NOTES FROM NORTHERN IRELAND.
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Talk with a Pioneer in the Motor Industry. The Belfast Corporation's Restrictions. Bus Service Developments.
By Cur Ulster Correspondent IF one can catch Mr. " Jack" Chambers in a reminiscent mood and can lure him on to talk of his early engineering days, when, returning from India, he joined
the Vauxhall firm and bore a hand in making one of the earliest of British motors, one gets a very vivid idea of the progress made in motor engineering during the past 30 years. This great craft may be an infant in years when compared with other branches of engineer ing and with some of the other hoary arts and sciences, but it is a lusty and an exceedingly cute kid ; and into its 30 strenuous years it has packed more practical progress than most of its Tutankhamen relatives. Hear Mr. Chambers relate how gingerly he sallied out on a London road at the tiller of that primitive, but, as events proved, quite reliable, motor, and how he drove the car to Rosebery Avenue and showed it to the technical
editor of The Motor, who was the first person outside of the Vauxhall company to drive it—that gentleman being the present editor of The Commercial Motor. Mr. Chambers recalls how proudly he drove, from Belfast to his early home in-the country, on one of the first motors ever seen on an Ulster road. Since then much petrol has flowed into carburetters and many "wild and whirling words " have flowed out of the lips of motorists, many unjust fines have been paid by persecuted drivers, and innumerable records, real and imaginary, have been made both on and off the road ; but during all that time the Chambers firm—the only motor manufactuAng firm in Ireland until the opening of the Ford factory at Cork, and still the only motor manufacturing firm in Ulster—has kept steady pace with the development of motor engineering and has continuously (except during the great war, when the works were almost wholly engaged in the making of munitions) turned out motor vehicles of many kinds and of the highest excellence.
Toward this result the inventive genius of Mr. Robert Chambers has contributed to a very large extent, whilst the business abilities of the third brother, Mr. Harry Chambers, have been of the greatest service on that side of the firm's operations. It is impossible, within the limits of these notes, to describe the extensive and well-equipped works at University Street, Belfast, or the firm's car products; but one may say that the firm not only manufacture commercial vehicles of high reputation and vigorous longevity, but are also the agents for Vulcan and Renault lorries.
As one who has been elected to the highest offices by the Ulster Division of the Motor Trade Association and by the Society of Engineers, Mr. Chambers may be safely regarded as an authoritative exponent of the Ulster point of view in these contexts.
Mr. Chambers's Opinions.
Mr. Chambers gave me the benefit of his opinions on many subjects. Here are a few -of them :—Referring with pardonable pride to the remarkable reliability of his firm's one-ton chassis, Mr. Chambers said : "Breakdowns in modern commercial cars are; almost always the fault of the driver, and there is the greatest difference in the service which gis secured by a good driver as compared with that of a bad one. Quite a number of our cars has done over 300,000 miles." Again : " The chief tip for economical running is good driving. It is no good for a man to run up to a corner at full speed and pull up within a few yards. This will soon tell the tale, not only on the tyres but on the whole vehicle, and a similar form of jerky driving will give trouble everywhere." As to the economical reaction ar a petrol tax: "I have always supported a petrol tax
c36
as against the present system. This would not only achieve a more equitable tax, but, in the wider sense, would enforce proper consideration of the question of economy in, consuniption. Our present petrol supplies would, in my opinion, run fully a fourth of their ton-miles farther if the owners had a really strong incentive to study economical running."
After expressing the opinion that Ulster motor legislation should be kept in line with that of Great Britain, so that free motor intercourse between Northern Ireland and Great Britain may be maintained, Mr. Chambers regretted the formalities which at present restrict motor intercourse as between Ulster and the Free State. As to commercial vehicles, he said: "If it be possible to differentiate, commercials should be dealt with on the basis of their wear and tear of the roads. Restrictions are irksome and troublesome and the proper line for the future is to make the roads suitable for the traffic. This should be pushed on as quickly as possible. The commercial motor will be more and more wanted in the future, and its development must not be • hampered by legislation."
Ulster Motorbus Syndicate.
A sensation was recently caused by the announcement that seven Ulster motorbus firms, controlling 100 vehicles, have been amalgamated with a London syndicate which aims at developing the bus possibilities of Northern Ireland on the most modern lines. Three hundred new buses are to be put on thd roads, for the fuller development of existing routes and the opening up of new ones. These vehicles are to be supplied by the firm which supplies the London bus company and are to be of the latest design and the highest efficiency. The central depot is to be established at the large garage of Messrs. Hurst, on the Donegan. Road, Belfast. Shares in the new company, which has strong_financial backing and a distinguished board of directors, will be put on the market at an early date. In an area with so many tourist attractions in its natural beauties and its historic associations, and so many industrial, agricultural, commercial and social interests awaiting a fuller development among a dynamic people, it is anticipated that the new company will find a fruitful field for efficient enterprise.
A Vigorous Exposure.
Mr. W. P. O'Neill, the chairman of the Ulster Motor Coach Owners' Association, in a letter to the Belfast Press, exposes the tactics used "to induce the Corporation to restore an illegal resolution passed by the Police Committee, putting into operation a set of draft bylaws which had been confirmed neither by the Council nor by the Recorder." Dealing with allegations made by the chairman of the Police Committee, • Mr. O'Neill writes :—" Councillor Adgey said they had a very strong bus interest in the Police Committee and he had been fighting it all along. A more serious misrepresentation could not have been made by the chairman of any committee, inasmuch as the "strong bus interest" consists of one member who is the worthy representative of the Ulster Motor Coach Owners' Association, and great fault has been found with him for efficiently, faithfully and conscientiously discharging the duties entrusted to him.' "
All the bus owners ask for is a legal code of regulations. They refuse to be harried by a draft set of by' laws of an arbitrary and vexatious kind.