News and Comment.
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Newsagents' and subscribers' orders for this journal are more than double those for all similar journals combined: in addition, we post many thousand copies of special issues.
The Duke of Ratibor opened the Berlin Motor Show, in place of H.R.H. Prince Henry of Prussia, owing to the Court mourning, but the Kaiser and his brother raid a private visit on Friday last before the opening.
The Lancashire Steam Motor Company, Limited, of Leyland, has to be congratulated on the receipt of a further repeat order, from the Chelsea Borough Council, for no less than ten standard steam wagons—see page 433.
Our special number for Country Estates and Hotels will be published this day week. A minimum of THREE THOUSAND extra copies, over and above our ordinary certified circulation, will be mailed by us, in appropriately marked wrappers, to a selected list of landowners and hotel proprietors in the United Kingdom.
There is every indication that the forthcoming Agricultural Hall Show will exceed all its predecessors as regards the extent of the commercial motor section. It will remain open from the 241h to 31st of March, and we have already announced two special issues in connection with the anticipated display of vans, lorries, wagons, tractors and omnibuses. Accessory makers will also take part.
The secretary of Mann's Patent Steam Cart and W;ig,on Company, Limited, of Pepper Road Works, Hunslet, Leeds, asks us to request the company's correspondents to be particular to put the full address on any envelopes addressed to him or the company.
The Hercules Motor Wagon Company, of Atlas Works, Levenshulme, Manchester, has just supplied a second fiveton steam wagon to Messrs. Thompson, McKay and Company, Limited, the well-known contractors and forwarding agents, for the service of the Great Central Railway Company. This repeat order is the outcome of a severe test of the first machine, which itself followed an original period of working with a trial wagon, when 1,360 tons were dealt with at an inclusive cost of ;699 135. Next week's issue of "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR " will contain the conclusion of Mr. 'West's interesting article on the handling of traffic at stations. The first instalment will be found on pages 441 and 442.
The Lacre Motorcar Company, Limited, in whose hands the sole agency for Albion commercial motors in England and Wales was placed nearly one year ago, reports so great a pressure of business that very few deliveries are open this side of August next. Additions to the Scotstoun works of the Albion Company are being rapidly pushed forward to relieve this congestion of orders.
The new Gorton lorry, which is built by Beyer, Peacock and Company, Limited, of Gorton Foundry, near Manchester, and which was fully illustrated in our last issue, promises to attract considerable attention at the Liverpool Motor Show. There have been numerous enquiries about this system ever since the start of the company's experimental trials last year, and, now that the 1903 type has given way to a perfected model for 1906, there is no question that the heavy motor department of this well-known engineering works will be kept busy.
The Bill for a London to Brighton Motor Way has been withdrawn, and it is reported that the promoters have been greatly disappointed by the lack of support for the project.
The traffic returns for the 37 principal British railway companies for the year 1903 show the goods receipts to reach a total of .4:34,131,000, which is an increase of .4.:683,000 over the year 1904.
Says the " Contract Journal " : " Statistics have their use, but we have no need of them to prove the gaining
popularity of mechanical traction on our roads As a matter of fact, there are two influences at work—one born of the necessity to meet obvious requirements, and the other due to the gradual supersession of horse traction."
The tramways committee of the Halifax Town Connell is inviting tenders for a 3o-35h.p. motor tower wagon, at an estimated cost of about L:700.
The article by Mr. A. henry Wheeler on " Armoured Macadam Roads," which appeared in our issue of the 25th ultimo, has been widely quoted by municipal and local government journals.
The Liverpool and Newcastle Shows will be open tomorrow (Friday). Each exhibition will enjoy very distinguished patronage, and the promoters of both undertakings anticipate record attendances.
Manchester is to have two exhibitions; the first of these will open to-morrow (Friday), the dates clashing with the Liverpool Show, but a good display has been secured for the Royal Botanical Gardens, Old Trafford.
Activity in German petroleum circles may be gathered From the fact that the Steaua Roumana has recently called upon its shareholders to exercise their preference rights to new shares of the face value of £280,000. The Deutsche Bank is interested in this company.
The Roads Improvement Association has. issued a Bibliography of Road Making and Maintenance in Great Britain, by Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb, and copies may be obtained, price 6d. each, post free, from the honorary secretary, Mr. W. Rees Jeffreys, 1, Albemarle Street, W.
Mr. E. R. Ensor, of Messrs. Ensor and Mumford, 4, Portland Street, Southampton, has been appointed local solicitor to the Motor Union. We announced in our issues of November 23rd and 30th, and of January 4th, the whole of the appointments for the country generally.
