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News and Comment.

4th January 1906
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Page 4, 4th January 1906 — News and Comment.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Other weekly journals, which profess to deal with commercial motor subjects, maintain. a discreet silence about their circulation. This journal is officially recognised : its circulation is certified monthly.

This is our first issue for 1906. A bright and prosperous New Year to all our readers.

We have announced our eleventh special issue for the 18th instant, and that FIVE THOUSAND EXTRA COPIES will be circulated, This will be followed, on February isth, by an issue of an entirely novel character. Particulars of our intentions will be given a fortnight hence, and we will merely make the announcement that the issue in question will be known as the " Country Estate and Hotel " number. Again, in order to continue our fulfilment of the promises which were made to supporters of this journal in January last, as many thousand extra copies as can be usetulle placed will be issued by us in suitable wrappers; all of these will be specially and carefully addressed to likely purchasers of commercial motors. We feel called upon to remind the trade that our issues are no "hole and corner" affairs : they get about. An important statement from our business department appears on another page.

The tender of the Yorkshire Patent Steam Wagon Company to supply a 5-ton steam wagon with interchangeable water tank body for the sum of £560 has been accepted by the Norwich Town Council. This is a repeat order.

A Wade and Jones paraffin carburetter is being given a practical trial by the Wolseley Tool and Motorcar Company, Ltd. We understand that the inventors have had very successful results during the past 12 months from this carburetter.

Sidney Straker and Squire, Limited, is the new name under which the several interests of Messrs. Straker and Squire, and the Straker Steam Vehicle Company, Limited, are combined. The new address is Nelson Square, Black. friars Road, London, S.E.

The offices of the Roads Improvement Association, Incorporated, have been changed from 16, Down Street, W., to 1, Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, W., facing St. James's Street. All communications should be directed to the honorary secretary, Mr_ W. Rees Jeffreys, at that address.

An association of motor makers, owners, and dealers has been formed at Copenhagen for the purpose of promoting motorism in Denmark. The secretaryship is undertaken by Eng-it,. r Schmitto, and the main object of the body is to mitigate the severity of Danish motor legislation, which already hampers the industry to a not inconsiderable extent.

At the last meeting of Lambeth Borough Council, the wharf and cleansing committee reported that when the present uncertainty as to the council's tenure of the wharves in Belvedere Road was settled the committee would consider the question of dispensing with contractors and doing its own cartage work in the six inner wards. The question of horse versus motor traction, in this connection, would be fully enquired into and reported upon,

Mr. Douglas Mackenzie, A.M.Inst.Mech.E., of 86, Strand, W.C., has been successful in bringing to a mutually agreeable settlement, during the past few weeks, two interesting cases of dispute between purchasers and makers of heavy motor wagons. Without entering into details, we may say that each case furnishes an example of how users soilietimes raise difficulties and objections which can be easily smoothed away by the intervention of a third party. The third annual report of the Road Carrying Company, Limited, of Liverpool, shows a marked improvement. The company has been almost exclusively occupied during the last two years in developing its light car department, and now holds the sole district agencies for the Richard-Brasier, Argyll, and Germain cars. The Hon. Arthur Stanley, 111 P , who was chairman of the company, on his resigning prior to his election as chairman of the A.C.G.B. and L, was succeeded by Mr. T. Thornycroft Vernon. We understand that the resumption of the heavy traffic service in Lancashire is in contemplation, but that motor omnibus developments are to be anticipated at an earlier date.

An important case of withdrawal of an action for alleged road damage by motor wagon traffic is reported on page 34z of this issue.

Owners and drivers of commercial motors, whether propelled by steam or internal combustion engines, should take particular care, during the next few months, especially where the vehicles are stored in the open overnight, to draw off all water from the supply pipes and pumps. Small drain cocks should also be fitted at the lowest points of the systems, in order to enable this precautionary measure to be observed with the least trouble.

The secretary of the Motor Van and Wagon Users' Association, 111r. \V. Rees Jeffreys, is about to circularise the whole of the known users of commercial motors in the United Kingdom, to draw attention to the advantages of membership of this body. This is the right time of year for new members to come in, and those of our readers who do not already belong to this excellent organisation should study their own interests by remitting the necessary annual subscription of one guinea without delay, The Vienna Town Council has sanctioned the transformation of three carbonic acid fire-engines into motors, also the acquisition of a motor wagon and batteries, at a total cost of A,2,712. Messrs. Caffyn Brothers are abaut to open a new garage and workshops on the Marine Parade, Eastbourne. There will be accommodation for loo cars, and the proprietors intend to undertake the maintenance of commercial vans. A committee of the Leith Town Council suggests that heavy traffic in the burgh may possibly have some injurious effects upon tramway rails. The worthy committeemen apparently forget that these rails have a distinctly bad effect upon all motor vehicles, and they should be reminded of the extra wear and tear arising from this cause. The boot is certainly on the other foot.

