In Public Service.
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Chesterfield Corporation has been unsuccessful in obtaining powers for railless electric traction.
Rutherglen Town Council has resolved to purchase a motor fireengine at an estimated cost of £800.
We learn that 40 Sassing omnibuses are on order for the Leipziger Allgemeine Kraft-Omnibus Gesellschaft.
The Bristol Tramways and Carriage Co., Ltd., is on the point of giving Gloucester a good service of taxicabs.
Coventry Corporation Tramways Committee has ordered 12 motorbuses from the Daimler Co., Ltd., of Coventry.
Wallasey U.D.C. has been rearranging its fire brigade disposition, but there is still a good deal more to be done.
According to "The Aberdeen Journal," there is considerable need for a sustained public service between Peterhead and Fra.serburgh.
The Isle of Thanet Tramway Co. is the latest electric-tramcar concern to seek to use motorbuses in connection with its main undertaking. The proposal under notice refers to running between Broadstairs and Kingsgate.
The authorities at Tunbridge Wells will probably hasten to revise their recent decision not to buy a motor fire-engine, by reason of the destructive fire in the borough, on the occasion of which the Constitutional Club and other buildings were seriously damaged.
Motorbus Lifeguards.
Dr. F. J. Waldo, the City of London Coroner, is no enemy of the motorbus. Occupying as he does an excellent position to form an impartial judgment, he endorses the view of the police that pedestrians are frequently themselves to blame for vehicular accidents.
We are pleased to have a letter from Dr. Waldo, under date the 19th inst., in which he expresses the view that many of the cases which come before him might have been avoided, and the lives saved, had a lifeguard been attached to the motorbus. Dr. Waldo has evidently recently seen for the first time the lifeguards at the sides of some of the London motorbuses, to which we refer Editorially elsewhere. In his note to us on the subject, which we have pleasure in supporting, he remarks that he has seen this innovation frequently suggested during the past few years. He concludes: "I find about 40 per cent. of deaths are caused by the front wheels of motorbuses, while as many as 80 per cent, are due to the hind wheels." Instead of purchasing another horse ambulance Edmonton Guardians are disposing of their old motor ambulance and replacing it with a new one.
The Electricity Department of the Greenock Corporation has ordered a Halley motor wagon, at a cost of £750, and the Electrical Engineer to that authority considers that it will effect a yearly saving of not less than £150.
The L.C.C. has accepted the tender of the " Cedes" Electric Traction, Ltd., at. 21668 5s. 4d., for the supply of two more electricallydriven motor escape-vans. The company is to be allowed to sublet the contract for the batteries to the Tudor Accumulator Co., Ltd.,
We are sorry to observe that the Southport Corporation has not been able to obtain powers to run motorbuses. We hope it will now get into touch with some responsible company, and so avoid the consequences of its Parliamentary dis abilities. Why should not the Daimler Co., Ltd., he approached ?
Leamington Town Council has resolved to pay 2.1045 for a motor lire-engine a Leyland.
New Central Omnibus Co, The directors of the New Central Omnibus Co., Ltd., have formally notified the directors of the L.G.O.C. that they will exercise their option in favour of taking a proportion of the net trading profit of the latter company, for the three years ending tile 31st December, 1915. Under this scheme, it is quite probable that the return on the capital may go as high as 20 per cent. per annum.
Blackburn Awakens.
The Mayor of Blackburn, at the last meeting of the Town Council, reported that the Corporation possessed three old fire-engines, and unfortunately two of them had broken down. They were respectively 37 and 30 years of age, and he considered that it was not a wise policy to bolster them up any longer. A visit had been paid to the works of Messrs. Merryweather, and, as immediate delivery could be given of a 350-gallon Hatfield petrol fire-engine together with first-aid apparatus and escape, the machine was ordered. A similar machine of 450-gallon capacity had also been ordered.
The question of rehousing the fire brigade is now under consideration.
Chesham Buys Up F.I.A.Ts.
The Chesham Automobile Supply Co., Ltd., will in future be known as the Chesham Supply Co., Ltd. This company, which has • done a very satisfactory business for some years in supplying Unic cabs and other vehicles on the gradual-payine.nt system, shows a net disposable profit of £5988 for the 12 months ended the 31st January last. This profit is reached after ample provision for certain allowances and contingencies ; the gross trading profit for the period was £18,697. The directors report that they have entered into a contract for the purchase of the assets of the
Motor Cab Co., Ltd., and that for this purpose they have registered a company called "The King's Cross Garage, Ltd." The whole of the ordinary share capital of this company has been supplied by the Chesham Supply Co., Ltd., and the amount required to complete the purchase has been obtained by the issue of six per cent. debenture stock in that company. Most of the F.I.A.T. cabs reach owner-drivers.
The Chesham Supply Co., Ltd., we observe, has an issued capital of 2118,540, and we congratulate its managing director. Mr. P. C. Middleton, and his colleagues, upon the strong position which they have achieved by downright hard work.