Loose Leaves.
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OWNER DRIVERS, and there are many
thousands amongst the 16,000 odd taximen in Paris, have taken recently, to putting up courteously worded little notices' of various kinds in the interior of their splendid saloon cabs. One which we noticed a few days ago read as follows :—" The driver knows the quickest way from one point to another in Parts. Should you prefer, however, to go by a different route you have only to say so, for ..his sole desire is to serve you and give you pleasure."
In another cab which we entered a rack was provided containing several illustrated periodicals; over the rack was the following notice :—" Here are several journals. They are for your use, but please leave them in the rack for the enjoyment of your successor." We wonder how this idea would appeal to the London or provincial driver!
THE article on tyre maintenance which we publish on another page of this issue reminds us of a good Story which we heard the other day. The works manager of a well-known bus company was ciS
desirous of testing the efficiency of his garage staff. It should be pointed out that three sets of individuals were responsible for the. more
or less regular attention to the state of the tyres and particularly their inflation. The driver of each bus was supposed to keep his eye on' them, the garage staff had orders to test the pressures regularly and the travelling road representatives were expected to examine tyres cccasionally as opportunity offered. To try out the reliability of his staff the manager went -in secret one night and deliberately deflated all the inside rear tyres of six buses. He waited 10 days and then inspected those same 12 tyres. They were still deflated/
IT may be that we are inclined to he rather too severe upon road engineers whose new main thoroughfares eiperience trouble through -settling, breaches in the surface and other faults. We should remember that new roads built on new foundations and subjected to heavy traffic must subside somewhat; only where the movement is excessive is criticism really justified.
It would seem that new roads should receive something In the way of a temporary surfacing until the period of settlement is considered to be over, and the surfacing could then be finished with some hopes of its achieving a long life.
IF endorsement were needed for our plea that better protection is essential for London's bus drivers, it is surely to be found in the recent stateMent that certain services were slightly disorganized as the result of a sudden epidemic of influenza amongst these men. • The public did not suffer the loss of its usual travelling fadlities because reserve drivers are always at hand, but one can well imagine tnat, if the epidemic assumed really big proportions, the business life of the Metropolis would be greatly inconvenienced.
The exponents of the open-air theory may well argue that fresh air is the best protection against
infection, but they must admit that exposure to continual cold and draughts, in a cramped, position that does not permit of free circulation of the blood, may well impair the individual's resistance to infection. We do not want drivers to be treated as hot-house plants but, in view of the exacting nature of their duties, their comfort while at work should surely not be the last to receive consideration from the authorities. Why, too, should London lag behind provincial centres?
THE return recently issued by the Minister of Transport giving particulars of the gross receipts from the taxation of road vehicles for the period from December 1st, 1927, to November 30th, 1928, contains some interesting figures.
The gross amount received for licences was £25,521,052, and the number of driving licences issued was approximately 2,527,000.