News and Comment.
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Owing to pressure on our space this week, we are obliged, unavoidably, to hold over the official results of the recent commercial motor trials, from Paris to Marseilles and back, which preceded the opening of th2 Paris Salon, and which results have reached us as we go to press.
The Dublin Show.
The motor show at the Royal Dublin Society's Central Hall, Ballsbridge, Dublin, organised by the Irish Automobile Club, was opened, most auspiciously, on Saturday last, the 5th instant, by Lord Grenfell, G.C.B. Our Irish readers who can arrange to attend the exhibition should not fail to visit, amongst others, the stands of the following exhibitors : Adams Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (i8); Anglo-American Oil Co., Ltd. (59); Argylls (Ireland), Ltd. (12); Car and General Insurance Corporation, Ltd. (6o); Continental Tire and Rubber Co. (Great Britain), Ltd. (53); Dunlop Pneutnatic Tire Co., Ltd. (45); General Petroleum Co., Ltd. (5); Mann and Overtons (Ireland), Ltd. (26); New Arrol-Johnston Car Co., Ltd. (28); North British Rubber Co., Ltd. (36); Price's Patent Candle Co., Ltd. (32); Shrewsbury and ChaHiner Tire Co., Ltd. (46); Stern-Sonneborn Oil Co. (58); Vacuum Oil Co., Ltd. (55); C. C. Wakefield and Co. (Gallery 65); Wallis and Steevens, Ltd. (41); and the Wolseley Tool and Motorcar Co., Lid. (5x), The figures io parentheses indicate the stand numbers.
The stands of the New Arrol-johnston Car Co., Ltd., and of Wallis and Styeyens, Ltd., possess much attraction for those who are interested in utility vehicles, whilst many of the tire exhibits merit the same distinction.
The surprise of the show was found on Stand No. 13, where Mr. James Hill, of 8, Bachelor's Walk, Dublin, exhibited a 4oh.p. motor coach. This has been supplied by the Standard Steam Lorry and Omnibus Company, of Rayleigh, Essex, but it must be regarded as only a tentative design, as the company intends to adopt a patent form of worm drive immediately (see page 407).
Amongst the records of running, performed by motor wagons fitted with Goodwin's patent snow shoes, we learn that at least one was able to travel, successfully, on six inches of lose -;now in the neighbourhood of Birmingham. These snow shoes have, during the past two years, been put to very severe tests, and Mr. D. Parkes Goodwin, of Kidderminster, believes that he can now guarantee them to wear for several thousand miles, and that he will be able to arrange for their sale, befc.re next winter, on a more extensive basis, and at reasonable prices. The business side is managed by Mr. T. C. Aveling, of Central House, New Street, Birmingham. "f he two i2-13b.p. Arrol-Johnston vehicles, which arc illustrated on page 402 of this issue, are attracting no small amount of attention at Dublin.
Any manufacturer or shipper who is interested in South African customers is invited to consider the offer contained in the first letter on our correspondence page (416).
Mr. Percy Martin, Managing Director of the Daimler Motor Company, Limited, has promised to read a paper, before the Institution of Automobile Engineers, in March next. His subject will be " Works Organisation."
Mr. F. P. S. Harris, the pioneer of motor spirit in the United Kingdom, is now devoting his energies, solely, to the development of this branch of the petroleum industry, and he has joined the Asiatic Petroleum Company for that special purpose.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, at its extraordinary general meeting of members, which has been called for the x6th instant, will submit proposals to increase the membership entrance fee frorn five guineas to fifty guineas, and the membership annual subscription from five guineas to ten guineas. The present memberchip rates of five guineas each, for .entrance fee and annual subscription, will be continued in respect of a new class, which it is intended to create, to be known as associate members. The scheme for the arrangement of the Society7n work under different sections, and for the representation of those sections upon the general committee, will be taken in hand at the same time.
The next meeting of the Executive Committee of the Motor Van, Wagcn, and Omnibus Users' Association will be held at 1, Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, W., on Wednesday, the 16th instant, at 2.30 p.m., when the chair will he taken by Colonel R. E. B. Cri.aripton, C.B., M.Inst.C.E.
