The Polack Tyre Company, of which Mr. F. Poppe is
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English manager, is now' established in its new and more commodious premises at 31-34, Basing. hall Street, E.C.
The Limerick Omnibus Company, Limited, of Limerick, Ireland, has been registered with an authorised capital of 4.5oci in .4'1 shares, It will not, obviously, operate very widely.
It is interesting to note, in view of the number of omnibuses for which the Metropolitan police have delayed the licenses, that the Lancashire Steam Motor Company, Limited, has succeeded in getting its omnibus passed without any material difficulty.
The lost mileage at Torquay, where Chelmsford steam motorbuses are exclusively used by the local company, was 3 per cent. for the first year, iper cent, for the second year, and 0.98 per cent. for the third year, in a total mileage of 296,440. The inclusive working post has diminished from 11.19d. per mile to 8.88d. per mile.
"The South American Journal" reports that the Bahia Blanca and NorthWestern Railway, and other South American enterprises, are contemplating giving their customers auxiliary motorbus services at various points. Amongst these may be mentioned the Mexican Railway Company, whilst the Buenos Ayres and Pacific Railway already uses four Scott-Stirling vehicles.
The Great Eastern London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, whose registered office is at Moorgate Station Chambers, E.C., and whose chairman is Sir Thomas D. Pile, Bart., has declared aninterim dividend, for the halfyear ending September 30th last, at the rate of in per cent. per annum upon its ordinary shares. As a matter of fact, the amount of the dividend per share will be only dd., the dotes on which the calls were paid having been taken into account.
Mr. J. S. Smith-Winby, the Chair. man of the Darracq-Serpollet Omnibus Company, Limited, in presiding at the annual meeting of A. Darracq and Company, Limited, expressed regret that the former undertaking had not been registered as the Darracq-Serpollet Manufacturing, or Construction, Company, Limited, because its operations will be by no means confined to the manufacture of motor omnibuses. Mr. Smith-Winby proceeded to state that the new factory, now in course of erection at Suresnes, would turn out all types of heavy vehicles, such as lorries, military wagons and delivery vans, for which, he claimed, the Serpollet steam system was thoroughly advantageous.
Mr. Campbell-Swinton's paper will be read on the 17th instant.
The promoters of motor-oninibus enterprise in the Harrogate district have, for some time past, been endeavouring to obtain a three years' license from the Town Council, but any such guarantee has not been forthcoming. It is now reported, by the " Yorkshire Daily Observer," that several local gentlemen, including the Lord Mayor of Leeds, intend to proceed with the introduction of services, notwithstanding the imposition of the usual yearly license.
The first so motorbuses of the Gearless Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, whose registered office is at 17, Waterloo Place, S.W., and which company is under the managership of Mr. W. 0. Spitler, will be accommodated in a new building at Lothian Road, Camberwell New Road, SE., where the work is now being executed by Messrs. Patman and Fotheringham, of Park Street, Islington., N., in conformity with Mr. Spiller's requirements; the new 'building will be completed in less than five weeks.
A third motorbus line was opened in Berlin on the 29th ulthno under inauspicious circumstances, one of the vehicles skidding and colliding violently with a horsed omnibus. Three persons were slightly injured, and both omnibuses had to be temporarily withdrawn from service in consequence of their damaged state. The accident appears to have been caused more by tramcar points than by the greasy asphalt; a wheel of the motorbus stuck in the groove, and the vehicle slewed round suddenly. The new line connects Billowstrasse with Strausberger Platz, Fulham Borough Council has agreed with the London General Omnibus Company, Ltd., the London Road Car Company, Limited, the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited (" Vanguard" services), and the London and District Motor Bus Company, Limited, ("Arrow" services) to accept one-half of the cost of reinstating any street lamps knocked down or damaged by motor omnibuses belonging to them. The Law Committee of the Council, in a report circulated on Monday last, stated that, on claims being made in the past against the companies, the managements had contended that they were not responsible, as there was no negligence on the part of their servants; that the accidents were caused by skidding due to the greasy state of the roads; and that they could not prevent skidding. The committee had been advised by the Town Clerk that, to succeed in an action against an operating company, it would have to prove negligence on the part of the company or its servants, which would be very difficult, especially in cases where the accident was due to skidding. 'rhe Council could recover from the person actually driving the omnibus without proving negligence, but he was generally a servant on weekly wages, and, on the whole, the committee considered it was more expedient for the Council to accept half in settlement from the companies.
A Miss Alice Lilian Shipway, aged 23 years, whose father was killed as the result of an accident to a cab in which he was being driven in March last, when one of the "Arrow " motorbuses struck the vehicle, as it was crossing Regent Street towards Jermyn Street, was awarded Zicso damages, by Mr. Justice Bueknill and a common jury, on Friday last, against the London and District Motor Bus Company, Limited. The defence was that the cab crossed the road suddenly, and that it was impossible to stop the omnibus in time to avoid the collision.
Motorbus traffic in Munich was, officially, opened with four vehicles on November 18th. They run between two squares known as the Odeonsplatz and the Marienplatz without stopping to pick up passengers on the road, nor do may people alight while the vehicles are in motion. Their average speed comes out at some nine miles an hour. Only three buses work the service, the fourth being held in reserve, During the first three days, 13,952 passengers were carried, gross receipts amounting
to about Each bus makes óo journeys daily. The service is intended to connect up the existing tramcar system at various points.
A carman and contractor, named Richard Markham, endeavoured to recover .543, as compsenation for personal injuries, from the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, at the Southwark County Court, on Monday last. The plaintiff's story was to the effect that, as he was crossing in front of a stationary "Vanguard," in the New Kent Road, the motorbus suddenly started without any warning, struck him in the back, and threw him across the tramlines. The driver stated that the plaintiff, deliberately, walked in front of the bus, after it had started, and stormed dead : he (the driver) called Markham "a wicked old villain," and threatened to give him in charge. The jury stopped the case, and his Honour, in aiving judgment for the defendants, with costs, ordered that the documents should be impounded.