Opinions from Others.
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The Editor invites corresPondence on all subjects connected 4.ith the use of commercial motors. Letters should be On one side of the paper only, and type-written by preference. The right of ab5reviation is reserved, aud no responsibility for the views expresse I ss accepted.
A Horseless Sunday.
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[950) Sir :—What a shock the proposal for a "Horseless Sunday" must be to the "old buffers" who hate motors! I am glad to think that this genus is less numerous than was the case six or seven years ago, but there are sure to be some obnoxious persons who will stick out for their technical rights to drive the insanitary horse into the pure area of Westminster on that day in October next. The number of recalcitrants should, however, be so small that ridicule alone must descend upon those who refuse compliance with a programme which all progressive individuals will approve. It is, indeed, a sign of the times that this proposal has been so well received, and only those with " axes to grind " are likely to oppose it, in addition to pre-Victorian •• fogeys " they—both together— deserve to be snubbed pretty badly in these days of international competition. I am delighted to see that Mr. Thomson Lyon is ready to arrange that compensation shall be paid in some instances: there are certain to be cases of hardship. For example, a '' cabby " may have to go several miles out of his way, to get round the prescribed area, and his "fare " may want to pay for the direct mileage only
The subject has already been ventilated in the Press. whose power is so great in such matters, and their favourable comment augurs well for the success of the experiment. As an original subscriber to "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR," I shall be delighted to send you a guinea for the compensation fund, and you can have it on appli cation.—Yours truly, R. J. WILLIAMS.
[We are obliged by Mr. Williams' offer of help, and he may receive an application in due ermrse.—En.l
Butchers Meat by Darracq Van.
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[951] Sir :—Thinking you would be interested, I send you two photos of my 8h.p. Darracq converted into a meat cart. This is much faster than a horse and cart. I have had the car about two years, and it is fitted with a detachable tonneau. I use it in ray trade, as a butcher, making it into a two-seater when going to markets; or, if I have more than one passenger, I have the tonneau on, but neither photograph shows that.
The last three days of each week, I have country rounds, and I take meat round with the van box on, starting off with about 30 to 40 stone of meat, and doing about 20 miles a day. The van box was not made for the car until about three months ago. I first used it in very deep snow, when it would have been impossible for a horse to do the journey. Of course, then, I had to go on second speed, but I got through all right. I may say that I have been the first butcher to take meat round this part of the country by motor. I have used Clincher grooved tires, and have had very little trouble with them. Having had a motor " bike " for three years previously, the driving is easy. I consider it quite as cheap as a horse and cart—much more so, if you take into consideration the mileage: I get about 25 to SO miles to the gallon. How shall I get on with the petrol tax Yours truly, W. M. GREEN. Alconbury, Hunts.
[This user will have to pay the 311. per gallon whenever he uses the ear other than for trade purposes.—En.J
The Good Agent: Co-operation and Idealism.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[952] Sir :—At the present time, when trade is nearly at a standstill and men are hesitating about exchange from horse to motor, a great deal depends on the seller or agent, who in a few cases has spoilt his chances by selling a second-hand pleasure car with a suitable body for trade or commercial purposes, and the result has been detrimental to the trade. In my opinion, every agent should be a co-operator: co-operation to-day is the ruling motive—the most pronounced element in the world's system of work. It is true, that co-operation as a rule makes men collectivists, but it retains and increases their mutuality of interest in the accomplishment of a definite result. On the other hand, individualism, always, as it were, lays itself open to every adverse influence. Many do not recognise the truth of this, and therefore do not realise the undeniable benefits derived from co-operation.
The highest ideal is this : an institution of those who make and those who sell; those who work head, hands, and heart, and those who furnish the capital, should all have a share in the profits, according to the part they play. Makers and agents should be partners (in a way), and it should be made worth their while so to trade. They should have a pride in their business, to make it a success in all respects, but not at the cost of endangering
their manhood and honour. The motorcar to-day plays an important part in civilisation ; it is the greatest saver of time' since the telegraph and telephone, and the greatest easer of man's burden since the invention of the steam locomotive. It is a thing worth doing, this making and selling of road motors, and it can only be done well by working shoulder to shoulder, for the men of today are the pioneers, and as such must work as the pioneers of old. They must be sincere, not seeking success at the sacrifice of the rights of others, but at all times bearing in mind that transportation means civilisation and rapid progress, and that it pays in making life better, fuller, and pleasanter, and bringing better results.