The Metropolitan Fare Register Company, Limited, was recently registered with an authorised capital of ..'"ioo,000 in .4,-1 shares, of which 20,000 are founders' shares. The object is to introduce the taxameter into Great Britain, for the purpose of registering, calculating, or checking fares for cabs, carriages, carts, cars, motors, or vehicles of any kind, etc., etc. Power is also taken to manufacture machines, and to become proprietors of all classes of vehicles. The registered office is at 3, East India Avenue, E.C. A scheme for the establishment of a Central Essex Light Railway Company appears to be in an advanced stage of preparation. It is designed to link up the Colne Valley Railway, from Castle liedinghatu, with the Great Eastern Railway at Ongar, passing through Dunmow, Aythorp Roding, Abbot Rotting, and Fyfieht, a total distance of about 28:i miles. The scheme is in the hands of Mr. E. W. I. Peterson, of 56, I.incoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., mind it is estimated that an annual charge of only £55,000 will be absorbed by interest on capital. It is pointed out that the chief revenue will be produced by goods traffic, and that from Hedingham Station alone there is a very heavy brick and coal traffic. Havingregard to the close proximity of main line stations to all parts of the Colne Valley, and the success which has already been achieved by motorwagon transport, e.g., at Brandsby (Yorkshire) and Stanford Bridge (Worcestershire), we think that the promoters, as much as the Great Eastern Railway Company, might usefully turn their attention to the introduction of mechanical road transport, instead of pursuing the scheme now in contemplation to meet the needs of the district.

The following are the additional appointments to date of solicitors to the Motor Union of Great Britain and Ireland. The previous lists appeared in our issues of November 23rd and 3oth Basil A Dyer.

Taylor and Smith, 20, II igh Street.

K. W. Greene (Messrs. Green and Greene).

H. G. Steayensan (Messrs. Steavenson, Sons, and Plant). IL Chamberlain, 13, Queen Street. W. Hubert Nutt, Walden Lodge, Wood Lane, Highgate. L. H. Vulliamy, 1, Great Colman Street.

Edgar Ratcliffe, Lind Street, Ryde. H. E. Stratton, 31, Pyle Street, Newport.

Hamilton Fulton, P. Burke (Burke and Picket-in). R. Greening, Roupell Park.

J. Crew Wood (Townsend, Jones, and Wood).

1. Bromet (Bromet and Sons).

E. T. Alms, 1, Church Square. labershon (Watts and Habershon), 29 and 30, Green's End.

John Mayo (Mayo & Son), Church Street.

Messrs. Alfred J. Boult, Harold Wade, 13. E. Dunbar Kilburn, and Wm. Jno. Teenant, announce that the partner_ ship that has for some years past been carried on by them as chartered patent agents, at ITT and 112, Hatton Garden, E.C., has been dissolved by mutual consent, as from December 31st. Messrs. Boult, Wade and Tennant wilI continue to practice in partnership, at the same address, under the style of Boult, Wade and Tennant, whilst Mr. Kilburn will carry on practice at Chancery Lane Station Chambers.

We learn from the N. K. Handelsministerium, of Vienna, that the postal authorities there will shortly give a trial to a number of makes for the service. At the time of writing the vans are in building to special specification.

The International Automobile Exhibition at Budapest next April, to which brief allusion was made in our last issue, will be on a most comprehensive scale, embracing all classes of self-propelled vehicles and apparatus for power purposes. Entries will be received, up to February 13th, by the executive committee of the Exhibition, Budapest VI., Andrassy-ut lo, but no exhibits can be accepted before March i5th or after March 26th. Entries must be on prescribed forms, obtainable on application to the executive conunittee. The floor-space will be let at Li os. tad. per square metre; wall-space at 12s. 6d. The cost of a wooden stand about six inches high is included in the first charge.

The engineer of the \Villesden Urban District Council reported on Monday that, owing to the building of large commercial motor garages at Cricklewood, with storage accommodation for a large quantity of petrol, it was necessary that a fire alarm post should be fixed in the vicinity. Arrangements had been made by the fire brigade committee whereby he (the engineer) was authorised to enter into negotiations with the General Post Office for the fixture of a tire alarm post near the London General Omnibus Company's stables in the Edgware Road. The Cricklewood and District Improvements Association recently wrote to the Willesden District Council asking that body to oppose the proposed construction of tramways from Cricklewood to Marble Arch, "as the needs of the neighbourhood are adequately served by motor omnibuses." It was also pointed out that a tube railway would be preferable to tramways. In a report issued on Monday by the works committee of the council, it was stated that a reply had been forwarded to the association to the effect that the council had already conditionally approved of the tramway scheme.

