"Wake up, England:"
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We cannot refrain from commenting upon a communication which reached these offices, on the morning of the isth instant. It was addressed to us by a company which manufactures engines, inclusive of road tractors, in a cer. tam n town which, out of consideration for the feelings of those who should be primarily interested in what we are about to state, shall be nameless. The enquiry in question reads as follows :—" Will you kindly tell us from whom we can obtain particulars of the forthcoming R.A.C. Trials, i.e., rules, application forms, etc. Your early reply will oblige." Our direct, and early, reply intimated that the entry list had finally closed on the preceding Saturday, and we can hardly credit that any maker, who is desirous to take a share in so up-to-date and competitive a business as the manufacture and sale of commercial motors, should set out upon that campaign in so haphazard a manner. The company whose name we withhold really has no excuse for its oversight, for Press notices in regard to the forthcoming trials have been practically universal; apart from this fact. it was on the revised lists of the R.A.C., yet we fear that the incident is typical of others which occur in this country. Itis these " sleepy-hollow " methods, where anything in the nature of an intelligence department is virtually unknown. which have destroyed England's pre-eminence in other branches of industry. but we are reassured by the knowled.,Ye that this example is not characteristic of the general body of motor manufacturers and traders.
The Prince of Wales, on his return from the Colonial tour a few years ago, made use of the words which we have adopted as a headline for this short leading article, and his admonition can still be taken to heart with advantage. Conversation with Colonials who come to England bears out the view that they are often prepared to give a preference to goods and machinery from this country, but they very frequently express regret at the indifferent manner in which their custom is sought. If the experience of previous commerical motor trials may be taken as a guide, there will be a large influx of interested persons from India and the Colonies on the occasion of the forthcoming great demonstration run next month. We wonder whether any of our English manufacturers will discover this fact after the visitors have sailed on their return journeys?
Motor Ambulances.
The motor industry has a real friend in Mr. John Burns,
M.P. This Right Honourable gentleman, in his official capacities as President of the Local Government Board and a member of the Cabinet, apparently declines to allow him‘ self to be hurried by the factious extremists, and his general attitude, as befits a man who has attained statesman's rank, seems to be eminently fair and impartial. It is Mr. Burns who will have charge in the House, as did Mr. Walter Long in 1903, of any fresh motor legislation which the present Government may decide to introduce, and for that reason, if for no other, his action in regard to motor ambulances is encouraging. We drew attention, in our issue of the 4th July last, to the fact that Mr. Burns had secured the insertion,Of an enabling clause in the Public Health Bill, and local authorities will have statutory power, when this Bill passes on to the Statute Book, to provide and maintain motor ambulances, as well as to hire out, such ambulances to other parties. The success of the motor ambulance in the City of London, the great amount of work which it has been found possible to do with others in the service of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, and the increasing degree of smoothness in transmission which is obtainable with so many types that can now be obtained, are factors which cannot help but conduce to the placing of further orders in the immediate future. Hitherto, local authorities have been unable to provide motor ambulances without a special Act of Parliament.
Water Analyses.
The announcement on page .c92 should prove of considerable interest to the large number of our readers who own steam wagons and tractors. Rule-of-thumb methods for combating the undesirable effects of dissolved impurities in the water which enters the tanks of many heavy motors are nearly as bad as the absence of precautionary methods of any kind, and we have reason to know that fully one-fourth of the steam-propelled machines which are now in daily use are allowed to run under unfavourable conditions in respect of efficient vaporisation. The owner who does not require to study the question of boiler efficiency, owing to his fortunate situation as regards the quality of thewa'ter which his motors use, will not be interested. Our remarks are, however, more directly intended for others who, so long as their wagons get through the daily work somehow, do not trouble to appreciate the preiudicial consequences of even the thinnest coating of scale. They also, mOre obviously, refer to' the cases where trouble with the water is a constant annoyance. Undue strains are set up in the boiler, the steaming capacity is
markedly reduced, fuel is wasted, and maintenance charges are increased. Some drivers make a practice of throwing an occasional handful of soda crystals, or of carbonate of soda, into the tank, and a few are furnished with boiler " compositions " by their employers, but the vast majority of those whose water supplies give rise to boiler troubles, whilst they regard the difficulty as an unmitigated nuisance, resent the taking of any proper steps towards the provision of a remedy. The most glaring example probably was the refusal of the London motorbus companies to lay down water-softening plant when they purchased a number of steam-propelled vehicles; in this respect they ignored the experience of our leading railway companies, which class of undertaking seldom spends money unnecessarily.
The offer of a suitable analysis and recommendation, to any reader of this journal who wishes to get the best possible results from his available water supply, which we make on the page already quoted, has been prompted by our accustomed readiness to help users of commercial motors. .All who may elect to avail themselves of this offer, and we trust the response will be wide-spread, can at once disabuse themselves of the fear that they will be advised to buy any patented or proprietary article, for we are in a position to inform them exactly how to purchase any necessary chemicals at the lowest trade prices.
Final Preparations for the R.A.C. Trials : • Observers and Accommodation.
Both intending competitors, and the organisers of the forthcoming great demonstration run of the R.A.C. are now entering upon that stage of their preparations which is immediately antecedent to the competition proper. We give elsewhere (pages 591, 594 and 595) the latest available news in regard to the arrangements for the tests, and we desire to take this opportunity to enforce, once more, the importance of several matters which should be recognised as of primary interest by all entrants.
