Traders, or others, who want a wagon to do 60 or 80 miles a day, to travel at 12 m.p.hr., to be independent of external supplies of either fuel or water, and to be used without a trailer, will therefore, in all probability, turn from steam. We think, none the less, that nothing has occurred in 1909 to support the view that the proper thing to do is to go out of the steam-wagon business ; yet, we should not care ti recommend any new firm to start in that manufacture unsupported by some other. Innumerable jobs present themselves in the building, contracting, furniture-removal, haulage, and other " heavy " trades, where the costly features of the petrol vehicle are not wanted. It must not be overlooked that the standard steam wagon, with or without trailer, can, according to road conditions, average from 200 to 250 miles per week, working five days only, and that is enough for hundreds of owners. What gain would there be to them, were they to pay another £200 for the vehicle, and to bear the added cost of rubber tires? The answer, we do not hesitate to write, is—None! Some of them do not want the extra mileage, and others who use trailers cannot, legally, avail themselves of a speed above 6 m.p.hr. Sales of steam lorries will certainly be ample -;,3 keep busy those established makers who have made their reputations in this section: the vehicles still
provide the cheapest method of road transport under the Light Locomotives Act, provided they are put upon suitable work, and there is lots of such work which remains to be taken away from the horse and the railway.
Tractors.
Advocates of the separate hauling unit have worked hard to maintain their position, and with fair results. Brick and tile companies, road-making contractors and surveyors, merchants who deal in builders' supplies and materials for delivery on to unmade ground or partly-developed estates, fruit and vegetable growers, and country—as opposed to city —haulage concerns, appear to remain loyal : owners who require to undertake much work on paved surfaces are less enthusiastic. The lesser axle-weight of the tractor, compared with the average steam wagon, is a good point when soft ground and weak roads have to be encountered, but it does nut help on greasy setts. For depot-to-depot service, so lung its the speed on the road can be guaranteed, the miniature traction engine often gives unequalled economy of cost, and the same merit is found to hold where the incidence of terminal delays allows interchange of trailers. The year has not been responsible for any marked briskness in home trade, but it has witnessed the bringing-out of a newly-sprung tractor—by a well-known Lincoln company— which travels with unaccustomed smoothness. It has also seen the marketing of a new tractor, by an old-established Leeds company, with a shackled front spring. We learn, in addition, that another tractor builder has brought through a machine of this type with longitudinal leaf springs on the front axle, which arrangement involves the use of a long cross-bracket under the smoke-box and Ackermann-type steerage.
Motorbuses and Chars-a-bancs.
Single-deckers have not yet proved their claims in London, though a. new type was introduced in the early Spring ; the revenue from the extra 14 passengers is badly missed at times. Of the so-called electrobus, we cannot do better than quote from our issue of the 7th January : "If the pioneer company ' goes under,' it will not be because accumulator propulsion is devoid, for application in well-defined spheres, of inherent merits of the soundest nature." The competitive penny fares of the Central London Tube, along the Bank-Holborn-Bayswater "road," have not come up to the expectations of their originators, but their comparative failure has borne out our expressed opinion about tube competition for short distances on the straight line of a well-served hue route. The "To and Fro " guide to London has been the only attempt to help the unadvertised motorbus, but the advertisement schemes of the "Underground " strike one as being of a never-ending variety. The amalgamation of the London General, the Road Car and the Vanguard companies has effected a real improvement in the position and prospects of Greater London's motorbus finance, but there are still grave uncertainties in the situation. When the new regulations for motorbus construction and licensing—notice of which was first given on the 23rd March—were issued by Scotland Yard, at the beginning of September, they proved to have varied the feared rigid imposition of a 4-ton limit of unladen weight by the introduction of an alternative laden classification by maximum axle-weight, for which alternative this journal had contended very strongly. Mr. A. L. C. Fell, Chief Officer of the L.C.C. tramways, at a meeting of tramway engineers and managers in September, ventured to prophesy that "motorbuses will be exhibited as curios in museums 20 years hence." Mr. Henry Hicks, Chairman of the enlarged London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., at the annual general meeting of shareholders on the 8th inst., announced that the motor omnibuses had made a working profit of £59,400 and that the horse omnibuses had lost £45,000 of it!
