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A large number of tramcar services had to be suspended during the recent snowy weather, and the same may be said of certain motorbus services, although the former mode of transport suffered the more severely.
Silent Straker-Squires.
The quiet running of the StrakerSquire motorbuses in London has been specially noticeable during the.last few months, and we feel that we may well congratulate Mr. George Pollard, M.I.Mech.E., the chief engineer of the London Road Car Company, Limited, upon the excellent manner in which his maintenance department has turned the vehicles out.
"The Triumph of the Motorbus."
The Daily Telegraph," in its issue of the 3oth ultimo, graciously acknowledged that " the motorbus did not stiffer to any great extent; indeed, yesterday saw the triumph of mechanical locomotion, though the progress even of these buses was naturally slow all through the City." This is praise indeed, but nobody could be blind to the facts as they were presented in the streets of London on the occasion named, when a very large proportion of the horse-omnibus services had to be suspended, and when six horses struggled vainly to pull a two-ton van. We make other references to this matter of snow-proof commercial motors on page 354, whilst one of the artists who is well known to readers of our sister journal " The Motor " has made pictorial representation of the circumstances in accordance with the reproduction on this page, for which we are indebted to the Editors of the journal named.
London Electrobus Company.
Sir Henry E. Dering, Bart., presided at the second annual general meeting of the London Electrobus Company, Limited, on the 28th ultimo, when the report of the directors, for the period of fifteen months ended the lath October last was presented and adopted. We dealt fully, in our issue of the 26th November last, with the receipts and expenditure, and it now remains only to point out that the accounts have been presented to a date prior to the offer of the j.'5o,nao of debenture stock.
Apart from this debenture stock, arrangements for the subscription of the whole of which we understand have just been completed, the company's issued capital amounts to £70,910, and sundry creditors stand at ;66,127. The company's promotion difficulties are reflected in the item of " Preliminary and capital issue expenses," amounting to L19,782, on the asset side of the balance sheet.
Feeling the Pinch.
The London United Tramways, Limited, in a circular dated the 31st ultimo, announces that only a payment on account of the balance of the five per cent, cumulative preference dividend is thought to be expedient, holders of these shares having, at least for the time being, to go short to the extent of II per cent, for the year. The circular states that " the company has had to encounter severe competition, which has seriously interfered with the growth of traffic on the main routes," but it pro-ceeds to express the view that the balance of the dividend will shortly be forthcoming. Overlapping by motorbuses along the Uxbridge Road is not relished.
A Modest Undertaking.
The Hawick and Judburgh Motor Car Company, Limittd, has been registered, in Edinburgh, with an authorised capital of 4350 irt shares, to carry on the business of proprietors of motor omnibuses and other public and private conveyances.
A Legal Combination.
Messrs. Hicks, Davis and Hunt, solicitors, of Lennox [louse, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C., notify us that they have taken into partnership Mr. W. Tyndale Moore, Iyho has for upwards of 30 years practised as a solicitor in the City of London, and that the two practices will be conjointly carried on, under the style of JoynsonHicks, Hunt, Moore and Cardew, at the foregoing address.
To dmorden Results.
The Todmorden motorbus service, during the month of November, showed receipts amounting to i;313 I6s., and a working expenditure of i7s. This exhibits considerable improvement over the corresponding month of the previous rear, and a more hopeful view of the case is now being taken in this Yorkshire town, where it is more generally admitted that the convenience of such a public service is bound to cost something, and that a tramway undertaking would have involved the ratepayers in a much heavier loss.
Competition at Torquay.
The Torquay Motor Bus Company had, at the beginning of the present winter, to withdraw its vehicles, owing to the insufficiency of traffic to support both itself and the tramway undertaking. About half the traffic went to the tramcars when a new route was opened, and the local omnibus company in question was unable to bear the losses involved by the excess provision of travelling facilities.
Road Car Debentures.
The holders of debentures in the London Road Car Company, Limited, are now receiving interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum, instead of four per cent., and a circular letter has informed them that the joint working of the three companies, which are parties to the amalgamation, has, since the ist July, 1908, resulted, in largelyincreased receipts, whilst great reductions in expenditure have been effected.
