Motorbus World.
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The Cricklewood " Tube Bill " has been rejected.
The loss on the Brighton Corporation Trams for last year was £2,420.
Mr. Arthur Tiney, of Herne Bay, has been granted a license for a motorbus service between that place a lid Canterbury.
Motorbuses at Stafford.
The Motor Service and Supply Co.. Ltd., of Stafford, recently held its first annual meeting at the Guildhall of the county town. The inauguration of the undertaking has resulted in a total loss, inclusive of depreciation, of £445, but the directors are hopeful of much improved results this year.
How Much per Motorbus?
Some amusing estimates have appeared in both the technical and general Press, with reference to the cost per bus per annum to the London omnibus companies in consequence of the increased price of petrol. We have been amazed to see this put at an average of less than £20, whereas it cannot average less than £35.
Only Four Years Ago.
We reproduce at the foot of this page two photographs which are of historical interest to the " Motorbus World." The London General Omnibus Company was not quick to adopt the motorbus in the early days, and one of our illustrations shows the complete fleet belonging to that company in May, 1905, in addition to a vehicle belonging to the Associated Omnibus Company. The other reproduction is from a photograph of the first MilnesDaimler vehicle to be purchased by the company. This machine was the first to run from the Dellis Hill garage—a converted horse-yard, which was for
several years the headquarters of the motor department. The Fischer, petrol-electric, mammoth chassis, which has only recently been broken up, a Clarkson single-decker steamer and an Orion, fitted with an old horse-bus body, were the earliest motor-vehicle acquisitions by the "London General." Subsequent to large purchases by the Road Car Company and Tillings, and to the formation of the London Motor Omnibus Company, experiments were hastily inaugurated by the London General Omnibus Company, which acquired examples of Milnes-Daimler, Wolseley (horizontal type), StrakerSquire and Crossley-Leyland manufacture, in order to gain experience. Mr. Bottomley, on Monday night last, presented a petition to the House • of Commons, as a protest against the petrol tax, from some 2,000 London omnibus drivers and conductors.
A Lancashire Promotion.
The prospectus of the Wigan and Chorley District Motor Bus Co., Ltd., whose registered office is at 28, Margaret Street, Wigan, has been in circulation, 3,000 E1 shares being. offered for subscription. The directors state that they will go to allotment on a subscription of 1,000 shares, and the only contract in the prospectus is for the purchase of three 24h.p. de Dion omnibuses from the Motor Supply Co., Ltd., of London, at an inclusive price of £750. The company contemplates the later introduction of motorcabs.
New Scottish Services.
Messrs. Brown and Findlay, of Dundee, are running a lbh.p. Arrol-Johnston omnibus, with accommodation for 18 passengers, between Lochee, Birkhill and Mu irhead.
South-west Argyllshire is to beopened up to tourist traffic during the coming summer by means of a motor char-it-bancs which will run between Ardrishaig and Oban, and Ardrishaig. and Loch Awe. This will enabl& tourists to traverse the interesting and beautiful district bounded by Loch Fyne on one side and the sea on the other. Ardrishaig, ()ban, and Inveraray are all connected with Glasgow, either by boat or train, or bboth; the new service will lend itself to the making of circular tours, and will provide a handy means of communication for residents. There are many other districts in the west of Scotland capable of similar development by road motor-coach.
Worthing Motor Services, Ltd., as a private company, with an authorised capital of £3,000, has its registered office at 23, Marine Parade, Worthing.
A Cab Collision.
A cab-owner named William Harris hrought an action against the London Road Car Co., Ltd., at the Clerkenwell County Court, and this was heard by His Honour Judge Edge on the 29th March. The evidence showed that, in July of last year, about 11 p.m., the cab-driver emerged from a cross road and collided with the omnibus. It, was a question of who should have given way, and the cabman apparently did not do so. The evidence was Of a somewhat conflicting nature, both in relation to the circumstances and the value of the horse, but Mr. Hartley Russell, a solicitor, who occupied the cab at the time of the mishap, declared that he was able to see the motorbus while it was thirty yards away, whereas the cabman said that he first saw it three or four yards off.
The jury found that there was negligence on the part of the bus driver, but contributory negligence on the part of the cabinet'. judgment was entered for the defendant company.
Turner Steam Chars-a-Bancs. Mr. J. B. Dumbell, the managing director of Turner's Motor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., of Wolverhampton, tells us that his company has just sent out to Arabia the first of a batch of 0h p. Turner steam eliars-a-hancs. Prior to shipment, the vehicle demonstrated its ability to climb a hill of 1 in 6 when fully laden, and to maintain an average speed of 12 miles an hour, on give-and-take roads. The complete weight of the machine, unladen, but with full tanks, is just over 30cwt. The bodies are specially designed for adjustment to suit particular classes of service, and in live minutes can be converted for the conveyance of goods. We hope, at an early date, to enter into constructional details.
Close to the Kerb.
A judgment was given, on the 8th instant, in the King's Bench. Division, before Mr. Justice Coleridge and a common jury, against the Great Eastern London Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., in favour of a Mr. George Barrington, for £300 damages. The plaintiff, in July of last year, was struck, while standing on the kerb, by a mudguard of one of the defendant company's motorbuses. This decision is distinctly at variance with the one reported in our issue of the 8th April, in respect of a similar mishap, which resulted in the amputation of a man's toe, and in which case the omnibus company won, it being held that the vehicle might legally go as near to the kerb as its driver could take it.