The Daimler Motor Company (1904), Limited, of Coventry and London, has recently sent a further contribution of L;20 to the funds of the British Empire Motor Trades Alliance, this being the company's second donation to the foundation expenses of that active and progressive body.
The Simms Manufacturing Company, Limited, of Welbeck Works, Kimberley Road, Willesden Lane, London, N.W., has recently received an order from the South Metropolitan Gas Company for two one-ton delivery vans. The Welbeck works have also just completed a 20-seated omnibus for the Durham and District Motor Omnibus Company.
Chelsea Borough Council, at its meeting on Wednesday of last week, received a claim for 413 145. in respect to damage done through a hansom-cab horse which, it was alleged, took fright through one of the council's motor vans suddenly starting without warning. It was resolved, amidst some laughter, to repudiate liability in the matter.
All engineers who may care to hear Col. R. E. Crompton, CAI, on "Some Unsolved Problems in Motor Engineering," at the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall, on Wednesday evening next, the 14th instant, under the auspices of the Automobile and. Cycle Engineers' Institute, can have tickets of admission on application to the Editor of this journal.
The Middlesex County Council is to be asked by the Twickenham District Council to enforce the by-laws made with respect to the use of locomotives in the Administrative County of Middlesex. The District Council asserts that Cross Deep, although a road upon which the use of locomotives was prohibited in March, 1902, is used by such vehicles. A specific case is put forward, in which Pickford's, Limited, used, as alleged, the road for one of its commercial motors on December 16th. [The by-laws in question do not apply to heavy motorcars.—ED.1
The second annual report of the directors of the Car and General Insurance Corporation discloses a balance of £1,409 145. 3d., which it is proposed to carry forward, whilst the whole of the preliminary expenses, amounting to £1,751 18s. 8d., have been written off. The net premium income has increased from .£26,828 to £64,475, and twenty branches have been established throughout the United Kingdom. The annual general meeting took place, on Monday last, the sth instant, at the head office of the company, I, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C. The company reports an increasing business in its commercial motor department, and the directors have recently added motor boat, cattle and live stock departments to their already wide ramifications.
The Automobile Club's tyre trials will not begin until Monday, the 26th instant : entries close next Monday.
Mr. J. Patten Barber, lkiLlnst.C.E., the borough engineer of Islington, has been elected president of the Association of Municipal and County Engineers for the year 1906-7.
The secretary of Seymours, Ltd., of 20-22, Brompton Road, S.W., and to, Park Mansions Arcade, Knightsbridge, S.W., requests us to state that the name of his company should not be associated with that of the late " Dixi Motors, Argylls London, Limited, advises us tnat it has now arranged for considerable extensions of its already large premises in Newman Street, and that the accommodation for garage purposes will rapidly be doubled.
The exhibit of Fodens, Limited, at the Manchester Show, which opens to-morrow at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Old Trafford, will consist of a standard five-ton steam wagon. Mr. C. Davies will be in attendance during the week, and this company is also exhibiting at Liverpool.
We are officially notified by the Bavarian postal authorities that the Marienfelde branch of the German Daimler Company has received the contract for the vehicles required by the Bavarian Government for its motor postal lines.
During the recent election very great success has atlended the use of motorcars and motor vans for a variety of purposes. Country newspaper proprietors have found it possible to report extra meetings by this means and no other, whilst the distribution of the papers has been accomplished with unaccustomed despatch and over more than the ordinary range of delivery.
At the end of 1905 Nuremberg officials had registered to5 motors for the conveyance of persons, 225 motorcycles and 12 commercial vehicles. This is considered pretty good for a city with a population numbering some quarter of a million, the figures giving one self-propelled vehicle per 1,000 of the inhabitants.
The following distinguished members of the Motor Union have been elected as vice-presidents of that body :—The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Onslow, G.C.M.G., the Rt. Hon. Earl Roberts, K.G., K.P., V.C., G.C.B., the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Lonsdale, the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Plymouth, Lord Hugh Cecil, Sir Hickman Bacon, Bart., J.P., D.L., Sir Lindsay Wood, Bart., J.P„ DJ-, the Rt. Hon. Sir J. H. A. Macdonald, K.C.B., Sir Hugh Bell, Bart., J.P., Sir David Salomons, Bart., J.P., D.L., Sir A. Acland Hood, Bart., M.P., Sir W. G. D. Goff, Bart., and Col. Bowles.
