Theatres' Plea on "Special Occasion

24th September 1954, Page 87

24th September 1954

Page 87

Page 87, 24th September 1954 — Theatres' Plea on "Special Occasion

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PAA N appeal to the Minister of Transport to help to remove difficulties in arranging coach parties to provincial theatres caused by the interpretation of a "special occasion," has been made by the Theatre Managers' Association.

The plea is contained in the Association's journal, Theatre Industry. Many provincial theatres, it is stated, have been hard hit because of the delay by the Minister "in devising legislation to counteract the result of a recent Court decision on the meaning of 'a special occasion' and to implement the findings in the report of the Thesiger Committee,"

Coach proprietors who had been accustomed to providing vehicles for rural people to visit. the theatre were now debarred by law from doing so. Many theatres had lost trade. The Association asked for the situation to be cleared up before the pantomime season started.

AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE IN CROSSLEY CHASSIS rOMBINED with the Monocontrol transmission, described in The Commercial Motor last week, there is to be seen on the Crossley stand at Earls Court an automatic hydraulic overdrive. This unit, developed in conjunction with Self-Changing Gears, Ltd., works on the principle of using road speed and engine torque, and cuts in automatically at a predetermined speed under specific load conditions.

The overdrive unit is incorporated with the main gearbox and is contained in a cylindrical housing at the nose of the box.

LIGHT ROAD SURFACES TO IMPROVE VISIBILITY

THE efficiency of street lighting could be greatly improved if light instead of dark aggregates were used for road surfacing. Often these were obtainable at little or no extra cost, compared with dark material.

This was stated by Mr. A. J. Harris and Mr. A. W. Christie, of the Road Research Laboratory, in a paper presented to the Association of Public Lighting Engineers at Eastbourne last week.

By improving visibility in built-up areas at night, it should be possible to reduce adult casualties by about 37 per cent, and deaths by about 67 per cent., said the speakers.

BLACKBURN REPORT DISCUSSED

RECOMMENDATIONS by a special IN committee who studied the causes of " recurring crises" in Blackburn Transport Department have been discussed between the town council and a deputation from the Transport and General Workers' Union. It was suggested that two works committees should be set up, one to deal with traffic problems and the other maintenance.