Culled from Contemporaries.
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Some Other Journals' Interesting Opinions Which We Do Not Always Endorse.
Going! Going!! ---?
Some of the old horses that are in the shafts ought to be in a home of rest.-A writer in " The Sketch."
The Helping Hand.
There are grounds for arguing that without the buses the tramways would once more become a non-payin undertaking.-The Kteghley News. '
Of Interest to Drivers.
The taximeter is intended merely to provide the passenger with mild mathematical recreation during the journey, and should be ignored in calculating the fare.—" Tit-Bits."
The Optimist.
Of course, I imagine that both (taxicab) owners and drivers are telling the exact, or naked truth in their statements about earnings.—" Alert IL" in the " Financier and Bullionist."
A Practice that May be Revived.
Being numerically much stronger than its rivals, the L.G.O. Co. was able to send out two buses to " nurse" each one put out by a rival, the drivers being instructed to proceed one in front of the rival bus and the other behind it, and to stop whenever it did.—" The Pall Mall Gazette."
Ratepayers Should Be Pleased.
The motorbus is certainly open to improvement, and it may ue improved. But in its present state we are confident that it will not replace the quiet, clean, and comfortable electric car which is now provided in almost every town of importance in the kingdom. If in some cases that provision entails a modest burden on the rates, it is tin. questionably worth the mone\ " The Yorkshire Daily Observer."
The Provinces are Learning.
The buses have enormously improved. Thii old, hideous rattle has gone, and the drivers are much more skilful. There has been no corresponding improvement in tramway traction, and we are now entering on a stage where the tramways will have to fight for their very existence. The London ratepayer has millions invested in them, and if they should begin to prove unremunerative he will have to make up the difference by a rate in aid.---" The Yorkshire Daily Post."
Still In the Air.
Every new stage of development we are apt to regard as final. " The taxi has come to stay." This, I ant glad to say, is a, lie; the taxi has come to depart, as the Sedan-chair departed, as the cabriolet departed, as the hansom is departing. Who knows lint in ten years I mar be taking a ride in a taxicab through the streets of London, and writing another set ef meditations. and lamenting the happier days when People could be driven about on the solid earth instead of being whisked up into the air, or subjected to some radial process by means of which they may be translated rather than conveyed from place to place —Mr. Filson Young in " The Saturday Review." The Children's Playground Again.
think children are a credit to any married man, while motorbuses are life destroyers.—" A Hard-working Tram Conductor " in the " Midland Telegraph."
The Driver's Wages.
There is always a tendency for men who have been accustomed to receive an abnormal wage to consider that they are hardly used when competition or some other cause reduces it to a more
i tat ural I el. The Econom ist."
A Conundrum.
Can " Dagonet " mention any other body of men who receive no wages, feed someone else's machine (with petrol), and pay the owners 75 per cent. of their (the drivers') gross earnings!—Yours respectfully, Frank Wood, in a letter to " The Referee."
Accounts for the Dublin Trouble.
The Dublin jail is, of course, famous —or, rather, notorious-for his extortionate charges; and from the gullible English tourist he was wont to reap during the season a very profitable harvest. Witk the fare-register dial of the taxicab, of course, anything in the nature of a surcharge would be out of the question, and the astute Irishmen were not slow to realize this fact.—" The Liverpool Echo."
Education in the North.
Su many improvements have been effected in motorbuses since their first introduction to the streets of London that there is no extravagance in the expectation of an ideal bus in the near future. . . Frietiun has been almost eliminated from the machines, they work with comparatively little noise, there is less jolting and jarring of passengers, they are lighter and therefore less destructive to the roads, and there is an almost complete absence of offensive emissions of vapour and oil. . . . Though there are still some of the older hoses running they have also been rendered less noisy and nasty, and we seem on the way to a perfect motorbus.— " The Newcastle Weekly Chronicle."
Horses Commended.
We have read with considerable amusement the constant references to the passing of the horse, and suggestions that very shortly the last of the race would he found in one of the museums devoted to extinct creatures. We feel convinced, as we have always done, that there is still a great field existing where the horse can compete on more than favourable terms with any motor vehicle which hat vet been evolved, and we believe the aay is far off when the horse will be altogether devoted to pleasure, and will no more be seen on our streets engaged in carrying work. Recent tendencies, on the other hand. show that there is a distinct revival in the horse trade, and that when carried out on a proper basis, with strict attention to the many details so absolutely necessary for building up a successful business, there is still a future for the horse owner.—" The World's Carriers." Cost the Same.
It may be doubted whether the average investor in bus stock realizes that the cost to the company of manufacturing a motorbus has been brought down to about the level of a horse bus and its team l—" The Observer."
A Slight Parade Tip.
Evidently the men who intend to win Prizes will have to earn them by sound work, and no amount of cleaning and painting before the parade will count for much in view of the thorough-going nature of the inspection.—" The Manchester Guardian."
The Democratic Eightpence.
Rhetoricians talk about the chariot of progress, but the most "levelling influence," the most democratic factor in our midst to-day is the hackney chariot which confers upon us the joys and the ease of £20,000 a year—at eightpence mile.—R. Charlton in " The Daily Graphic."
Should Apologise to a Tramcar!
At this stage of motorbus operation there is no justification for withholding statistics of mileage and earnings and expenses per car-mile, and . . • an apology ought to he required for the omission to give information concerning the amount paid on account of the petrol tax.—" The Tramway and Railway World " commenting on the affairs of the L.G.O. Co., Ltd.
As Fast as a Fire-engine In a recent fire near Dumfries the disadvantages of horse haulage were strikingly demonstrated. It occurred at Kirktnichael house, the destruction of which involved a loss of about 210,000. The Dumfries tire brigade arrived on the scene three-quarters of an hour after a motorcar of which they had a substantial start. As they had 110 motor power for working time pumps once they had arrived, they could only employ a single line of hose with manual pumping. With a motor fire engine an hour might have been saved an Ole journey, an I the pumping capacity could have been quadrupled.—" The Scotsman."
Rule of Thumb Accounting.
his (the horse's) cost of production is a vague item. The foal which seems to have cost us only seven-and-six, automatically grows into a horse whose value may be £50. He gets his living from the farm. A lady's dress costs nothing when it is made mainly of material that she had by her, a horse's keep seems to cost noNing when he lives on the land.
This happy-go-lucky way of looking at the matter is, however, slowly becoming a thing of the past. The science of hook-keeping is extending to materials as well as cash, . . much petrol could he bought for the cost of his keep per week. The horse . . . has to be prevented at cost from doing damage to fences and trees. The grass on which he grew would have produced several tons of beef at £50 a ton, and his weekly nibblings would produce much milk to be exchanged for the petrol arid rubber on which his rival lives.—"The Nation."