in the Provinces, motorbus and chars-S-bancs services have prospered; there are now some 250 railway-owned motorbuses in use. Quite a feature of the year has been the multiplication of the individually-owned motor char--banes. The Eastbourne Corporation's motorbus department, which is now in its eighth year, is making handsome profits, and is paying oil its capital satisfactorily. The latest municipal services to be instituted are those by the Corporations of Widnes and Hull; Burnley and Sheffield Corporations possess unexercised powers, whilst powers to run services of motorbuses (not trolley-wire buses) are about to be sought by the Corporations of Warrington, Rotherham and Handsworth The Dunfermline Tramways Cu. and the Stratford-on-Avon and Midland Junction Ry. will also seek powers.
At no time in the history of the movement has the general outlook been brighter fur the motorbus constructor than now. Gloomy forebodings, which came freely on top of the " slump " in 1907, have proved to be false, and the interested ex-parte statements of tramway men are recognized to be unduly severe. We are well satisfied that the motorbus can now beat electric traction, both in cost and convenience, for any town with a population below 120,000, and it cannot be emphasized too often that the capital expenditure is anything from 50 to 80 per cent, less in the case of motorbuses.
Agricultural Motors.
Marked advances have been made in the realm of the agricultural motor, both as regards the mechanical excellence of types and the degree of adaptation for the work in view. One maker has initiated a special plan of hiring-out distinct from hire-purchase, and another has included an irrigation outfit. (turbine pump) as part of the equipment offered. The Canadian and Italian trials have furthered international keenness, and particulars of an open competition have been published by the Royal Agricultural Society of England.
Military Happenings.
Several experimental trips have attracted notice' of which we may name the motorbus mobilization and test run from Warley Barracks, the London-Hastings-London motorcar ride, and a smaller affair near Chelmsford. The competition, in February and March, for military tractors, when the first prize of £750 was gained by Thornycroft, was conducted under severe weather conditions: it was poorly supported, good organization notwithstanding, because of the insufficiency of inducement to manufacturers offered by the War Department. The registration scheme has been found to provide more wagons than are wanted, and numerous agreements with owners have not been renewed; as the fee paid is only £2 per vehicle per annum, nobody will be appreciably the worse off. More tractors are require-d,.and it may be decided to pay £10 each per annum in respect of these.
Fire-Brigade Matters.
Upwards of thirty Fire Brigades have, during the year, either inaugurated or extended self-propelled equipment., and these include the fire-fighting establishments of Bath, Keighley, Wigan, Bristol, Glasgow, Bradford, Durdee, London (L.C.C.), Dublin, Birmingham, Kingston, Merton, F.gham, Rochdale, West Ham, Rowley Regis, Liverpool, Willesden, Northampton, Worthing, Barry, Harrow, Salford, and Newcastle-onCame. The new enquiries and demand from India and the Colonies have been most satisfactory. There are, too, signs that county and rural authorities are awakening to the fact that motor fire-engines can protect their largo areas, one result being a greater readiness to make terms with boroughs. We consider that County Councils should bring their own brigades into existence without delay, now that the effective range of action is so much greater than used to be the nee.
As regards the working cost of a motor fire-engine, when it is pointed out that the distance run annually seldom reaches 700 miles, i.e., less than a London motorbus travels in one week, the savings over horseflesh can be readily appreciated. At Reading, for example, according to a report which the chief officer of that town's brigade presented in January last, a steam fire-engine and its horses—exclusive of wages—cost
£277 10s. per annum. Such an engine travels only some 200 miles in that period, and its pumps work for about 100 hrs., SJ the report proceeded to relate.
Various Shows.
The Edinburgh (28th January), the Manchester (25th February), the Royal (24th June), the Royal Lancashire (5th August), and the Smithfield (9th December) Shows have claimed our attention. Those at Manchester and Gloucester were the most important, and our reports were recognized to be-as usual—the beat. They were, of course, published in time to be useful, and not when everything was over. There was no Olympia Show of commercialmotors this year, but, f(Jlowing the private-car display of November, we protested against certain " nuisances ' in the shape of moving advertisement devices.
