Culled from Contemporaries.
Page 16
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Principally about the Parade, and Something about Trains.
An Irish Comment.
The Coronation motor parade at Earl's Court to-day was for the commercial possibilities of the motor a great triaimph.—" Belfast News Letter.''
From All Points of View.
The number of entries speaks for the popularity of the competition, and there is no doubt that institutions such as this are good both as an incentive to those in charge, and from the public's point of view.—" The Sunday Times."
You Don't Say Sow:
The team prize was won by a team of six Sowden wagons entered by the Sun Flour Mills. The runners-up were a team from the Westminster City Council and a team of Milne-Daimler mail vans.—" The Daily Chronicle."
Only One End to It.
I notice that Sir John Benn prophesied that "unless the L.C.C. made a stand the tramway property of the Council and its stock will go down, and Landon will lose millions of money," With the latter part of this sentence I entirely agree, but I do not think it matters much whether the L.C.C. make a stand or not, for the result will be the same in the end.—Lord Montagu in • " The Spectator."
A New Circus.
Motor traffic is rapidly proving to the man in the street the fact that it toes not wear the roads to anything like the extent which horse traffic does—in short, that it merely polishes the surface of any well-made highway, says Tim Co.iii:a CIAL Many visitors to London during the present season are most of all struck by this remarkable feature—the fine polish that has been given to the surface of London's principal carriageways. From St. Paul s Circus to Olympia, this striking result may be obseraed by all who care to look for it.—" Blackpool Herald."
Sweethearts and Wives.
The Coronation motor parade at Earl's Court to-day was a great triumph for the commercial possibilities of the
motor The display of commercial motors at the parade was bewildering in its variety. There was the King's new baggage van, brand new from Leylands, a businesslike-looking vehicle in chocolate, lined with red, and the motto " Honi soit qui mal y pense " on the side. The Metropolitan Asylums Board sent one of their motor-omnibuses used for fever patients, and the G.P.O. half-a-dozen red motor mail vans. "The Star" newspaper circulation department was represented by two Leyland motors. There were drapers' light vans and Pickford's steam traction engines, omnibuses, and even motor furniture vans. They all wore cards protesting that they used only Blank's motor spirit or Dash's 'lubricants, and they had their drivers
• in their smartest uniforms or their -cleanest holland coats, with their very kbest girls on the box.—" The Star."
An Event of the Year.
The annual Commercial Vehicle Parade has always been quite an event of the automobile year, but on Monday last it was an exceptionally brilliant function.—" The Globe."
Better than Ever.
This parade was the fifth of the series. and in point of numbers easily surpassed all its predecessors. They consisted entirely of goods-carrying vehicles, and there were no taxicabs or motor-omnibuses included.—" The Times."
Spick and Span.
The excellence of the English horsedriver is largely due to the pride he takes in the animals under his care, and he has the good sense to see that he obtains the best results by treating his team well. A similar idea has been adopted with great success in commercial motoring, and an annual parade is held to bring into prominence the skill
and care of the drivers To the organizers, however, it was a label of love, and the spick.and-span vehicles with their fine records of usefulness proved well worth careful examination.—" Country Life."
All-round Praise.
His Majesty the King having become patron of the parade, the association spared no pains or expense to make the event a success, and their efforts were rewarded in a manner which must have given entire satisfaction to the promoters as well as to the Royal Automobile Club and the Society of Motor Manufacturers, both of whom had given cordial support to the movement. . . . . Drivers and engineers entered into the spirit of the competitions with evident zest, and the result was a brave array which was interesting both by reason of the quality of the cars and their great variety.—" The Daily Telegraph," Equus mortuus est.
No fewer than 392 vehicles turned up at Earl's Court to parade and compete for the numerous prizes ; even then some 15 streets outside had to be commandeered for the actual marshalling of this Brobdignagian fleet of heavy cats. . . . The object, as with the carthorse parade, is to encourage the men to develop a real interest in their charges, be they equine or auto-propelled, to study them and take care of them, and to get to understand them ; and the C.M.U.A., as could be seen on Monday, by this alone has simply justified itself and bred the right spirit of competition in the men—men who have so mach that
is valuable in their hands. . . Sad as it seems sentimentally, I fear that each year in the evolution of things the old Whitsun Cart Horse Parade will dwindle till it dies a natural death, while the other will grow out of all bounds. The omnibus has already taught us that the horse is dead as a factor for heavy haulage, and must become as extinct as the proverbial dodo. —Gerald Biss in "The Standard."
The Marshals that Bustled.
The vicinity of the Earl's Court Exhibition was a scene of bustling activity on the occasion of the Coronation parade of the commercial motor vehicles organized by the Commercial Motor Users Association.—" The Evening Standard."
Inflitential Support.
The desire of the promoters was to encourage drivers of commercial motors, by means of money prizes and other awards, to take a personal interest in the driving and condition of their vehicles, and realizing the importance of the object willing support has been given to the effort by most of the great Metropolitan firms who now employ motor traction in connection with their business.—" The Morning Post."
Dartford's Delight.
Birds of a feather flock together, and even motorcars are occasionally gregarious. They were so on Whit Monday, when the Commercial Motor Users Association held its annual show and parade, at Earl's Court. It does not take many of these large vehicles to con
stitute a crowd They formed an imposing demonstration of modern progress and force Messrs. Burroughs Wellcome and Co. showed four of their motors, and secured, what is probably a record at such a competition, a prize for each one. This was tt.e more remarkable as the cars were exhibited after their long and dusty journey from Dartford, in competition with London cars arriving spick and span from short distances.—" Dartford Express."
An Authoritative Technical Opinion.
A special interest attaches to the report on the traanways just presented to the London County Council by the Highways Committee, since this report is, in substance, a confession of failure, and an admission that the millions which, it was claimed in 1901, were to be diverted from the pockets of the " Trusts " to those of the ratepayers, have little likelihood of ever being more than a reminiscence of a pleasurable anticipation Complaint is made that the motorbuses do not pay for the use of the roads, but there is probably no vehicle less likely to injure a wellpaved street than such an omnibus with its rubber tyres, and, as a matter of fact, the petrol tax, which is directly allotted to road improvement and main tenance, amounts to £39 per annum per omnibus Obviously the real complaint against the motorbus lies not in its increasing the cost of road maintenance, but in the fact that, as shown in the recent report to the London traffic branch of the Board of Trade, it is a more efficient means of transport than the tramways, and that unless the latter are granted a legal monopoly, which ft rtunately they do not as yet possess in London, there is not a little likelihood that they may ultimately become a permanent charge on the rates.—"Engineering."