The War's Third Christmas.
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Monday next will be the third Christmas-day to fall within the period of hostilities. Some workers are to enjoy the temporary relaxation of extra holidays, by way of compensation for those foregone during the past summer; but our soldiers in training at home, or at home on leave from the Front, are very properly to have preferential travelling facilities. The inherent ingenuity of the officers and men who constitute the fighting aring overseas' inclusive of the M.T., A.S.C., will no doubt enable them to conjure up some approach to Christmastide festivity, although in relative degree and sense. Climatic and other actual conditions at practically all the .Fronts are such as to call for no small measure of mental cajolery before those who are in the midst of them can realize that itis Christnias-time.
Throughout the motor . industry at home, ana amongst all who help to' carry on the numerous branches of this country's internal transport, be they directly for munitions purposes or indirectly in seine section of war service, all wlio have been working without intermission may also look forward to a temporary respite. They, forced by age or other circumstances to remain at home, in many cases do not have any form of enjoyment or excitement—by contrast— which is even remotely comparable to occasional bright spots in the life of a soldier on active service. Much of their service is dull, tedious, unending—yet useful to the nation.
We desire to offer, to each of our readers, in the most-cordial terms that cold print will allow, the best wishes that apply to the environment in which he finds himself, and with every heartfelt regard to his family circumstances on Monday next, be they ef bereavement, separation, or reunion "A merry Christmas" is our wish—and do not forget that personal cheeriness helps others.
Advertisement Spaces on Motorvans.
The earliest volumee of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR bear testimony to the strong appeal which was made by us, in those "missionary days" of more than ten Years ago, to prospective buyers, on the score of the, advertisement value of the motorvan. The relative cheapness of the advertisement space which is provided on the sides, the back and, above all, the top of the average motorvan, should be obvious. • We do not assert that the advertisement value isnecessarily a definite or high percentage of the total costuof running a van, but we have always contended that it is in every case superior to that of the fixed hoarding or enamelled plate. Taking known rates of charge for displayed space on hoardings, or in railway stations, users of motorvans, on their looking into the facts, will find that they have at their disposal, on each oftheir own vehicles, advertisement space which, according to the size;of the panels, represents anything between R6 a. year for a parcelcar and 110 a year for a large box-van, based on area alone.
We again wish to remind users of the neglect only
too frequently of the space which is provided by the roof of the average van. Those vans which carry part of the load on top cannot turn the roof to account in this manner, but there are many vans which do not make the appeal that they might to the large travelling public who occupy the top-deck seats of motorbuses and tramcars, or to the potential customers who at all hours-sof.the day are looking down upon the traffic from, the first-floor and. higher windows of restaurants, hotels, shops and offices.
Whiten the Kerbs.
The London " Safety First" -Council will do well if it makes an immediate beginning on providing the necessary labour and appliancesto whiten the kerbs of London throughout the inner zone oi traffic. We are satisfied, from personal experiences which have befallen members of our staff and not a few friends, that the absence of a relatively-clear line of demarcation between the carriageway and the footway is the cause of a considerable total number of accidents and fatalities. .
When one has to cross a London thoroughfare after dark, the time element is of undoubted importance ; the probability of mishap is greatly increased if one has to feel for the kerb in default of seeing it, on arrival at the farther side, after crossing. The same difficulty is not :so acute at the point of starting to cross, because one can feel for the kerb with one's foot, much as a blind man does with a stick, and decide which is the, psychological instant—with one foot and leg hanging over the dangerous carriageway—before embarking upon the adventure of crossing. The absence of* whitened kerbs does, without question, engender an increase of accidents in respect of pedestrians who are not desiring to leave the footway, but who suddenly find that they have done so involuntarily, owing to their not knowing where the line of its edge lies. We have seen dozens of eeople overstep the lKerb, while essaying to keep upon the footway, and either recover themselves with varying degrees of alacrity and semi-acrobatic skill, or measure their length on the carriageway. This gross condition of affairs.nmst not he all-owed to continue. The Borough Councils may not have. either the money or the men to allocate either for the work. Economy of money in this regard is wicked. Let the London " Safety First" Council provide both the labour and the necessary outfits. Both can be forthcoming if the .will to take action be there, as we. believe it is.
We are ourselves prepared to organize a volunteer to work two or three nightsa week, in London, after traffic density has lessened, owing to our conviction that the non-whitening of the kerbs is in the nature of a public calamity under existing 'conditions after dark. The streets of Westminster are amongst the greatest offenders, and it is in the City of Westminster that the head offices of the L.G.Q.C. and its allied interests are located. it is, surely, everyb.ody's duty to co-operate in preventing mutilation:Irv-I-death in our home "no man's land" of darkened London. B17