Colonial Developments.
Records of good work, both in cheap road-construction and effective operation of the commercial motors in use, came home to us, at the end of March, from Southern Nigeria, together with some unique photographs. In June last, the Secretary of State for the Colonies published a Blue Book of 111 pages on the subject, of mechanical transport in some of the Colonies and Protectorates of Great Britain. As the contents required careful analysis and tabulation to render them of value, we completed our comparisons and review in the issue of TUE COMMERCIAL MOTOR dated the 1st July. The growth of Colonial interest has been reflected in our " Answers to Queries" pages, and in our private correspondence with users and likely users overseas, and it should be noted that Postmasters-general are following the Home lead in regard to motor-mail services. We refer to our recent Onlonial and Export special number on the next page.
Working Costs.
Results during the past year have been of a gratifying nature to us, in respect of working costs. They have fully borne out and confirmed the estimates which were put before the Bristol Chamber of Commerce by the writer during the R.A.C. Trials of September, 1907, and which estimates were, by some people, regarded as unduly favourable. Whereas, however, the working cost for the one-ton van was then put at 5d. per vehiclemile, Messrs. Shoolbred have got it down to 4.5d., and that upon 110 tibtiormal mileage. We may recapitulate, for the guidance of those who desire to keep such figures before them, the particulars of costs for which we have given details this Year, the first five being in respect of petrol vehicles, and the 'figures in parentheses the miles per week: 10-cwt. load (400), 360d.; • one-ton load (400), 4.87d.; two-ton load (390), 6.26d.; three-ton load (350), 7.82d. ; five-ton load (300), 11.05d.; fiveton steam wagon (200), 9.111d.; and tractor with seven tons gross behind the drawbar (200), 8.0d. Motorbus costs can now safely be reckoned at an inclusive Dd. per mile, and inctorcabs (inclusive of driver) at less than 5d. per mile.
Associations and Societies.
The Commercial Motor Users' Association, whose membership roll includes representative owners in all parts of the conntry, has furnished advice on some important legal Cases this year, and has voted financial assistance in others where principles have been involved. Its special knowledge in the matter of claims for alleged extraordinary-traffic damage has been of material value to several owners of steel-tired wagons, and one important defence--as will appear in due course– is now being hacked by the Executive Committee. The annual parade and prize-scheme, in connection with the Association's programme for the encouragement of careful drivers, was again a success, and cash awards were made to an aggregate of £34 10s. The Association has entered into an agreement of mutual recognition with the Royal Automobile Club, and the text of this was published in our issue of the 26th August. It is now acting in concert with the Commercial Vehicle Committee of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, in reference to matters concerning bridge and dock restrictions. and a beneficial issue to this co-operation will be of unquestioned advantage to all whose interests are in any way affected by motor-borne traffic.
The Society of Road Traction Engineers, in which body we took a considerable interest for a few years, but which passed into other hands during the summer of 1908, seems to have come to a standstill. Certain fatal mistakes were made by those who hailed it, on this journal's ceasing to be the official organ, as a society which " will now be successful." We are sorry that a body with so useltl a scope should have reached the moribund state, whether through neglect or misdirection of policy, in this manner, as its meetings in the sessions of 1905-1906, 1906-1907 and 1907-1908 (early portion) were highly-successful affairs, the papers and discussions good, the attendaneea exeellent, and the society one with some life in its proceedings and doings.
The Petrol Tax.
