The Parade.
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Ii is little more than eight weeks to the Coronation Motor Parade. Owners who desire to support this big event are invited to note that fact. Full and official particulars of the conditions, together with the lists of special prizes which have been offered to date, are published in our pages this week. The growth of the C. ALIT. A. parade, year by year, since 1907, has, in spite of the antagonism of a professional opposition, been consistent and uninterrupted. This irresistible advance, of course, has been due to the fact that all important owners and users are on its side.
We have not included, in our official reprint of the particulars and rules, the reproduction of the challenge cup for award in the " team " section, which cup was presented last year by the proprietors of this journal. We have also thought it unnecessary to reproduce in detail the official entry form, seeing that this form provides spaces for the furnishing of information which is of a. simple character, and which should place no burden whatever upon intending competitors. Only in the case of drivers who have decided to enter for the " championship " prizes is it stipulated that much data should be supplied by owners. It may be added, that additional copies, both of the official particulars and the entry form, can he had on application to the Secretary.
This Year's Royal Show.
The entries in the Implement Section, for this year's Show at Norwich, again include a representative number of agricultural motors, commerciid-motor vehicles, tractors and allied exhibits. The " Royal " has for very many years enjoyed the suppoi:t in person of our Kings, and it is neither a surprise nor a novelty to us that King George should follow oldestablished precedent in keeping the Wednesday of Royal Show week sufficiently free for a visit to Norwich. It may be recalled that at Gloucester, which was the last of these shows to be visited by King Edward VII, the Royal patron and his entourage spent a not-inconsiderable time in looking at the agricultural motors. This year, with new and effective models on the ground, and with the certainty of a large influx of Colonial estate owners and wealthy farmers in addition, even-greater interest is likely to be taken in the section under notice. Having regard to the thorough manner in which all Royal Shows have been reported by us since the year 1903, our readers can rely upon the publication of adequate notices, both in advance and from the show-yard. Last week's issue, for example, gave particulars and illustrations of two All-British internal-combustion tractor models—the Marshall and the Petter, whilst the newest steam model, by Garrett, was fully described a fortnight earlier. Other practical developments will soon demand attention in our pages.
A Pull All Together About Roads.
We cordially welcome the satisfactory progress which is being made towards the formation of a. National Automobile Council, upon which it is proposed that these bodies should be represented :— Automobile Association and Motor Union.
Auto-Cycle Union.
Commercial Motor Users Association.
Institution of Automobile Engineers.
Irish Automobile Club.
R.A.C. and Associated Clubs.
Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Scottish Automobile Club.
The Motor Cab Proprietors Association. It is not fully appreciated, we fear, that the in
terests of owners of private and commercial motors touch or overlap at many points. These features of common interest assert themselves with increasing force each month, and we shudder to think of the parlous, if not hopeless, situation of the commercial owner of a. petrol vehicle to-day, qua negotiation for and the obtaining of reasonable treatment on highway and traffic questions, were it not for his petroltax right to raise his voice in the councils of the movement. Steam, of course, will soon have to fall into line : one proposal is les. per annum per ton of registered axle-weight. The locus to justify a quid pro quo is all important, and some contribution is essential to the securing of the vital strategical vantage-ground from and upon which alone can certain well-founded attacks be resisted with success. We have given warning of this probability for more than two years ; the day of its taking effect cannot be deferred for more than about. another 12 months. There is, however, no occasion for nervous apprehension on the part of owners, new buyers, or constructors. The National Automobile Council will probably have remitted to it consideration of the inter-related matters of legislation and taxation it will, then, he in a responsible position to confer with the Government, the Treasury and the Road Board. The outlook for a close and early working basis—for a real measure of understanding—between road makers and road users is brighter at the moment than it has ever been before. There is, at last, a consensus of opinion that trunk roads must be strengthened forthwith, and that other roads must not be wholly neglected.