The word " qualified," when applied to an observer, should convey very much more than it appears to have done to some of the manufacturers who are supporting the R.A.C. in its heavy programme. We learn, with feelings of sincere regret, that a few' of the competitors have decided to pay their observers only " three to four pounds a week, inclusive of all expenses. ' Now, before we proceed to mention the inevitable difficulties which have already asserted themselves at various stopping-places on the line of route in regard to sleeping and feeding accommodation, let us briefly consider the duties and functions of an observer. He has, in the first place, nothing to do with any of the vehicles that may be entered by the maker who nominates him, but he has imposed upon him the responsibility of making notes and reports upon a succession of different machines which belong to the trade rivals of those whose nominee he is. This arrangement renders it highly desirable, if not wholly essential, that all the observers should be high-class, intelligent, level-headed, and selected men, and engineers by choice, for they will have to check and survey the running behaviour of vehicles which will be handled he drivers of more than average qualities. Inferior types of observers cannot help but give rise to unpleasant incidents on the road, and we most strongly deprecate, as much in the interests of the competing makers themselves as for its undoubted effect upon the smooth progress of the trials, the penny-wise and pound-foolish efforts of those who are haggling over terms with their observers, and are trying to beat them down in order to make what they wrongly imagine are good bargains. We trust that the Club will most carefully scrutinise the experience, qualifications, and general standing of each individual whose name is submitted for inclusion amongst those who virtually are "the judges' eyes " during ninety per cent. of the time
The foregoing subject of observers who are not "cheap and nasty" is intimately concerned with the question of the cost of living during the five weeks of the trials, and it is certain that there will be exceptional difficulties at Hungerford, Chippenham, Stafford, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Mansfield and the last rest, whilst there is no excess of willing
ness to find the necessary one-night's accommodation at other towns. A fleeting visit does not offer the same at
traction as a longer stay, and it is well within the range of possibility that some drivers and observers, let alone principals and staffs, will have to camp out beneath the azure (sic) vault of heaven or to drive to a neighbouring town in
order to enjoy the hospitality of an inn. With this pressure imminent, bow can an observer do his work with the required degree of competence and alacrity on " from three to four pounds a week inclusive " ? It is probable that he will have to spend an average of at least Z2 IOS. a week on food and lodging l We seriously urge all and sundry of the 250 persons who, it is estimated, will travel round the country in more or less close attendance upon the official cavalcade, to secure the comfort of their drivers and observers without delay, as nothing is more discouraging and dispiriting for a man than his finding himself "shut out " from successive houses after a dusty, hilly, tiring journey. There will be many a weary tramp for those who leave it to chance, or to the actual day of arrival, at some of the smaller towns and villages where halts are to be made.
The smart and well-finished appearance of many of the competing vehicles will be an interesting spectacular feature of the trials, and there is much to be said in favour of the closest attention to general effect. The private motorcar, when it was in the demonstration stage seven years ago, created a most unfavourable impression, during the ',coo-mile trial of 19oo, by reason of the general disregard for external condition and circumstances. Dust and mud were allowed to accumulate upon the bodies and wheels, until a number of the vehicles looked more fitted for association with a sanitary tipping-ground than the conveyance of the ladies whose good opinions their makers professedly set Out to gain. There were, of course, on that occasion, the elements of concentration upon a single route, speed, and constant passing and re-passing, each of which furnished a measure of excuse or explanation. A few weeks hence, and during the continuance of the trial for commercial motors, with the diversity of routes according to classification, in the absence of high speeds, and with no practical need for overtaking, we look for the uniform maintenance of the vehicles in a state that should appeal to the tradesman or merchant who can appreciate the advertisement value of an attractive-looking van Or lorry.
We can well understand the heightening pressure of the work at mS, Piccadilly. It is the universal experience, in connection with all such long-distance trials as those which are about to begin, that correspondence and general queries
multiply enormously during the two weeks which precede the day set down for the reception of the machines that are to take part. Scores of details demand careful and personal examination ; touch has to be maintained with, in this case, no less than 132 separate routes, and innumerable local idiosyncrasies, both of men and matters, have to be studied ; letters from competitors, observers and would-be observers, local correspondents, hotel-proprietors, chief constables, highway authorities, and members of the public at large pour into the office ; the judges have to be kept informed on multitudinous points ; and, last but not least, the Press becomes importunate. No, the Secretary and his principal assistants do not have much rest, and there will be no exception in the case of this, the greatest, and most farreaching instance of trials organisation that has been attempted in the history of international motoring. • The announcement of the awards in connection with the Roads Improvement Association's tests of last May leads us to remind supporters of "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR" that this branch of investigation is not of interest to owners of private motorcars only. The wider application of tar, or tar preparations, during road construction, in distinction from the employment of such liquids on the surfaces of roads as mere dust palliatives or for water-proofing purposes, is essential to the general comfort of all road users in country districts. We hope that no effort will be spared to persuade highway committees to back their surveyors in the use of tar-steeped road-metal, to the practical exclusion of loose binding material. The best of our road engineers favour this method of re-construction, but it must, unfortunately, be a matter of years before any general change is wrought.