News of the Week.
Page 4
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
We hope to be able to announce next week the decision of the Automobile Club relative to the holding of van trials.
Messrs. J. W. Brooke and Co., Ltd., of Adrian Iron Works, Lowestoft, are completing a 2oh.p. char-a-bane for shipment to Bombay.
The Provinciai Carriers, Ltd., of Salisbury House, E.C., and Horseferry Road, NVestminster, S.W., are the contractors for the Royal Mail parcel service between Mount Pleasant and Redhill (Surrey). The original threecylinder Durkopp car was recently taken off the service and replaced by another of the same make but of greater engine power.
The Industrial Trials which are being organised by the Automobile Club de France for August next are receiving general support from municipalilies on the lines' of route. "lhe Rouen Town Council on Friday last sanctioned a scheme of reception and fetes. The German Automobile Club is proving equally energetic in respect of the preliminary errangements for their commercial vehicle trials.
The site for the new Argyll works was decided upon only after fierce competition between several towns to secure so desirable an advent to their midst. The directors of Argyll Motors, Ltd., have experienced the pleasures of being run after, and have obtained the land upon terms that are almost equal to the allurements offered by American or Canadian townships when a new factory is about to be erected. We know that both manufacturers and landowners are benefited by such mutual arrangements. Alexandria, in the Vale of Leven, is the favoured spot.
Recent additions to the membership of the Motor Van and Wagon Users' Association are :—E. G. Pamphlin, Cherrylinton, Cambridge ; H. Edwards, Hartford Bridge, Hants; Bernard Metz, 3, Great Winchester Street, E.C. ; Eley Bros.. Ltd., 254, Gray's Inn Road, W.C. ; C. H. Witherington and Sons, Sonning Mills, Reading ; Lucas and Co., Ltd., The Brewery, Leamington ; W. H. Willcox and Co., Ltd., 23, Southwark Street, S.E.; J. A. Sturton, Ltd., 119, Fitzroy Street, Cambridge; Cunningham, Forbes, and Co., Fleet, Hants; G. A. Parsons, The Palmer Tyre, Ltd., London ; Savage Bros., Ltd., King's Lynn.
Our next issue will be a special one and largely devoted to the use of motors in the brewing trade.
The Commissioners of Income Tax have withdrawn their claim on the Car and General Insurance Corporation in respect of the amounts carried to reserve at the end of 1904, against unexpired liability under policies.
The Liverpool Show of 1906 will be held in the Torrey-Alexander Mission building on the old Edge Lane Hall estate. It will be remembered that this structure was used for the Royal Military Tournament, at Hulme Barracks, Manchester, whence it was removed some months ago. The position is better than the one used last month.
In Staffordshire the Inspectors of weights and measures have been appointed as the " officers " under the Heavy Motor Car Order to verify the unladen weights and the axleweights of commercial motors.
The L. and N.W. Ry. are developing the use of motor wagons to feed their main lines. The latest addition to. their plant is a Foden 5-ton vehicle which was put to a most severe test on delivery last week. This consisted of a climb from Holywell Station to the warehouse of Messrs. Edwards and Lloyd in the town of Holywell, a distance of nearly two miles. This hill has a gradient of i in 7 for the last quarter mile.
The Stockton Chamber of Agriculture met on the 29th of March and passed two resolutions of such an opposite nature as to make the average man in the street wonder if some of these worthy gentlemen ever trouble to read with their own eyes or prefer to jump to conclusions because their prejudiced minds guide them against all commonsense reasoning. The first resolution was to support " the lessening of the duty upon spirit made from home-grown produce for industrial and manufacturing purposes." With this we are in the fullest accord, and this is the sort of matter which it behoves every agricultural society to consider. The second resolution has no point unless it refers to trailers. It reads : " That this meeting protests against vehicles to carry three tons being only required to have 3in. wheels and urges that the weights and speeds of the vehicles should be plainly painted on both sides of all vehicles."
The April issue of the " Grocers' Monthly " contains a long and appreciative reference to motor van delivery and a reproduction of an illustration from our first number.
The Car and General Insurance Corporation have moved to the ground floor of 1, Queen Victoria Street, E.C., next door to the Mansion House, where a large business in commercial motor insurances is being transacted.
The London County Council appear to be taking fright at the growth of the motor-omnibus movement and are adopting measures to support the extension of their tramways system against the fresh difficulties which now confront them.
