Passing Comments
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Railway in Japan InJAPAN is becoming motor adequate for Heavy .1 minded, and proposes to
Traffic build a 660-mile motor route joining Tokio with Fakuoka, the existing railway being no longer capable of dealing with the increasing demand from passenger and goods traffic, whilst the present national road traverses numerous built-up areas.
A Summary of IN the Home Office Return Prosecutions for I dealing with offences relating Motor Offences . . to motor vehicles in England
• and Wales for the year 1938, the total convictions recorded were: exceeding speed limit in built-up areas, 75,012; exceeding limits for goods vehicles, 31,137; failing to stop at traffic signals, 22,756'; neglect of other traffic directions, 21,559; careless driving, 21,435; driving without licence, 12,187; no third-party insurance, 11,190; other driver's licence offences, 10,463; breach of regulations governing pedestrian crossings, 6,122; driving recklessly or dangerously, 4,750; other offences in connection with third-party insurance, A26 3,511; failing to stop after accident or to report, 3,216; driving under the influence of drink or drug, 2,325; weight-limit offences, 1,661. This will give drivers an idea of what to avoid. There were prosecutions for many other offences, but the individual numbers were comparatively small.
Clever Makeshift INGENIOUS " get you that Kept Lorry on 1 home " repair dodges are the Road . . . . always interesting and often
helpful. We encountered one such the other day which displayed considerable resource. A fibre vernier magneto coupling of the Simms type had sheared off all the serrations on one side, but the driver of the vehicle that was thus put out of action got the engine running again by the simple expedient of driving nails through the coupling so that their heads were in the bottoms of the "
valleys" on the undamaged side and their points protruded on the smooth side. He then cut the nails off to suitable length. The exposed portions replaced the lost serrations, and the makeshift lasted until a new coupling could be obtained.
New Safety Scheme QOME concrete kerbs in for Making Kerbs ).--" France contain a white Visible porcelain inlay. With vehicle headlights alone, the kerb becomes visible at over 330 ft., and the brightness is retained indefinitely, being six times greater than that for white concrete.
The Production of ECTURING at the Royal
Motor Fuel From "Society of Arts, Sir Gilbert Coal T Morgan, 0.13.E., referred to products obtained from Coal .by low-temperature carbonization. He said that 20 gallons of a new type of tar, sometimes called coal oil, and two to three gallons of motor spirit were recoverable. He also gave details of the hydrogenation process. Clean coal is reduced to a fine paste with heavy oil, and forced, under a pressure of 3,700 lb. per sq. in., into a pre-heater, thence
Through three successive converters where, at 450 degrees C., the paste contacts with hydrogen and a catalyst. The products pass through a condenser, where the oils separate from the permanent gases, and the former are distilled to yield motor spirit and a heavy oil, the latter returning to make a coal paste. In addition, substantial quantities of creosote and low-temperature tar have been hydrogenated to produce spirit.
Encouraging CornIS the general trade of the ments Upon the I country, apart from rearina Growth of Trade . meat, really in a healthy con dition? According to Mr. J. Gibson Jarvie, Chairman of United Dominions Trust, Ltd., evidence available indicates that there has been no general recession; in fact, trade, on the whole, is not only growing, but is in an essentially healthy condition, and he can see no reason why progress should not be maintained for a long time.