I conclude with a quotation from the writings of Sir A. Conan Doyle :— •• Don't tell me of luck, for 'tis judgment and pluck, And a courage that never will shirk; To give your mind to it, and know how to do it, And put all your heart in your work."
The force of these lines should be appreciated by every,
body.—Yours, etc., "NORTH COUNTRY."
The Registration of Second-hand Vehicles: Extortionate Fine at Liverpool.
The Editor, " THE COMM:ER.01AL MOTOR."
[953] Sir :—At the Liverpool Police Court, on Wednesday last, the stipendiary, Mr. S. Little, heard several interesting cases under the Motor Car Acts, amongst them being one concerning the licensing of cars, or rather the transference of registration from one owner to another. It appears that the car in question (a commercial van) was sold in 1905, and that through inadvertence the thenexisting registration was not altered, Summonses were issued to both the old and new owners, the wording of the Act in regard to which procedure says : " Notice of a change of ownership should be given either by the new or the old owner."
The defence set up by the defending solicitor (Mr. Fred Kent), who acted for both the old and the new owners, was that : (a)—The two parties, that is the old and new owners, could not be summoned for the one offence, as Article 4 of the Motor Car (Registration and Licensing) Order, 1903, provided that notice of change should be given by one or the other, and did not provide for both to do so, and it was the duty of the police to select which to summons; therefore, to summons both the old and new was a void proceeding.
(h)—In the event of no application's being made to continue the registration, under Article 4 aforementioned, the registration ipsn jure became void, and the position of the new owner was that he was an unregistered owner but could not be proceeded against unless lie were a driver of the car on the public highway, and he was not summoned for that.
(c)—Further, having regard to the last point urged, the summonses were in themselves bad, as the change of ownership had occurred five years ago, and proceedings should have been instituted within six months from the date of the offence, the time prescribed by the Summary Jurisdiction Act, and it was not a continuing offence having regard to Article 4.
In reply to a question by the stipendiary, the prosecuting solicitor submitted that, whether a car were used on the public highway or not, it should be registered, but the stipendiary very sensibly thought differently and dismissed both summonses. This decision, however, had evidently been anticipated by the local authorities, as a summons had also been issued against the driver of the car, an employee of the new owner, for driving an unregistered car on the public highway—the new owners thus being caught coming and going. The unfortunate and innocent employee was ordered to pay a fine of the extraordinary amount of £15, and it seems manifestly unfair to place this burden on the employee driver,
The heavy fines that are consistently being imposed on Liverpool motorists for technical offences is creating a strong feeling amongst them, and they consider that the stipendiary is assuming an unreasonable and harsh attitude in—for instances-imposing a line of £2 on a taxidriver for such a paltry offence as having no tail lamp (especially in the case of a first offence), the Act never being intended to be administered to such extremes.
In the registration case referred to, 15 seems to me an appalling figure, there being no extraordinary circumstance to take into account in arriving at this amount, but simply an oversight on the part of both the old and new owners to take the necessary steps to transfer, and the sooner the inequity of such heavy tines in cases of this kind is brought home to the powers that be the better it will be for the already heavily-penalised motorist.
In the rear-light case, Mr. Little remarked: " The more I am satisfied that these lamps are difficult to keep alight, the more I shall increase the penalty." He also informed the defending solicitor (referring to a defendant who had not in Court his license, which was required for endorsement) that in future, when defendants did not bring their licenses with them, he should consider the fact when fixing the amount of the fine. Another case of an excessive fine: a taxicab driver, who was alleged to have driven to the common danger by cutting across another vehicle, was fined :,C10 and costs, although this was the man's first offence .—Yours truly, ALBERT IVIURRAY. Southport, 14th May.
