Culled from Contemporaries.
Page 28
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A Selected Collection of Extracts from the British and Foreign Press.
"Clayton de Ransomes."
Writing of the Foden wagon, "La France Automobile " says :—" L'ensernble a conserve l'aspect dune machine routiere, comme celles qui furent exposes en 1867 par les maisons Albaret, Lutz, Garret, et Clayton de Ransomes."
A Multurn-in-Parvo Motor Hearse.
An adaptation of an automobile into a funeral car with new features has been patented in Cleveland, U.S.A. In appearance it is unlike that of the usual funeral conveyance, differing only in size from the lines of a standard limousine, but large enough to displace the hearse and five carriages. On the way to a cemetery it is divided into two rampart merits by a partition, and in inclement weather this may be collapsed and the coach used as a chapel in which to conduct the service at the grave. —7' lie Automobile, New York.
The Horse, with all its Shortcomings.
During the past few days the papers have been discussing the proposal of an official of the Westminster Council to try the experiment of ruling the horse off the roads altogether in a particular area, for a day, just to see what the horseIess era is likely to be when it comes. . . That it should have been made by a highway official is a sign of the times, but I think an even greater sign of the times is the way in which it has been received by the Press of the. country. The line of comment taken in all the references to it I have read has been an expression of approval and of pleasurable anticipation of almost a coming Utopia, when the horse, with all its shortcomings, shall be absent from our midst.—Mr. Henry Sturmey, in The Motor.
Witless Walsall.
News of the proposed '• horseless Sunday " experiment in Westminster has been carried as far as Walsall, and Walsall, being the centre of the harness trade, scents national degeneration In this wicked scheme. At a meeting of the Walsall and District Chamber of Commerce a .solution of protest has been carried, which is to be forwarded
to the Westminster authorities. Our economic history is full of such protests against rising tides. Wigmakers have protested against the Frenchilied and atheistical custom of wearing the natural hair. Bowyers have protested against the ungodliness of firearms. When shoe buckles went out of fashion the Birmingham buckle-makers begged the Prince Regent to make a stand against the change in shoes decently buckled. Their petition suffered by comparison with the wicked humour of one which followed it. The Corporation of " Body Carpenters," pointing out that their trade had suffered through the peace, invited the Regent to revive it by wearing a wooden leg. Precedent, we find, is against the success of the Walsall protest.—The Evening News, London.
The Moral Support of the Chassis.
To prevent undue speeding the police of London are contemplating a novel method of procedure, whereby the automobiles will loudly proclaim their movements. Taxicabs and omnibuses may be fitted with whistles, sealed so that they cannot be tampered with, which will he set to give a continuous warning as long as the machines travel at above a certain rate of speed. Thus the ccnscience of the driver will have more than moral support from his conveyance. — The Automobile, New York.
A Nlotorless Monday.
Mr. Thomson Lyon, the chairman of the Highways Committee of the Westminster City Council, has siwested to the Commercial Motor Users Association that. a selected area should be closed to all but rubber-tyred motor vehicles on some Sunday next October, in order to demonstrate to the public the advantage to town dwellers of this class of vehicle. . . . I have, therefore, a further suggestion to make, the corollary of Mr. Thomson Lyon's, which is even more revolutionary, but which, though more expensive and doubtless entailing much self-sacrifice, might at least clearly demonstrate to the public the advantages of automobile as compared with horse traffic ; and the consequences of penalising it out of commercial existence by a petrol tax, even with a shinplaster rebate. It is to withdraw every motor. omnibus and motor-cab, not for eight hours, hut for 24; not on Sunday, but on a week-day : not in October, but in the full tide of the season. Let the facilities of metropolitan travel we enjoy thiough the motor he brought home to us all by doing without them for once. —Geoffrey de Holden Stone, in T h Daily Mail, London.
The Pick-axe Action of the Horse.
A time most come, anti-motorists notwithstanding, when mechanical traction will be supreme, and the insanitary horse will he forbidden to use the urban thoroughfares, if not the country roads of our land. It is then likely to be found that the roads will be cleaner and more free from dust (caused largely by the pick-axe action of the horses' hoofs), and the traffic safer and speedier. It is .--ith the object of endeavouring to put the clock on " a few years, so that the present generation can see what will be the condition of our thoroughfares in the future, that Mr, Harold Thomson Lyon, chairman of the Highways Committee of the Westminster City Council, has communicated a suggestion for a " Horseless Sunday " to the Executive Committee of the Commercial Motor Users' Association. The dominating idea is to bring home to the public the numerous benefits which are gradually being conferred upon town residents by the growing use of rubber-tyred motor vehicles, of which a correct impression would be obtained by the artificial production of conditions which are likely to obtain a few years hence.—Ilinningham Post.
In Memoriam.
Firemen usually have a favourite horse, and the horse will die hard wtn fire brigades, if the men have their way. The firemen of Birmingham are paying a tribute to their pet horses, for at each of the fire stations the favourite is being painted in oils, and will remain on the walls, doubtless long after the original has gone to the equine elysium.—Birniingha 7f4 DiS patch.
The Extinction of the Horse.
In five years' time from now there will scarcely be a single horse left in England except the few animals which are kept for pleasure and the small tradesman's horse. The 'bus horse and the cab horse are growing scarcer, not every year, but every month and every week, and in a very short time they will be
practically extinct. The extinction of the horse is due to the general adoption of the motor both for business and pleasure. In two or three years' time the only remaining hansom cab will be in a museum.—Pearson's Weekly.
The Motor as Cinderella.
On some Sunday in October next there may be given to Londoners a glimpse of what their great City will be like when the horse-drawn vehicle has entirely disappeared from the streets. It is rather a tall order, and may not come off, but the Commercial Motor Users' Association is taking it seriously, and will thoroughly discuss the matter at its June meeting. The idea emanated from Mr. H. Thomson Lyon, chairman of the Highways Committee of the Westminster City Council, who suggests that a representative public committee might be formed. and that the whole of a selected area in London—possibly the City of Westminster—might be, by the tacit consent of the parties concerned, temporarily closed to all but rubber-tired motor vehicles for a period of eight hours. If it could be successfully carried through, the demonstration would undoubtedly do much to bring home to the public the numerous benefits which mechanical traction carries with it, but there is the question of compensation to horse-cab drivers and others, and it is doubtful if the scheme would be worth the outlay Motorists would pay a price readily enough if they had a guarantee that the horsed vehicles would not return, but on Monday you would find the holders of the " ribbons" back in increased minihers, asking for more back-sheesh and a " horseless Tuesday." There is really no reason why motorists should pay for an experiment of the kind, for any one who keeps an eye on the trend of things can see how surely and comparatively quickly self-propelled vehicles are displacing the older means of locomotion. The motor has been a Cinderella to other forms of traffic long enough. It may be harassed and held in check by the present Government, but it is bound, for reasons of cleanliness, reduced noise, and the saving of time, to triumph in the end.—The Referee.