The Motor Omnibus World.
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The through booking arrangements, between the Leyton Urban District Council and the London General Omnibus Company, Limited, of which we gave particutaIrs in our issue of the 1st instant, at present apply only to horse omnibuses, pending the introduction of motorbuses upon the routes affected.
Watford to Harrow.
It will be observed that five L. and N.W. motorbuses, all of the Mimes.. Daimlermake, have been added to the records in our fortnightly census : this addition is made as all the vehicles are now licensed by Scotland Yard, notwithstanding the fact that they generally go beyond the limits of the Metropolitan Police area on each journey.
Extraordinary Traffic.
The directors of the Great North of Scotland Railway Company have decided not to establish cdrtain motorbus services without guarantees from certain local highway authorities of Aberdeenshire against claims from alleged
extraordinary traffic. Editorial comment is made upon this matter, but we are glad to observe, from a report in a recent issue of the "Aberdeen Journal," that several members of the Deer District Committee spoke in favour of the proposed indemnity at the last meeting of that body. It is evidently felt that the public interest is likely to be served by the guarantees under debate, and there is certainly no inclination on the
part of the above-named committee, which is the largest and most important in the county, to decide against the scheme in a hurry. Eight miles of road are involved, and it is not unlikely that a provisional guarantee will be given for at least a couple of years.
Local Rivalry.
An interesting example of by-play between two councils has been witnessed, during the last few months, at Worthing and Brighton, the council of each place showing no eagerness to encourage the companies whose omnibuses come from " the other place." Some peculiar zn-o-..r.alies in respect of standing-places,arran -gements for picking up passengers at hotels instead of plying for hire, and the like, have resulted fr3m these local bickering% Omnibus Engineers.
Mr. Dugald Clerk, M.Inst.C.E., F.C.S., etc., has promised to open the third session of the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers, by initiating a discussion upon the records that were obtained during the recent lubrication tests at Putney. The meeting will take place on the third Monday in October, at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, where the Society in question will, by consent of the Council of the Institution, hold its meetings during the coming winter months under the chairmanship of Mr. George Pollard.
Leyland Motorbuses.
The consistent running of the small fleet of six Leyland buses, which are owned by the London Central Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, is attracting general notice in London to the makers' latest type of motorbus chassis. The records of these machines, on the Kingsway route, has been exceptionally good for some months past, and the vehicles have shown better results than have been yielded by any other makes of machines in competition with them along the same road. We understand that the managing director of the company, Mr. W. B. Richardson, will be pleased to furnish additional particulars.
£60 Per Day Extra.
Sir Henry Oakley, in presiding, on the 7th instant, at the half-yearly meet ing of the Central London Railway Company Limited, stated that the company was receiving something between 4:60 and ,70 a day in " extra pennies due to the increase of fare from 2d. :o :;(1. in ertain cases." He did not say any thing about the number of 2d. fares that had gone elsewhere, and our weekly table of traffic receipts does not bear out his rosy view. We believe the directors of this company are very ill advised to ignore the penny fare, and that they would have a very considerable accession of traffic were they to adopt a universal charge of one penny for any two or three stations. An experimental motorbus service will be established by the North-Eastern Railway Company, for the Blyth, Hart.. ley, and Cramlington districts of Northumberland, in about six or seven weeks • from date.
Motorbus Stability.
An "Arrow " motorbus shed a driving wheel, at Waterloo Bridge, on Tuesday afternoon ; the vehicle merely settled down quietly, without any indication or appearance of the likelihood of overturning.
The Sideup Route.
The statement that Thomas Tilling, Limited, has put the whole of its fleet of motorbuses upon the Sidcup and Oxford Circus route is inaccurate. This route was naturally reinforced on Bank Holiday, but Tilling's normal service between Peckham and Oxford Circus has not been disturbed.
Traffic from Side Streets.
Mr. Lane, K.C., at the West London Police Court, has recently given a decision which is somewhat disconcert
ing. A driver in the employ of the London Road Car Company, Limited, was summoned for driving a motorbus ." in a dangerous manner, and with failing to stop after an accident." It appears from the evidence that a pairhorse van came out of the approach to Chelsea Station, into the Fulham Road, and was struck by .the motorbus. The defence argued that any driver coming out of a side road into a main thoroughfare should exercise the very greatest caution, and that the responsibility was upon him, rather than upon a driver in the main road, to see that the highway was clear. The 'magistrate refused to accept this proposition, and said that no obligation rested upon an individual who was driving out of a side road, other than such obligation as the individual might impose on himself for his own safety : there was, on the other hand, a statu
tory obligation upon every motor driver to give audible warning of his approach. He fined the defendant driver 4'5 inclusive of costs.
The Motorbus Amalgamation.
The President of the Board of Trade, in the course of his answer to a series of questions put by Mr. Markham, on the 8th instant, stated that an application had been made to the Board of Trade to appoint an auditor in the case of the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, and that an enquiry had been addressed to the applicant in order to ascertain whether the power of the Board to appoint an auditor had yet arisen, It appears, under section 21 of the Companies Act, fgoo, that this power only arises in the event of the failure to appoint an auditor at an annual general meeting. Mr. LloydGeorge also stated that the Board of Trade had no general powers of investigation, its authority being expressly limited by section 56 of the Companies Act of 1862.