Our first referenee to the petrol tax was published in the issue of the 6th .May. At that date, before Mr. Lloyd -George had entered into any compact about road improvement, we wrote: " No srich tax can be justified, even as an expedient, except as part of some correlated movement in the direction of national grants for road improvement." Later in the year, in the month of July, we became aware that a real rptid pro pun in the shape of accelerated road improvement was obtainable, and that the commercial-motor owner could not preserve his right to consideration unless he made some contribution ; we strongly urged (issue of the 23rd September) that this musicrate taxation of petrol vehicles was a good bargain, and we see no reason to depart from that view. The Chancellor, as a temporary concession to pressure which was put upon him from many quarters, subsequently promised to rebate this 10. per gallon until the 31st December—a concession which is estimated to be worth ,40,000; it must not be overlooked that 10. per gallon was already secured by the terms of the Finance Bill. A reasonable tax upon axle-weight, • in areurdance with the evidence of the Commercial Motor Users Association before the Royal Commission on the Motor Car Acts, would have been admittedly more equitable ; that basis offers the great advantage of convenient and cheap administration a.ccording to the registration-authority entries.
We firmly believe that the amount of the tax will be recamped to owners, several times over through the improved road conditions which will thereby be hastened by many years in all parts of the country, quite apart from any saving which may he obtained by them in consequence of the incentive to inventors to improve the efficiency of the internal-combustion engine and its fittings. This matter is one which can only be fairly examined with due regard to the future, and to the fact that commercial motors wilt, probably within live. years from the present date, out-number private cars. The tax is not a payment for use of the highway; it is one in consideration of accelerated road improvement. Some petrol is retailing. in London, at 7d. per gallon.
Motoreabs.
London practice continues to set the fashion for the country, although some provincial licencees are able to employ models which do nut comply with Scotland Yard's turning-circle requirement. London opened the year with 2,805 motnrcabs ; it had 3,394 by the end of June, ,950 by the end of August, and it is estimated to have somewhere between 4,350 and 4,400 au the moment. There are now close upon 200 owners in the Metropolitan area. At the beginning of the year, the Chief Commissioner of Police notified that he would require, on and after the lt. February, a front-wheel actuation of the taximeter mechanism, under Regulation 7 of the old schedule, which had been allowed to remain in abeyance, and the whole case for both classes of drive, together with various incidental points, was exhaustively discussed in our issues of the 14th January and the 4th February. The proposal of certain motet-cab-men. that the licensing of drivers Alit-mid be under. teken by the London County Council, which was put before the Home Secretary and the Chief Commissioner, by deputation, on s he 8th February, was not adopted.
When the new taximeter regulations were published, at the end of March. their preparation having taken longer than was anticipated, various important provisions, which necessitated alterations to several of the various types of instrument then in use, and which we summarised in onr lassie of the 1st April, were found to be included, whilst a separate lamp to illuminate the whole of the figures on the dial of the taximeter was made compulsory. About this date, too, the officials of the Public Carriage Department of New Scotland Yard relaxed certain nrbitrary and unnecessary old rules in regard to accidental damage to seals, upon which important subject we published an interesting article in our issue of the 29th April.
A demand for additional stands for taxicabs has asserted itself during the year, but au definite result has yet been SCP11, whilst the Commissioner of Police states that lie has no powers to appoint stands for motorcabs only. Our review of the finances of London's biggest motorcah company will be fonnd in the issue of the 16th inst. Ie. the Provinces, apart from the operation of fleets which. belong to the Provincial Motor Gab Co., Ltd., whose interests are largely identical with those of the General Motor Cab Co., Ltd., there has been 3 not-inconsiderable development of ownership by garage proprietors and livery-stable owners, and good profits are reported from widely-separated centres. The obstructive tactics of local councils have diminished, in deference to public demand and opinion.
General.