A Curious Speeilication.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[954] Sir :—When I saw Mr. Wallace's letter in your last issue, I expected to read a defence of the specification, but Mr. Wallace has only touched one side, and that the least of it. I entirely agree with Mr, Wallace as to the advantage to an engineer-in-charge of having only one type of vehicle in the garage, so I was not at ail surprised that the contract for the eight ambulances for the London Asylums Board, the other day, went to the firm whose cars they already had, but I was under the impression that the tender issued by the West Ham Union was for its first vehicle. That is so.—En.] I may be wrong, but it was upon that assumption that I criticised the specification. But, even supposing that they already have a car, and that the specification issued is an exact copy of it, then, whilst agreeing with everything which Mr. Wallace says, I can only transfer my criticism to the " gardener "—or other official—of the West Ham Union, responsible for the design of the first vehicle, for I cannot for a moment suppose that any motor firm understanding its business would have, if left to itself, put together such a specification. It is needless to say that I was in no wise criticising Messrs. Dennis Bros., to whom the order will almost certainly go, and I join with Mr. Wallace in saying, " Good Luck " to them, and I congratulate them on the fact that the contract has not gone to some foreign maker of pleasure cars with a big name_ At the same time, taking Mr. Wallace's view of the question, is not it a bit rough on the trade that long and elaborately-detailed specifications should be issued for tenders, when all the while those issuing them have no intention whatever of buying any other than one particular make ?
In the case of the Metropolitan Asylums Board referred to above, I remember seeing it stated, that, I think it was, thirty-six tenders had been received. Now, just see what a collective amonnt of absolutely-useless work and expense the motor trade were put to, and I know that in, the present. instance the form of tender requires that full. and detailed drawings of chassis and vehicle—to a large extent an entirely new model in many respects—have to he submitted with the tender. Would a sovereign or anything like it cover the amount of work of drawing office. and estimating staff entailed by full compliance with the. requirements of such a tender?
In regard to the last paragraph of Mr. Wallace's letter, I was not speaking of a motorbus with 4in. frame, hut of the absurdity of putting in.-gauge steel in a frame designed to carry about newt. of live load only with quite a moderately-weighted body.—Yours faithfully, Coventry. HENRY SmuusTRT, The Petrol Tax.
'The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[955] Sir :—No one seems to me to have put forward the unfortunate case of commercial vehicles driven by petrol. I have lately invested in such, and have also still left horse-drawn vans. I also use spirit for other commercial purposes than propulsion. Why is my capital in petroldriven vans to be penalised ? This is doing practically no harm to the roads, but my horses, which are doing harm, are left as before. Why am I penalised because I am enterprising enough to try a modern method, whereas my competitors do nothing, and so escape paying the tax entirely ? Why is business taxed at all F
Is it not essentially the commercial ears which will have to pay now Nly motorvan may take one gallon of petrol for every 10 miles, whereas my motorcar may go 30 miles on one gallon. The van used for business will pay therefore half as much again per mile as my pleasure car I Had you space, I could point out how the incidence of the tax will tend to encourage the very kind of motorcar driving we all want to stop. The whole method of this tax is bad. In any case, all rubber-tired motorcars or motorvans should be quite free.—Yours truly,
SIDNEY TEDBUTT.
Leamington Spa.
Users Experiences (No. XIV).
The Editor, "TEE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[956] Sir:—! am very much obliged to "Driver" (Wakefield) in your issue of 15th May for the information that metallic packing can be used satisfactorily in motor wagons. I am arranging to have a wagon fitted throughout with metallic packing, and I trust my experience will be as satisfactory as that of " Driver." The general tone of this letter is a pleasant relief after some of the bombastic statements one so often reads.
I am glad to see that Observer " confirms my remarks on the peculiar qualities necessary for a motor-wagon driver ; his letter is worth the careful attention of all motor-wagon owners.