The new oitices of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, facing St. George's pier and landing stage, at Liverpool, will be occupied at an early date. This splendid pile of buildings has been erected on the site which was lent, by the Dock Board, to the Liverpool Self-Propelled Traffic Issodation, in tool, as a dep6t for the competing vehicles in the third series of trials held by that association.
The motor mail service between Norwich, Wymondham, Dereham and Fakenham, to which we referred last week, is being watched with great interest locally. The contractor for this service is Mr. J. J. Wright, of Dereham, and we illustrate the leading di mensions of the Dennis mail-van type of vehicle below. The van at Norwich has been constructed according to the same specification.
The Corporation of Nuremberg has granted licenses for four motorcabs. Before the end of the month, a quartette of 16h.p. Argyll vehicles will be licensed.
For " methyl," the first word in the last paragraph of the first column on page 389 of last week's issue, rend "methylated," and for "o_86o" specific gravity, in the same paragraph, read " 0.835 '7 specific gravity.
The clerk to the London County Council, in reply to an enquiry from the Battersea Borough Council, has intimated that, pending the Government's announcements in reference to new motor legislation, his authority disapproves any action with regard to motor traffic in London.
Berlin is passing through a partial motorcab-drivers' strike, in consequence of the new scale of pay introduced on January ist, and referred to in our last issue. The bulk of the men are either " at play," or have returned to their first love—the horse. At a meeting, convened on Friday by the Berlin Cabdrivers' Union, the men ventilated their views, and a resolution of sympathy with the strikers was passed unanimously. Above all, the men were warned to avoid the chauffeur schools, so that the cabowners may not be in a position to fill up the depleted ranks.
\Vc publish, In request (pages 417 and .1E8), the full text of the Moropolitan Police conditions for the obtaining of motor hackney-carriage licenses.
A three days' conference of the Royal Sanitary Institute will be held in Dublin, next June, and it is not unlikely that some of the papers will deal witn rc>ad and motor problems.
'lite Roads Improvement Association, of 1, Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, W., acting in concert with the Automobile Club and the Motor Union, is offering valuable prizes for the best means of spreading tar, mechanically, upon ordinary roads. Full particulars may be had from the Si!cretary, and March 31st is the last date for entry.
BeIlls and Morcom, Limited, the well-known engineering company, of Birmingham, has placed an order with T. C. Aveling and Company. Limited, of that city, for a 5-ton Stewart-Thornycroft steam wagon, as the result of severe trials in competition with other makes. We congratulate Mr. Aveling Upon this latest addition to his sales' list in this department.
The Car and General Insurance Corporation, Limited, of 1, Queen Victoria S:rcet, E.C., has issued its new prospectuses for the year, and these disclose several important concessions.
A public weighbridge has been erected by the City of London Corporation, at ii s new weights i.nd measures aloe, in Whitecross Street, E.C., and this machine has a capacity of nearly 16 tons. The scale of charges is at the rate of 6d. for the first ton, and an additional 2d, for every extra ton or fractio.1 of a ton. These charges are too heavy.
The second conference of London borough councils, in respect of motor traffic, was held at the Westminster City Hall yesterday (see page 409). The instigators of this conference had in mind, originally, a number of alleged grievances against the motorbus, but, as reported in our issue of the 20th December, the motorbus came in for commendation, and it looks as though heavier forms of mechanical transport were, now, to receive a larger measure of attention. The committee has fallen into the extraordinary error of asserting that there is a to-mile limit N\ ithin the boundaries of the City of London.
At the Iasi LM.V.W.O.U.A. Committee, in response to a request from the Automobile Club, Mr. F. C. A. Coventry and Mr. Douglas Mackenzie were nominated as judges in the forthcoming side-slip competition, whilst, in regard to the commercial motor trials, it was directed that another letter should be sent to the A.C.G.B.I.
The Simms Manufacturing Company, Limited, of Kilburn, N.V., has absorbed the adjoining premises lately occupied by the Panhard and Levassor repair department. This latest extension of the Welbeek works has been necessitated by the amount of work in the various departments, not the least being the one devoted to utility motors.