Our contemporary, "The Motor Boat," which ante-dates this journal by eight months, opens the New Year under the editorial charge of our old friend Mr. R. G. L. Markham. The searching nature of the training through which an engineer-lieutenant in the Royal Navy has to pass, must be well known to many who are associated with the motor industry, and this is only one direction in which Mr. Markham has gained experience which should now prove of the greatest value to his charge and the motor-boat movement generally. After resigning from the Royal Navy, Mr. Markham was for several years on the staff of John 1. Thornycroft and Company, Limited, from which connection he only took his leave for work that will now provide greater scope for the exercise of his technical and literary abilities. Mr. Markham is a M.Inst.Mech.E., and holds a first-class Board of Trade (Engineers) certificate. His joining the staff of " The Motor Boat" coincides with departures of striking interest in its conduct and pages : particulars of these will be found in early numbers of that journal. The postmaster and surveyor of Liverpool, Mr. F. Salisbury, was one of the first to advocate the employment of motor vehicles for the conveyance of mails and parcels. He represented the Postmaster-General at the first Liverpool trials (1898), and the inception of the successful LiverpoolManchester motor parcel mail was largely due to his efforts, fps latest step was the hiring of a James and Browne 9itlep. van from Messrs. J. Blake and Company, of Beaumont Street, Liverpool, for the collection of Christmas postings, from wall and pillar boxes, during a period of six days. We quote from the " Liverpool Daily Post and Mer

cury" as regards the work accomplished The full per formances of the van may now be recorded, as a new era in rapid collection and circulation has been opened. This van did the work of three and a half spring carts, and did it better and quicker, collecting the parcels daily from twenty one sub-offices. On Sunday the van cleared twenty-seven street boxes, two men thus accomplishing what twenty-twe perform on foot. Incidentally, the van relieved a horse van which had come to a standstill, and it is pleasing to note that in the transfer of the mails a police constable lent in valuable assistance. The motor van, despite this delay, arrived in Victoria Street half an hour ahead of the scheduled time of the horse cart. Filially, to give the motor van a chance of eclipsing ail records, it was sent out with deliveries respectively to Garston and Blundelisands. These were accomplished in as short a period as the Motor Act permitted." On Friday last the Berlin Polizeipresidium passed for • traffic a number of new motor cabs, buiit on the pattern of London cabs by the Internationale Automobil-Zentrale. They are elegantly and comfortably fitted up. A simple arrangement enables the fare to close or half open the cab, according to the state of the weather and his own inclinations, and this is likely to secure increased popularity.

The trial of motor cabs, which took place in Paris shortly before the close of the recent exhibition, attracted considerable attention. The vehicles entered included only one steam car, compared with ten propelled by electricity, and ie by internal combustion engines. The trial was over a course, through the French capital, of 62.14 miles, and the first vehicle to complete the round was one constructed by Messrs. Delaugere and Clayette, of Orleans. This vehicle maintained an average of about 18 miles an hour, notwithstanding the greasiness of the streets during the run. The next vehicles in order were an Ader (3hr. 46min.); and a De Dietrich (3hr. 46imin.). The first electric vehicle to complete the journey, a Krieger, took 4hr. 25imin. The awards were made with regard to—(a) reliability of running and mechanism ; (h) fuel consumption; and (c) appearance and comfort of body. Tyre troubles were not recorded against any vehicles, but all involuntary stops, which were reckoned to include re-charging of batteries in the case of electric vehicles, were counted adversely to the performance : petrol cars were not allowed to refill their tanks after starting. The awards proved to be as follows :—Electric vehicles : gold medal and J.C4o—A Vedrine. Silver-gilt medal and 4'2o—Compagnie Francaise. Silver medals—Krieger and Societe Anonyme L'Electrique. Petrol vehicles : gold medal and £4o—Aries. Silver-gilt medal and £2o—Autonioto. Silver medals—Aries, De Dion-I3outon, De Dietrich, Ader, Delaugere-Clayette, and Brouhot. Diploma of the Automobile Club of France—Pilain, Vinot and Deguingand, Gladiator, Desmarais and Morane, La Ruin!, Florentia, Decauville, Clement, and Societe Anonyme Le Electrique. The single steam vehicle entered (an Oldsmobile) did not take part in the day's trial.


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