F EW people give any consideration to danger which may arise
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from articles which are being carried by fellow travellers. It would, however, he somewhat disconcerting to go about with the idea that the person in the next seat may possibly be concealing a bomb or be carrying a certain class of throat lozenge which causes a violent fire when it comes into contact with matches.
We are prompted to make these remarks by an incident which occurred recently in a Newcastle Corporation bus. It appears that a messenger hey who was riding in the vehicle was carrying a halfgallon bottle of nitric acid which fractured. The fumes which were at once released almost overpowered the messenger and a passenger, whilst other travellers in the Vehicle had to use their handkerchiefs as gas Masks.
B18 OUR congratulations, to Major S. A. Currin, of Clayton Dewandre, Ltd., who re• eently left hospital after satisfactorily recovering from a broken leg, which was fractured by a fall while experimenting with a glider. Major Currin informs us that our previous paragraph, inserted soon after the occurrence of the accident, resulted in his receiving a very heavy ,mail each day, and many friends are continuing to address their letters to the hospital at Nottingham. We are glad to learn that he will be recommencing almost immediately his tour of visits to friends in the industry.
WIIN making a recent tour of the Ford property at Dagenham we had the opportunity for a short chat with Mr. W. 0. Watt, who,-as an agricultural expert, has wrought wonders with some of the foul twitch-grass-covered land which lies adjacent to the actual site of the new works. Last year the land yielded an excellent crop of wheat and, against all pre-conceived ideas, it was this year again sown with wheat, which was being garnered at the time of our visit. Mr. Watt farms several hundred acres of his own at Orsett, in Essex, and is most enthusiastic about the merits of farming by mechanical means, stressing the great economies which are effected in labour and time.
MUCH useful work has been done during the past year by the Research Association of British Motor and Allied Manufacturers. Amongst the subjects investigated were the frictional and wearing properties of over 30 makes of brake facing, the effects of the firing order and mixture strength in the distribution system of six-cylindered engines, and the effect of various factors on the flow of oil through big-end bearings.
Experiments have been carried out on pressure losses through carburetter chokes, induction pipes and valves, and tests have been made on safety glass and on the contamination of oil when runningin engines. A large number of inquiries has also been answered on a variety of problems, some of which have necessitated carrying out experimental work IN London a few years ago it was a common ex perience to wait 15 minutes or so for a bus of a certain number and then see a string of them arriving together. The fact that this rarely occurs nowadays is probably due to the more efficient traffic control in the metropolis. Since the inauguration of the " roundabout " and one-way-street systems there has been an appreciable diminution in the number of hold-ups and buses have consequently less difficulty in running to schedule. The present epidemic of road-surface renewal has, of course, upset many route times, but this is, fortunately, a passing phase.