News and Comment.
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
This journal is extensively read by the heads of many wealthy commercial houses. acrawAssise.;—.4srar"4""''''''''''''''''''"tse.o.s‘wds,sr,sz:-.7ase‘sweie r A summary of the results of last month's agrimotor trials at Winnipeg is given on page 521.
Our promised further references to the show of the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society, together with photographs, will be found on pages 518 to 520.
Our own correspondent in Paris is responsible for the further reference to the recently-concluded subvention trials of the French Government—pages 508 and 509.
The War Office Subvention Trials were formally initiated on Tuesday last. We have not space at our disposal this week to give more than a brief outline of the programme of the tests so far as they are available—page 507.
Topical Subjects.
Our leading articles this week deal with the following topical subjects: (1) "The use of coupled electric cars and trailer cars in London ; " (2) "The need for traffic committees ; " (3) "Are increased prices justified?" and (4) "The first British Subvention Trials."
We are Discovered,
Our genial contemoorary, Electrical Industries," quotes:—
" Celebrities and their Hobbies.—` It has afforded us much pleasure to bear our share in the fight against trailer and coupled tramcars in London.'-THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Automobile Engineers.
The dates for the 1912-13 session of the Institution of Automobile Engineers have been fixed for 9th October. 1912, to 21st May, 1913. The opening address by the President-elect, Mr. T. B. Browne. M.I.Mech.E., will be delivered on the first-mentioned date.
Full particulars of membership of the Institution can be obtained from the Secretary, Mr. Basil H. Joy. 13, Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster, S.W.
Phanomobile Three-wheelers, Amongst three-wheelers which are coining to the front is that sold by Phanomobiles. Ltd.. of 328. Upper Street, Islington, N. These machines are of unique design. and they promise to be increasingly employed, both in the United Kingdom and on the Continent, for delivery purposes of many kinds. Their general handiness is undoubted, and we are told that I heir REMINDERS.
nrrent. British Military Subvention Trials. 25th Sept. to Agrimotor Exhibition and Trials 6th Oct. I at Bourgee (France). 2nd to 80th I Geriaan Military Trials (1912). Oet.
economy of upkeep is exceptional. Further descriptive and illustrated references to these three-wheelers will appear in an early issue.
Clark Tyre Co., Ltd.
Particulars are to hand of the public offer for subscription of 50,000 £1 shares in the Clark Tyre Co., Ltd. The concern is to handle the special form of pneumatic-tire cover patented by Mr. Ernest Clark ; its novelty is the use of overlaid strips of canvas fabric instead of the customary sheets moulded to shape. Advantages claimed include: the lessening of liability to burst ; increased facility for repair. and limitation of the area affected by a cut.
A Housewife's Views.
It is not often that this journal is able to announce an article from the pen of a lady, yet the one which appears on pages 510 and 511 possesses so many points of interest that we are inclined to think we shall have requests for further contributions from like sources. There are many women-owners of motorvans already, and we may mention the laundry trade as a case in point.
Will women ever have the same influence on the commercial-motor trade, we wonder, that they have had in the past, and still have, upon the sale of private motorcars?
Masonic Votes.
Thus early we would solicit our Masonic readers' interest in the case of the boy Francis James O'Hea, aged 11 years, who has been nominated for the October election for the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys. He is the eldest son of the late Mr. F. J. O'Hea who, until his death in South Africa last January. was a representative of Temple Press Ltd. Owing to the age limit, it is the lad's last and only chance of securing the benefits of education in this institution. and, as it is exceptional for a first and last chance to succeed, it calls for a very strenuous effort to secure the necessary number of votes to assure election.
Promises of support will be thankfully acknowledged per The Editor. THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
A Carburetter to Use Paraffin and Petrol.
We learn that an interesting new carburetter, which is constructed to work alternately with petrol and paraffin, is on the point of being marketed. It is to be known as the " Bi-fuel " carburetter, and we are informed that it has been in constant use for some months past, under trial, during which 4000 miles of running have been effected with the utmost satisfaction. The object is to enable owners of vans and lorries having internal-combustion engines usefully to fit two tanks--one for petrol, and one for paraffin.
There is much to be said for this solution of the fuel question,to which, it may be recalled, attention was consistently directed by Mr. H. G. Burford, M.I.Mech.E., so long as seven years ago. The fuels can be used independently, or can be mixed as they enter the carburetter, as this new fitting has two jets,
• which are separately fed. Any proportion of petrol to paraffin can be arranged at the will of the driver.
The Petrol Duty.
In the House of Commons on the 2nd inst., in the course of a discussion in committee on the Finance Bill, Mr. Peto (Devizes) moved that the whole of the duty on motor spirit should be rebated to persons using such spirit to supply motive power for motor omnibuses. He justified his contention on the score that the duty tended to keep up the fares charged to the poorest class of the travelling public, and to keep down the wages of the employees.
Mr. Hobhouse, in reply, thought that the margin of profit on the London General Omnibus Co.'s undertaking was sufficient to improve the conditions of the company's employees. Omnibuses were now using the roads in the vicinity of London, and this tax was their only contribution to their upkeep (sic).
Should not Mr. Hobhouse more correctly have said to their "improvement," seeing that no portion of the funds at the disposal of the Road Board may be used for maintenance purposes?
We observe that Lord Robert Cecil. following Mr. Hobhouse. also took the view that the petrol tax was a contribution by users to the upkeep of the roads. We seriously hope that this view will not obtain further support, as it is quite erroneous
Mr Peto's proposed new clause was negatived.