Petrol lorries appear to be selling like hot cakes in certain quarters, and, whilst I believe that there is a great future before them, I think they will be required to be treated with greater care than has been meted out to steam wagons if depreciation is to be kept within rensonable bounds. Although my experiences as a motor-wagon carrier have been limited to steamers, I have had some experience with internal-combustion engines, and know that, whereas you can " flog " a steam engine with a certain amount of impunity, it is seldom possible with a gas engine. A very slight defect will cause a great loss in power, and the causes of failure are not so obvious as on a steam motor. It is not, of course, desirable to " flog " machinery of any type, but where the conditions are so variable as in that of road carrying it is often an unfortunate necessity-. I certainly consider the difference in the tare weight of the vehicles gives a big advantage to the petrol lorry over the steamer as at present designed, but I think, in this respect, makers of steam vehicles have not developed their designs as far as they might have done, and have been too much influenced by traction-engine practice. There can be no question that rubber tires offer a solution to many failures set up by vibration, and that these could be more readily adopted in steam wagons once the tare weight was reduced. The failures due to vibration on motor wagons are at present the chief factors of uncertainty with which the user has to deal, and, although their occurrence is not frequent, the fact that they cannot always be guarded against is a serious matter. Metal will become fatigued through the constant vibration and weaken the parts concerned. This I believe to he the chief cause of axles' breaking : moreover, it is found difficult to keep nuts tight on the parts which come between the road and the springs ; wheels, brake gears, and chains are all affected by the want of cushioning, and, as these are perhaps the most serious items in the ordinary repair account, there is more scope for tires to save their first cost than merely in the increased vehicle speed.
There is, however, another factor to be considered from the carrier's point of view. Traffic in most cases is not spread out equally over the week, and the custom has grown up of making heavy dispatches at the week-end, and again at the month-end. With steel tires, it is possible to expand one's carrying capacity to meet these exceptional demands by the additional use of trailers, but it is questionable whether the same could be profitably done with rubber tires.
Our log sheet for the week is as follows : earnings, £65; mileage, 814; tonnage, 168 ; percentage of work done, 100; coke used, 7 tons 4't.; oil (gear), 8 gallons; and oil (cylinder), 3 gallons.--Yours, etc.,
" MOTOR-WAGON CARRIER."
Motors in Turkey.
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[957] Sir :—I have for some time now taken up my duties as chief engineer of the Societe' Otthmane d'Autobus, which has a number of old " Pioneer " motorbuses in their new role, i.e., " Progres."
NI uch may have been said and written to you—more or less authentic, with emphasis on less—about this venture, but few really know the facts, advantages, prospects, etc., of this enterprising company, which unfortunately is not English, or financed by English capital at all. Further, while stating this, it may be interesting to some English motor firms to learn that it is in their power to take the field and hold it against all comers; but it must be soon, and with the right article—not old " Pioneer " motorbuses. Sufficient strength and the right chassis must be provided: the people are there, and plenty of money.
So far, ours have been educational; the people are delighted, and the difficulty has been to keep the cars from being overcrowded each journey. We run them without the top seats, and the distances and fares charged would arouse the envy of many motorbus company directors.
The first day's work for the four cars will interest you. The company, on my advice, offered the buses to the military (Salonika investing army) upon their entrance into Constantinople. Orders came to remove prisoners (soldiers), kits, rifles, ammunition, and baggage from captured depOts to more safe quarters. In this revolution, war, or call it what you wish—for at all times the streets were fairly crowded with people, and most shops open, as the affair was not exactly of the people, but diplomatic and military, the " invaders" meant business and no mistake. Yet, with the exception of martial law and " curfew " time at night, mixed with a little shelling and rifle fire generally in the evening or very early morning, one would have taken the whole as a special spectacular show or practice on a grand scale.
To return to the prospective motorcar business, no other country at the present day is in more need of a better vehicle than Turkey : the rolling, shaking and slow fourwheeler—an open carriage " arrah-bah "—is used extensively for pleasure and business, and is very dear. Any motorcar seen on the streets is a novelty, and when stopped is quickly surrounded by a mixed crowd, and the number of business men that enquire the price of such a car, the upkeep, etc., strikes one forcibly.
I wish some gentlemen in the motor industry at home would send to me a stock of handy, serviceable cars for either pleasure or business purposes, and especially such that have an excess of power to seating capacity, for both roads and hills are heavy, owing to their neglected state : any motor vehicle sent out here must be very powerful. I will supply all necessary information, and take over the management of a garage, fitted out to repair, overhaul and maintain any car on the road (private or public) such as I have been accustomed to in London and the Provinces, or act as agent. The floed of the motor boom is just beginning : are the French and Germans to have it all ? 'Flue British are the best-liked people here—the Turkish nation has faith in them.
I desire to represent any Arm for reliable motor accessories and tires for Constantinople and district.—Yours faithfully, THOS. WM. ARMSTRONG. Constantinople.