The preparations for the Royal Agricultural Show at Norwich are
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going on apace, and I hear of two new agricultural oil tractors that will be exhibited by concerns of the highest standing. Fidler particulars may be looked for in an early issue. The Yorkshire Steam Wagon Co. will be exhibiting its new petrol vehicle, which is naturally sure to claim everyone's interest. Much care and skill have been bestowed on this new departure, and our Editor will doubtless, if it be possible, publish a detailed description of this before the opening of the show.
It is encouraging to hear' in many quarters, how yet further definite advances may be looked for very quickly with commercial motors. Many transport companies and large commercial concerns have been sitting en the fence, and particularly some of the railway companies, but there are evidences of a distinct movement in favour of mechanical transport, so that, most of our missionary enterprise and the efforts of the manufacturers will bear more and more fruit, in abundance, before long. This is not just an ordinary optimistic forecast where " the wish is father to the thought," but one made after conversation with those most interested. Take one branch of the railway company's business—the return of empties to manufacturers and distributors. I gather that in most of the large manufacturing
towns railway warehouses and sheds are invariably congested with returned empties, which_ manufacturers are eagerly requiring, but which the railway companies can
not deliver by horses. They are beginning to see at last that motor lorries and motomans would solve their difficulties. More than double the number of journeys per day to outlying districts would soon. get warehouses clear, and keep things moving.. round regularly. I could mention particular towns, but for o'lvious reasons I refrain from doing so. I am assured by some makers that orders will shortly come in with a rush, and that a " boom " is imminent. I do not appreciate booms myself, and I trust that is not the case, but I do hope and believe that a quick move
forward may be looked for, and those concerns already well established will then find themselves with plenty of work on hand.
It is said that there is much in common between the Scotsman and the Yorkshireman, though, speaking as an obscure representative of the latter, I fail to notice it, though there is one thing I find clear : the more one sees of Scotland and its people at home, the better one likes it. These reflections are induced by a sly bit of fun which was poked at an automobile gathering which I attended, in Yorkshire, recently. An Aberdonian had sung that soulinspiring national refrain " Scots wha ham," and this led a subsequent entertainer unctuously to remark : " There are two varieties of Scotsmen in Yorkshire ; Scots wha bee, and Scots wha haen't. The 'eater are only an embryonic stage of the former."
A general chorus of approval seemed to go up when Mr. Lloyd George introduced his State Insurance Scheme. It must have felt to the supporters of the Government " like the gentle rain from Heaven," and I for one am not looking for any rifts within the lute, but. it was interesting and startling to hear, while at Lincoln last week, that, although the employers' share of this insurance runs into thousands a year in some cases, the boiler-makers have given notice that they require an increase_ of wages of one shilling per week to cover their share of the proposed insurance. It will be apparent that that sum will cover the cost very nicely.