A well-attended meeting of Worthing fruit growers was held at the Central Howl, Worthing, on January 3Ist, Alderman Piper presided, and a paper was read by W. Flexman French (manager to Sussex Motor Road Car Company, Limited), the subject being the " Conveyance of Glass-house Produce to London Markets by Road." The railway rates have always been a sore point, being very heavy. Mr. French has taken pains to gather statistics from the principal road-carrying companies, and from reports as published in " THE COMMERCIAL Moroa." After considerable discussion seven members of the trade were appointed as a committee, to make exhaustive enquiry, and to go into the question. Mr. French pointed out that the quantity of produce sent upon three days a week often exceeded forty tolls. At least ten four-ton lorries and the same number of two-ton trailers would be required to cope with the traffic. One manufacturer has promised to lend a wagon For trial purposes, so that the condition of the fruit on arrival at the market might be ascertained, and that any special system of springs and bodies would be provided to suit the requirements of the special conditions of this freight. Several of the largest Covent Garden salesmen have written, giving the proposition their hearty support.
A poll of Oxford's ratepayers was taken on January 3oth, in order to probe to the ultimate point what the local feeling on the electric traction scheme really was : 5,092 votes were recorded against the Bill, and only 1,117 for it.
The experimental running of a " Vanguard " omnibus between Ludgate Circus and the Crystal Palace has proved that the trip by road can be accomplished in a shorter time than is very often occupied by the railway service, and these journeys may lead to the institution of a regular serivce.
Letters continue to be addressed to the editors of Bristol papers praising the introduction of Thornyeroft vehicles by the Bristol Tramways and Omnibus Company, Limited, of which Sir J. Clifton Robinson is a director. There is certainly much evidence of competition for new services, and the result may possibly be a public disavowal by Sir Clifton Robinson of his earlier deprecatory utterances in regard to the modern system of passenger transport.
The directors of the Sussex Motor Road Car Company, Limited, have paid a dividend of 5 per cent, as the result of their first year's working, and they state that this would have been increased to in per cent, but for some initial mistakes when the undertaking was started. Good profits are anticipated for the current year, and the manager and engineer, Mr. NV. Flexman French; is confident of much better results for several reasons, one of which is the recent purchase of the Worthing Motor Orimibus Company, Limited.
The report of the Associated Omnibus Company, Limited, for 1905, which will be submitted to the shareholders on Monday next, discloses a balance of ,,{.-13,516. After providing for reduction of horses, depreciation of omnibus stock, and interest on debentures, a net balance of 4;8,904 is available. A dividend at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum
is recommended, leaving to be carried forward. The report goes on to state that contracts for the supply of a large number of motorbus chassis have been entered into with MIInes-Daimler, Limited, Sidney Straker and Squire, Limited, and the Motorcar Emporium, Limited, and that a further agreement has been concluded for the retention of the services of the managing director, Mr. P. Willing Tibbs. Mr. H. P. G. Brackenridge has handed in his resignation to the secretary of the 1.ondon Road Car Company, Limited.
The directors of the Gaulois Tyres, Limited, have made a contribution of 25 guineas to the legal and legislative defence fund of the Motor Union ; this fund now amounts to close upon £m,3oo.
In contradistinction to the action of Oxford's ratepayers, those at Bromley (Kent) have vetoed, by a large majority, the -proposals Of the local council to purchase and operate motor omnibuses.
There appears to be a unanimity of opinion in the daily Press, arising out of the unusual number of rases of skidding which occurred in London during the early part of last woek, that more effective methods to cleanse street surfaces should be adopted.
Mr. J. M. MacLulich, managing director of the Sirdar Rubber Company, Limited, took an active part in supporting Viscount Dunsany at Bradford-on-Avon, during the recent election, when he spoke strongly against the free importation of manufactured goods to the detriment of home erit. ployment and manufactures.
The secretary of the St. Helens Cable Company, Limited, of Warrington, advises us that the company's Scottish business has been concentrated in new premises at 191, Howard Street, Glasgow, to which address all communications regarding its Scottish business should be addressed. Mr. Cowie and Mr. Sinclair will manage the cable and rubber departments respectively. We are also advised that the company's offices at Newcastle-on-Tyne have been transferred from Pudding Chare to 33, Clayton Street West.
The secretary of the London Road Car Company, Limited, advises us that his directors have resolved to recommend a dividend, subject to the usual depreciation and final audit, at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum for the half-year ending December 31st last. It is proposed to 7(.t aside a sum of X.:5,000 towards writing off the horses, horsed cars, and harness put out of use through the introduction of motor omnibuses, and to set aside ..1,000 towards the depreciation and renewal of motors, leaving a balance of about L4,200 Lo be carried forward to the new half-year.