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Culled from Contemporaries.

26th January 1911
Page 17
Page 17, 26th January 1911 — Culled from Contemporaries.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Keywords : Taxicab, Tram

A Selected Collection of Extracts from the British and Foreign Press.

If You See It In "John Bull "— When the taximeter came into existence, there was a general idea that it could not lie. Experience proves that such is not the case.—" John Bull."

Cads on Castors.

People who rush about, on wheels are too apt to forget the point of view of those who go afoot or stay quietly working in their homes or offices.—i"lhe Daily Graphic."

No Rebates.

" The petrol tax," said the managing director of a company which owns 1,500 cabs, "amounts to threepence a gallon, half of which tax the cab proprietors pay."—" The Evening News."

Diminutive Beckenham.

In the current issue of the " Indian Motor News," e photograph is reproduced of Beckenham Fire Brigade's firstaid tii-car, and the picture is entitled " The Smallest Fire Brigade in the World."

Been On of Town During 1910.

We are quite agreed that by the side of the smooth-running, well-lighted, and comfortable tram, the motor omnibus, as we know it in London, is a noisy, clumsy, and unprepossessing infant.—" The Daily Graphic."

The Ban of the Shopper Proper.

The new motorbus running down. Bond Street is looked on generally with grave suspicion, not only by the old horse-bus, but by the shopper proper. Incidentally, everybody uses it in order, later, to be able the better to express disapproval of the innovation.—" Truth."

Too Much for the Money.

Some of the newer vehicles which have been put into service in London are unnecessarily sumptuous. An even more serious item than this, however, is the cost of renovating the coachwork, upholstery, and glass, which get damaged by luggage and by inconsiderateness of passerigers.—" The Westminster Gazette."

Particular Public Servants.

The polico have a handful of trouble in front of them in connection with the taxi-cab drivers. One of the chief grievances the public now have against these men is their indifference to a hail from a would-be hirer, At night time this evil is particularly bad, and even when they stop they will examine a passenger as to his destination before accepting the fare. i—" The World."

The Revolving " K.T."

The reason why commercial motor vane and lorries do not keep pace with the growth of private motorcars is largely a question of tyres. . . . To do without tyres of rubber would be disastrous, as the machinery of the motor would be shaken to pieces in record time. A solution is offered by a tyre company which seems to have met the case, and this is to fix a number of rubber studs like revolving boot heels all over the iron tyre surface.—" The Investor."

Making it Hot for Him.

A door on the right-hand side only would do much to check draughts and make the driver's lot a happier and a warmer one.—" Court Journal."

Human Tubes.

I should like to add that the South Lambeth Road is one of the worst-kept roads in South London. Only the people whose bodies have frames made of the same material as their bicycle frames dare cycle along it.—A contributor to " The Evening Times."

Black Sheep.

Is there a single instance recorded of ordinary civility on the part of a taxidriver—of such civility even as one often meets with from, say, motor-omnibus conductors, who have nothing to hope and very little to fear from any of their passengers, however uncivil they may be? Um taxi-driver takes the most generous addition to his legal fare quite as a matter of course, and rarely condescends to utter a " thank you. "—A correspondent in " Vanity Fair."

Service "No. 1" in Stamboul.

Across the Galata bridge it plies, seething with a babel horde; up into the secret ways of Stamboul it travels, and dark women peer behind their lattice at the vermilion motorbus.

1 sat down next to a, very fat Ottoman subject whose face betrayed an intellectual curiosity alien to his nature. I followed the perplexed glances of his earthbrown eyes. They were turned towards an inscription which enlivened the end wall of the vehicle, behind the driver, an inscription he could not understand. I looked and thrilled at what I saw : in fair plain letters they shone, those golden words, names of places never forgotten and long desired, Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Edgware Road, and Cricklewood. —A correspondent in " The Daily News."

Lost Its Way.

Officials of Colorado, according to a Press report, are doing the gum shoe act in an effort to find a highway which is lost, strayed or stolen. The road was suppoeed to have been constructed in 1908 in Gunnison County, and according to office files the money for the road was paid in August of ittiat year. About £3,000 was expended for this road. A short time ago it was determined to build an addition to the road, and when it came time to make a survey for the new portion, the engineering force were unable to tell where to start. They had been instructed to begin work at the east end of the older road, but according to the Press reports they could find neither east. west, north nor south ends, as the road was not where they expected to find it. Colorado is a fair-sized State, and there is plenty of room there for even a good-sized road to get lost in. However, lye don't think that has happened, nor do we think it. has been stolen ; prebably it, will be found the road has merely been miaplaced.—" Engineering-Contracting," Chicago.

Drivers and Their Customers.

The taxi-drivers consider that they, and not the people in their cabs, should be the judge of pace.—" The Sketch."

The Royal Horseless Artillery.

In view of the problem which confronts us in the threatened shortage of horses, the suggestion is put forward that a portion at least of our artillery guns should be drawn by motor power. We are quite aware that a suggestion of this nature is likely to excite the anger and fierce opposition of the " gunnera " of the Regular R.A. "United Service Gazette."

Snakes No Precedent.

A large number of persons in Dublin seem bent upon applying to motor taxicabs the same policy that was adopted by St. Patrick with regard to the snakes— that of driving them out of old Ireland. . . . The movement against tho motor cabs has its psychological interest. It may partially explain in the minds of some persons the want of prosperity in many parts of Ireland. . . . Dublin should accept the inevitable quietly. The snakes will prove no precedent for the motor cab.—" The Scotsman.'

The Why and the Wherefore.

In London the motor omnibus may be said to owe indirectly, if not directly, a considerable portion of its progress in reliability and economical working to the intervention of a well-known engineer who has had considerable experience of tramways. We refer to Mr. Worby Beaumont, whose interest in motorism goes back to the earliest years of the Royal Automobile Club, and who for several years has held the position of adviser to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. It was doubtless due to the advice of this counsellor that the Commissioner a year ago issued the intimation that the police would refuse to license any new omnibus which did not show a reduction in weight of a ton and a half, and made practically no noise or vibration.—" The Tramway and Railway World," 6th October, 1910.

After experimenting for over a year with their X type of omnibus, and constructing during this period some 60 vehicles at their works, the London General Omnibus Co. have decided to abandon this design in favour of a new type to be known as the B type. . . It remains, therefore, entirely a question of cost of upkeep, and we are confident that if it were possible to obtain reliable figures upon this head it would be seen that the " Daimler-Wolseley-Straker " type of vehicle has been. and will be, a most, expensive experiment. . . Turning to the latest type, the position is very much better than it was when the directors, acting upon the advice rif their engineer, we suppose, decided to build 60 of the X type vehicles without waiting to see if they were a success economically.— " The Tramway and Railway World," 3rd November, 1010.


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