The conveyance of motor spirit by road motors has increased; the Petroleum Committee, which has to inquire, inter atia into the parking, storing and transport of motor spirit, is still sitting; the great scheme of Lever Bros., Ltd., for the delivery of all its soap and other products by road motor, is definitely shaping ; front-wheel brakes, as a preventive of skidding, are being specified by an increasing number of purchasers, and they should prove of particular value. to fire brigades; the Ilsc of splashguards upon motorbuses, in order that foot passengers may be protected, is still occupying. the attention of Scotland Yard, but some owners cf vans have fitted these of their own accord; Renard trains have become thoroughly established, as a commercial proposition, during the year, although sales, with few exceptions, have been cone fined to the Colonies and abroad; the use of bell bearings, to increase the efficiency of transmission and to reduce axle friction, all of which has an important bearing upon smoothness of running and fuel consumption, tends to beceme more general in commercial-vehicle practice; various municipal councils have declined to sanction additional expenditure upon horse stables, in anticipation of the early purchase of motor vehicles; the advertisement value of apace on the bodies of' motor vehicles, including the roofs and taillsoards, is still not realized as it should be ; aeroplaning has introduced a new class of customer for motor contractors, owing to the convenience of point-to-point transport; road-tarring ba$ proved to preserve the surface of macadamised roads in wet weather, and to save considerable sums to the ratepayers, whilst there is a tendency, following the recommendations of engineers at the Road Congress of April last, generally to flatten the angles of camber and side-fall; various petrol rail-cars have been described and illustrated by us during the year; the price of indiarubber has been a source of considerable anxiety to tire manufacturers, omnibus companies, and owners of petrol vehicles, but there is every likelihood that the falling rubbermarket will permit a reversion to earlier rates about March.
The New Year.
'1.'111., New Year opens with our recently-published Colonial. issue [The Overseas Special) fresh in the minds of our supporters. It will, two or three weeks from now, be reaching the hands of the majority of the addressees, although other copies, for more-distant parts of the world, will take a little longer. The printing order for this issue was in excess of 10,000 copies. exclusive of the Russian supplement. It so luippens that, as we are going to press with to-day's issue, two letters about it have come in. The first, from our representative in St. Petersburg, who has had entrusted to him the distribution of a little above 1,000 copies of the complete issue together with the supplement, in the Russian language, is to the effect that he is submitting the text to the Government censor, and that everything will be in order for postage on or about the 26th inst., which, as it allnws the Russian. holiday season to he concluded, is strictly in accordance with our programme ; the second, from Mr. F. P. S. Harris, of the Asiatic Petroleum Co., Ltd., informs is that, in accordance with our announcement of the 2nd ult., he has distributed several hundreds of copies of the " Overseas Special " to important and leading houses in the Far East and the Colonies, and to all the agents throughout the world of the Asiatic Petroleum and " Shell" motor-spirit inksrests, inclusive of Egypt, Persia, East and South Africa, India. Indo-China. the Straits Settlements, the Dutch East Indies, Australia. New Zealand, the Philippines. China, Siam, and Japan, and that a letter from him, in regard to the dispatch of these copies, was sent out to each addressee. Thus' as regard.: trade overseas, it cannot be pretended that we have opened' the New Year other than in a manner which is calculated to assist. the industry. We have not fallen into the common error of seeking to inform people in the Colonies about their own local conditions, but have presented, in a concise and authoritative form, by means of text and illustrations, the range ef machines from which they can make their choice according to requirements--of which they are the best judges.
So far a.s home trade is concerned, it may be pointed nut, that two important exhibitions are to be held this year in Lancashire—the county in which so much pioneer work was done in the early days of the Self-Propelled Traffic Association. It will be a pleasure once more to come into personal contact with Lancashire interests, and to point the moral by effective comparisons between conditions ten years ago and those which obtain to-day. We feel confident that many new purchases will be influenced on these occasions, the first of which is only seven weeks ahead. The Manchester Show, of course, will draw visitors from all parts of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire, and it is hela at a time when the inclination to place orders is fully as good as at any ether time of the year, if not better. The success of the 1909 show at Belle Vue will not merely be repeated ; it will be largely exceeded next February.
We do not wish to enter the region of prophecy, with reference to the year 1910, and we will therefore content ourselves by making one statement in reference to it. We believe that the forthcoming year has in store evidences of the conversion of the public at large to the unique advantages which commercial motoring is able to confer upon the United Kingdom, and that the last vestiges of hesitancy, due to doubts in respect of economy and reliability, will disappear before the 31st December next. We do not suggest, any more than we wish to see, a repetition of the harmful boom which occurred in the year 1906, but we have reasons for expressing the opinion that the aggregate of orders that will be placed during 1910 will be at Kest three times as great as was the aggregate for 1906.