A Statue to Dunlop.
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There are rumours, and more than rumours, as was indicated in this journal two weeks ago, that Edinburgh is to have a statue in its midst to Mr. J. B. Dunlop. We are glad to hear that any independent inventor is to be so honoured, but, it may well be asked, why ignore the claims of Mr. R. W. Thomson The month of December, 1844, witnessed the filing of Thomson's patent for "aerial wheels," and the merit of his invention, apart from its early date, was not inferior to that of the admittedlyindependent discovery of Dunlop some 44 years later. Thomson, too, was a Scotsman, and he was the pioneer of solidsrubber tires for heavy loads; his work was done in Edinburgh. We should prefer to see a statue to Dunlop in Belfast, Dublin or London, and a monument to Thomson's genius in Edinburgh. What has the Scottish Automobile Club to say in the matter?
Cleaner Road Surfaces.
We have frequently directed attention to the necessity for modification of road cleansing and maintenance eyeterns in relation to the steady increase of motor traffic. The occasion for a variation of pre-motor methods is incapable of emphasis in any branch more than the one which is concerned with substances which are used to counteract the influences of conditions that tend to produce a slippery highway. Sand and jagged shingle were, at one time, universally---if not uniformly—spread upon the asphalt and wood surfaces of the main thoroughfares in the Metropolis, and tires suffered correspondingly ; their use, too, produced unending mud, but it was thought to be the best way to keep horses upstanding. Gradually, however, with the Westminster City Council as the pioneer of a more-enlightened administration, the excessive distribution of unsuitable material has been held in check. To-day, we are happy to know, the former quantity of sand and shingle is often replaced by only one-half its weight of crushed Thames ballast, which is specified to be absolutely free from sand. This progressive revision of custom might well find parallels in certain sections of street-cleansing work ; it is for the benefit of the public at large that detritus and other traffic-impeding films of foreign matter should be kept down to the lowest minima.
The best allocation of municipal funds, in these transition days between mixed and all-motor traffic, is a delicate and difficult task, but there is no excuse for the blind retention of the worst examples of all-horse ideas and notions. The fond hope of some archaic councillors, that motorcars and commercial motors would prove to he a dismal failure, has been completely falsified by the events of the last few years: the greatest enemies of the motor movement now see that horses are rapidly taking an inferior place in all branches of transport, and their
Jonce-supereilous smiles become less pronounced year by year. Why, we ask, do not some more (4 the Borough Engineers in London awaken to a realization of the changed mental attitude which has overtaken the members of their committees, and why do they not again bring forward proposals which their own practical knowledge convinces them to be necessary? The use of sand and sharp grit, two of the chief causes of London's unrivalled reputation as the home of clothes-destroying mud, can surely, though the horse with its worse complementary contributions may have to remain with us for a. time, be stopped! Westminster has saved more than 70 per cent, of its previous annual expenditure upon sand and grit., notwithstanding huge extensions of wood paving within its boundaries; further, the effective " armouring" of the wood bythe working-in of a proportion of the pebbles—compared with a harmful scarifying action of sand and grit, has resulted in economies of many thousands of pounds to date. This is freely admitted by the authority in question.
The perpetuation of filth and dust, it must be remembered, in whatever degree, is dies to the horse. So long as there are even 1,000 horses in London, for so long must ratepayers bear the cost of street-orderly boys, the spreading of shingle, and the collection of mud. Motor traffic wants not one of these concomitants, and does not produce mud. Competent judges, in fact, estimate that the disappearance of the horse will effect a saving of at least 2d. in the R. on the rateable value of any city, but that happy day cannot arrive in a single decade. Soon however, the prophecy, of parties who have adventured the opinion, that horses will be taxed in ritiee, or their owners required to arrange for the interception of all droppings— as are motorbus and motoreab owners, may be fulfilled, and that will spell revolution of present views. People who preen for restrictive traffic powers, in these last days of the voting ascendancy of horse interests, overlook the facility with which those powers may be turned against them in the hastening and imminent days of motor ascendancy.
At Manchester.
To-night (Thursday). at Manchester, under the Chairmanship of Mr. W. Lawton Goodman, the loyal agents and traders will inaugurate their fourteenth annual motor show in customary English style. There is to be a dinner, and at this function there will be a. general interchange of views about the future. We reproduce, elsewhere in this issue, the photographs of the eight gentlemen who have carried the not-inconsiderable responsibilities of the organization upon their shoulders, whilst our brief forecast of the exhibits may be regarded as the merest foretaste of next week's report. We are well satisfied on one point : Manchester, considered as a centre for an annual motor show, will never again look back. This journal. by means of special and costly arrangements for week-end production, will be on sale at the show when its doors are opened on Tuesday next, and the particular attention of all parties interested is now directed to this intention to go to press earlier than usual.