News and Comment.
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This journal is exclusively read by the principals of many wealthy commercial houses, by the heads of Important Government and Colonial Departments, and by numerous officers of Local Authorities. It has a certified and genuine circulation.
One " daily round " of a Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies tractor is described on pages 210 and 211.
Paraffin or petrol ? See page 215. The subject is specially worthy of discussion from both sides.
The second electric motor ambulance for the City of London Corporation was delivered last week.
The Leicester Fire-Brigade Committee intends to provide up-to-date motor fire appliances without further delay.
The order of the numbers in the last two columns of the table given on page 189 of last week's issue, as the result of a clerical error, was reversed: we herewith reproduce the table with the numbers in their correct order.
More "Commer Car" Orders.
Pickfords, Ltd., after lengthy trials, and good experience with other purchases of the same make, has .ordered four more " Commer Car " petrol-driven vehicles. One of these will be a two-tonner, whilst three are to carry as much as six tons each.
Military Transport.
The Secretary of the County of Perth Territorial Force Association, whose office is at 52, Tay Street, Perth, intends to employ motor transport, to the extent of using two motor lorries of a load capacity of 2.11 tons .each, during the training next July.
The Budget.
Probably by the time this issue is in the hands of the public, the Chancellor of the Exchequer will have made an important statement in the House with regard to the petrol tax. Our figures of last week, which showed that the net yield per annum cannot at present exceed £50,000, are to be recalled in this connection, The levying of the duty, apart from the paucity of the revenue from it, is presenting difficulties which were not anticipated. On Monday last, replying to Mr. Lonsdale, Mr. Lloyd-George stated that the probable yield of the tax, in a full year, on commercial motors was based on the assumption that approximately 20,000,000 gallons would pay duty at the 10. rate and bring in £125,000. Mr. Lloyd-George has clearly been advised wrongly.
Belhaven Steamers. Included in its range of commercial vehicles, the Belhaven Engineering and Motors, Ltd., of Wishaw, N.B.,
builds steam lorries, and a three-ton vehicle of this class, which has recently been sold to Mr. Frederick Ambler, of Bradford, is illustrated.
Railway Inspection Car Wanted.
A petrol-driven, motor-inspection trolley, designed both for broad and metre gauges, is to be bought by the Nizam's Guaranteed State Railways Co., Ltd., whose offices are at 268. Winchester House, Old Broad Street, E.C. Tenders must be lodged on or before the 1st proximo, and a form of specification will be sent to any applicant who remits 2s. Pd. to the address quoted.
An Argyll Caravan.
The latest report to reach us about a motor caravan concerns a 40h.p. Argyll with Dunlop tires. The vehicle has been driven across Arabia. with Mr. David Forbes and a party of four servants aboard; it carried an ample supply of tinned foods, bedding, 50 gallons of petrol in a specially-built tank, spare parts, picks, shovels, jacks, packing, and sledge hammers. Details of the trip have yet to reach this country.
Motor Fuel Proprietary.
The subscription list is now open, and will remain open until Monday next, for 50,000 ordinary shares of each in Motor Fuel Proprietary, Ltd. This company, with an authorised share capital of £100,000, and power to issue £30,000 in 6 per cent, debentures, has been formed for the purpose of taking over the business of Motor Fuel, Ltd., whose trade in " 13envis " spirit has been undergoing developments, principally at the hands of Dr. Paul Dvorkovitz, for the past two years. The directors may proceed to allotment on applications for 30,000 shares, and the purchase price of the interests to be acquired is set out at 03,162—entirely payable in fully-paid shares of the company. The contracts and general order of the prospectus appear to us to be eminently straightforward, but we very much doubt if the capital is sufficient to enable the company effectively to compete with the larger fuel interests, or to develop a distribution business upon anything like a satisfactory scale. Sales to date are small.
The Wolf Engineering Co., Ltd., with an authorised capital of 23,000 in 21 shares, and with its registered office at Poimtney Street, Wolverhampton, has been formed for the purpose of manufacturing, inter OM, heavy motor vehicles, and of undertaking the conveyance of goods.
The latest addition to the ranks of the builders of commercial-motor vehicles is the Sedan Autocar Syndicate, Limited, which is placing on the market a new two-ton motorvan with a front-driven chassis. The machines are being constructed at Newcastle, and the London office is at 17, Buckingham Street, Strand, where Mr. C. P. Raikes, the manager and a director of the company, is in command.
Mr. W. Stanway, the energetic Manchester and North Western agent of the Ryknield Motor Company, organised a meeting, as a protest against the Budget, at the Westminster Palace Hotel, on Wednesday the 12th instant. It was decided to confer with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and now it has been decided to refer the matter back to the Commercial Motor Users' Association.
At Shepherd's Bush.
Mr. Imre Kiralfy and his sons have been working under that abnormal pressure which is inseparable from exhibition work, and we congratulate them on the progress they have made towards that comparative repose which follows the opening day. This (Thursday) afternoon witnesses the public opening of the successor to the FrancoBritish Exhibition—the Imperial International. Our interest chiefly lies in the feet that a splendid service will be done to the motor industry by the educational value of the collection of historical motorcars, though we fail to comprehend why it only goes back to 1880. Why shut out the work of English engineers? Is it of no account that much was done before Herr Gottlieb Daimler and Herr Wilhelm Maybaeh gave the lead to M. Levassor? English inventors paved the way.
The roiling and making of the newly-surfaced roads has been carried out by the Oxfordshire Steam Ploughing Co., Ltd., of Cowley, near Oxford, which company has a large plant for hiring-out purposes.
Exhibition Tramcars.
We reported, in our issue of the 25th February, that Sidney Straker and Squire, Ltd., of Bristol and London, had secured an order from Mr. Imre Kiralfy for 12 petrol-engined tramcars. The first two of these cars, complete and ready for running, were unloaded at the exhibition grounds on Sunday last, and we had the pleasure of accompanying Messrs. Straker and Squire during the trial trips. Each car is fitted with a 30h.p. engine, and a gearbox with two forward speeds and one reverse ratio. There is a single live axle, driven by Ronald silent-type chain, at the forward end of the car, whose frame is otherwise supported on a four-wheeled bogey : there are, thus, three axles. Accommodation for 30 passengers is provided by each car, on cross seats, and the single deck is covered by a canopy for its whole length. Many miles of rails have been laid over all the principal walks in the grounds, and it is intended to charge 3d. per head for those who use the cars for inspection tours. The Hall Spare Wheel.
Messrs. Sissons, Platt and Co., of 74, High Street, Sheffield, write:—" We note in this week's issue of THE Comitmar. Marra,' page 200, a paragraph relating to a company which is being formed to exploit a new spare motor wheel. We presume this refers to the invention of Mr. John H. Hall of this city, who is a client of ours, and we shall be obliged if you will give publicity to the following correction, viz., that Sheffield will be the headquarters, and not Manchester as stated."
Insurance Agents Wanted.
The General Manager of the Car and General Insurance Corporation, Ltd., whose head office is at 1, Queen Victoria Street, E.C. (next door to the Mansion House), advises us that his directors are desirous to appoint additional agents for the transaction of business in the company's various departments. Although the " Car and General " has been the pioneer of motor insurance, and improvements in the terms of policies have been progressive, the latest facility being the covering of wear and tear, it has a number of other departments. These include the transaction of non-tariff business for risks in connection with employers' liability, fire, personal accident, fidelity guarantee. unemployment, burglary, etc., etc.