The Glasgow authorities are very particular over the registration of heavy motorcars under the new Order. 561k weights to the number necessary to equal the maximum load are spaced out over the platform of any vehicle submitted in order to check the declared axle weights.
The Parsons Motor Co., Ltd., of Town Quay, Southampton, are bringing through a number of light delivery vans for early delivery. The capacity is from five to seven cwt., for which 45 cubic feet of space is provided, and the cost only £195. The design is good and manipulation simple.
The Metropolitan Water Board have approved the expenditure of a sum not exceeding 700 on the purchase of a motorcar for their chief engineer. It is estimated that this officer's outside duties will be encompassed in one-third the time that must be occupied by any other means of locomotion.
The Coventry Motor Fittings Co., Lower Ford Street, Coventry, have laid themselves out to meet the growing demand for their fittings used on commercial vehicles, such as radiators from 12h.p. to soh.p., fuel and water tanks, bonnets, lubricators of every description, water pumps, etc., and will be pleased to quote for any of their manufacturers on receipt of particulars.
At the sixth annual general meeting of the British Moss Litter Company, Limited, it was stated by the chairman that the wide introduction of electric trams had not reduced their sales into the very areas where tram horses had been abandoned. He regarded that as a sign that horses were being put to other uses, and viewed the advent of motor omnibuses with equanimity.
Ridlwa) companies which have adopted motor coaches are finding the traffic most satisfactory. Coaches built to carry seventy passengers frequently have two hundred crowded into them, and the manner in which the new facilities have created a demand is positively astounding to all concerned. Such a result augurs well for public passenger services on common roads where picking up and setting down can be done much more conveniently than at level crossings.
The Heavy Motor Car Order provides a maximum tare of five tons, but wagons weighing between five and seven tons if registered before the ist September last are specially exempted, and are permitted to run upon the roads on receiving a certificate from the local authority. One hard case has recently come to the notice of the Secretary of the Motor Van and Wagon Users' Association, in which a wagon weighing over five tons was registered on tsse sth September, or five days after the limit provided in the regulations. Unless the owner can manage to bring the weight within the 5-ton limit, the only course open to him if he wishes to use the wagon will be to run it as a traction engine under the Locomotives Act of 1898.
One of the quaintest requests that we have ever happened upon was recently made by the up-to-date, go-ahead and bustling (?) Town Council of Welshpool. Messrs. PryceJones, Ltd., are large manufacturers of flannel and linen goods and for the purposes of their business employ a motor van to run into Welshpool for the six working days each week. Monday happens to be the busiest of the six for the local tradesman, and numbers of farmers drive in to market, etc. Some of the young horses, not being educated to look calmly upon motors, have shied upon the appearance of the Pryce-Jones vehicle. Consequently the Town Council have requested the owners of the motor van to cease running upon Mondays ! ! Doubtless Messrs. Pryce-Jones, Ltd., will be happy to sacrifice a sixth of their van's earning powers because an accident has " nearly " happened. The Worthing Town Council have taken exception to the running of motor omnibuses on Sundays and state that a service on that day constitutes a breach of the terms upon which the local company received its license.
Horse haulage in America is from two to three times as costly as in England. The manager of a large store in New York states that it is customary to reckon ,4-5 a week per horse owned as the inclusive cost, which compares with a week in London for similar work.
One of the latest road services of the Great Western Railway was initiated on Friday last between St. Austell and St. Dennis in Cornwall. The principal West of England officials of the company, together with some leading local+ residents, took part in the opening trip. The distance of seven miles is timed for 45 minutes.
One or two cases have just come under our notice of police activity in respect to the rear lights on trailers. This is a matter which does not receive all the attention it deserves from owners, and from some of the makeshift arrangements we have seen we are not surprised that the authorities concerned are taking action. Lamps and brackets are cheap enough compared with the cost of a motor wagon.
The Chairman of the Highways Committee of the London County Council circularised the daily Press last week as to disputed figures of tram working for the years 1900-19oi. Mr. Richard S. Tilling sent out a reply on Monday, April 3rd, and the point he emphasises is that a loss was shown on the working of the southern system during 1902-3 of ,,C2,200, and L8,200 in 1903-4. The L.C.C. does not appear to have made any provision for depreciation and renewal during the five years 1900-1904, except a modest E, i,000 in respect of 1903.