News and Comment.
Page 15
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This journal enjoys a valuable and exclusive circulation : it is recognised and supported by Users, operating engineers, and the motor industry at large.
Our first Great Van Number will he published next Thursday.
As the contents will be so largely devoted to the performance of vans having a load capacity of two tons or less, we have decided, notwithstanding the fact that the issue will also contain a large amount of matter of general interest, to hold over our Chinese and Russian supplements.
The response obtained as a result of our postcard supplement, has been most gratifying, and it is testimony to the value of the lists in hand, that upwards of 70 per cent. of the names submitted, by supporters of this journal in various parts of the United Kingdom, were already marked off to receive next week's special number. The preparation of the issue is well advanced, and a minimum number of 17,000 copies will be put into useful circulation. Except for any accidental overlapping with existing purchasers of " TIIE COMMERCIAL MOTOR," the whole of the 10,000 extra copies will go into the hands of new readers of substance.
A meeting of London cab drivers was held at the Euston Theatre, on Monday evening last, when a resolution was unanimously carried against the introduction of the taximeter, on the ground that the system would be "detrimental to the cab proprietors and drivers, confusing and irritating to the public, and that 'lams ' are already well protected, against overcharge, by the official book of distances." One speaker alleged that many old ladies could tell a two-mile trip to a hair'.;breadth. It is astonishing that a meeting of this kind should be led to ignore proved results in Berlin and Paris, and we are glad to feel that the opposition shown will be ineffectual.
"Auriga," who contributes most interesting notes on motors and motoring to the " Sheffield Daily Telegraph," in commenting on the fact that a compromise between the Automobile Club and the Motor Van, Wagon, and Omnibus Users' Association appears to be imminent, concludes us follows :— "The Club will in all probability allow the Association some voice, not necessarily an equal voice with itself, in the conduct of the trials, and so the crisis will be avoided. At the same time, in my judgment, it will be merely postponed. The time will surely come, nay, it cannot be very far distant, when the Club will realise that, consisting as it does mainly of persons interested in pleasure cars, it will be much better advised to give up all ambition to be paramount in the matter of testing commercial vehicles." The Automobile Club's Town Motor Carriage Competition will be held on Monday next, the 15th instant. The list of competing vehicles, 26 in number, was given in our issue of last week (page 85), whilst the full conditions will be found in our issue of August 23rd.
Each vehicle is required to carry its Full complement of passengers, or equivalent ballast, on the basis of an average of not less than 14o1b. per passenger seat, and the responsibility for filling these seats, except as regards the observer or observers, is placed upon the competitors.
A start will be made, shortly after to o'clock in the morning, from the Niagara Garage of the Wolseley Tool and Motorcar Company, Limited, in York Street, Westminster, and, unless the judges decide to increase the distance for the trial run, a demonstration trip will be made over a round journey not exceeding 30 miles in length. Interested visitors will be admitted upon presentation of their cards.
Seven more 16h.p. Albion vehicles have been ordered by the Crown Agents for the Colonies, for export to the Straits Settlements. A number of Albion vehicles, including one of the earliest 8h.p. pattern, are continuing to give satisfaction to users out there, and the makers are now reaping the benefit of references to these earlier purchasers. Four of the new machines will have wagonette-type bodies, two will have bodies of the char-h-bancs type, and one is designed to carry 2ocwt. of goods.
We published, in our issue of September 13 (page 14), a photograph of it 5-ton steam wagon, owned by the Northampton Brewery Company, and supplied by William Allchin and Cornpuny, Limited, of that town. In the course of a letter regarding the behaviour of this machine, Mr. W. J. West, the Managing Director of the Northampton Brewery Company, Limited, writes : " The wagon is employed in country deliveries, taking from 3 tons to 3 tons to cwt. each journey, and, up to now, we are quite satisfied with its working. . . . The economy really consists in always
having a full b-id From May 5th to September 6th, the motor ran 85 days, covering 2,121 miles, and taking a total tonnage or close upon ve tons."
The British Empire Motor Trades' Alliance will hold its second annual dinner, on December 3rd, at the Hotel Russell, Russell Square, W.C.
Our congratulations to Mr. J. Veitch Wilson, the experienced technical manager and chemist of Price's Patent Candle Company, Limited, on the success of his oils in the recent Tourist • Trophy Race.
Various journals have quoted the intention of the Salford Town Council to borrow A;to,000 for application to thc purchase of electric motors, to be let out to the public on hire, as though the electric motors in question were for road-haulage purposes. They are, however, intended for stationary uses.
A conference will be held, on the initiative of the Motor Union, and under the direction of that body, at the Hotel Great Central, on the 14th proximo, in order to discuss proposals connected with further legislation for motor vehicles. Representatives of the Motor Van, Wagon and Omnibus Users' Association will attend.
We regret to learn, from a local correspondent, that there has been considerable trouble with the steam wagon that was put on to carry out the service between Hanley (Staffs.) awl Liverpool. This gentleman is of opinion that several of the difficulties could have been avoided, but we fear a bad impression has been created, and one that might have been avoided.
A count of motor wagons passing along the Blackburn main road, between Bolton and Darwen, has been taken by the Turion Urban District Council, over the period embraced by the dates July 12th to September 13th last, and the record shows 384 journeys to have been performed by 13 different machines. These are owned, chiefly, by cotton and cloth manufacturers in 11.ackburn and Darwen.
The Mechanical Section of the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers has, after prolonged consideration, taken an important step towards the standardisation of motorvehicle parts. It has issued a list of dimensions, and specifications, for hexagon-headed screws, castellated and plain nuts, for 4-inch to x-inch sizes. It has been found, as the result of numerous experiments and tests that the finer threads hold better, and are stronger, than the coarser threads on bolts.