Motorvan Races Motorbus.
A motorvan carrying His Majesty's mails, and a motorbus, were seen racing in the High Road, Ilford, a short time ago, and an ex-Chairman of the Ilford District Council, Mr. T. Philpot, j.P., lodged a complaint with the secretary to the Post Office. It is a novelty for a motorbus driver to have anybody else blamed but himself, and we are interested to observe that the complainant has received a letter in which it is stated that the driver of the van has been severely dealt with by the contractors.
Comparative Charts.
We present to our readers, for the first time, with this issue, a series of plotted totals based upon the records which have been carefully kept by this journal since the beginning of the year 1905. These exclusive records of motorbuses " in commission " have, we know, been much appreciated by supporters of "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR." hut, as we have several times acknowledged, it latterly became increasingly difficult for our checkers to know actly when to remove from the effective lists vehicles which were taken from service, as our practice has at all time been not to reduce the totals until we were thoroughly satisfied either that a particular vehicle had been permanently withdrawn, or that its license plate had been deposited with the Public Carriage authorities at Scotland Yard. Mr. Herbert Samuel, in reply to a question in the House of Commons on the 4th November last, confirmed the accuracy of our records at that date, since when there has been a considerable further withdrawal of vehicles. In respect of these withdrawals, which aggregate a net total of r31 vehicles, we now have official confirmation that the license plates have been received at Scotland Yard, in consequence of which, as compared with our last published figures, the New Year starts with a relative decrease of vehicles " in commission " of 120. Future figures will be official.
Local residents are holding meetings of protest against the action of the Cardiff Corporation in refusing its sanction to the motorbus service between Llandaff and Cardiff.
Tramcar versus Motorbus.
A case of more than passing interest was heard at iho East Ham .police Court, on Tuesday of last week, when George James Woodruffe, a motorbus driver, was summoned at the instance of the local tramways manager for " recklessly driving a London General motorbus.;' A police constable stated that the bus was running alongside a tramcar in the Romford Road, on the off-side of the tram, when the defendant suddenly turned his vehicle in front of the car, with the result that the car ran into it, Two passengers in the tramcar bore cut the evidence of the constable, and stated that the busman turned in without any warning whatever.
For the defence, the driver of the bus maintained that the driver of the train never gave him a chance, but.
after he had gone to the off-side while it was picking up passengers, kept. side by side with him. He tried several times to get to the near-side, but when he slackened up the driver of the car did exactly the same thing, and when he increasedthe speed to try to pass the car the tram driver also put on speed and thus " nursed " him. A horse and van was coming towards him, and he :igain put on speed to try to draw to the nenr-skle, with die result that, when he had almost passed the ear, he was hit by the tram from behind, Corroborative evidence was given by three of the motorbus passengers, but a fine of ms. with -.(.1
costs was imposed.
The case appears r0 us to be one of extraordinary hardship for the bus driver.
Shares and Traffics.
.‘monp.,....t the changes which, for the New Year, we are introducing into the arrangement of the contents of this journal, those which concern Greater London's passenger transport cannot fail to be of interest to our supporters. Whilst we are not able to secure in formation about traffic in all cases, it is certain that the accompanying table, which will continue to appear weekly, will show in a condensed form the various movements in all classes of passenger transport which have previously been included, to which the motorcab companies for whose shares quotations are obtainable on the Stock Exchange are now added,
Traffic Department in London.
SERVICE No. 5. As we have anticipated for the past few months, the London Central Omnibus Company, Limited, has not been allowed to retain undisputed possession of the pro6table route it has adopted from Chalk Farm (via Kingsway) to Camberwell, On New Year's Eve, 16 four-speed de Dions, from the Mortlake yards of the London General Omnibus Company, were placed on this route, in opposition to the Central machines. In reply to this development, only a few of the latter vehicles now make the complete journey to Camberwell ; the remainder turn round at Waterloo, in order to keep the intermediate portion of the route well covered.