The Motor Omnibus World.
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Another Fusion.
Subject to the necessary, confirmatory resolutions on the part of the various classes of shareholders, the London Road Car Company, Limited, and the Great Eastern London Motor Omnibus -Company, Limited, will amalgamate.
ThelImprovement of Property.
We cannot too often remind those -who have to defend the motorbus that, whilst its effect in temporarily depreciating certain classes of property is admitted, there is generally more than a .corresponding appreciation in other directions, especially around the terminal points. Not a few appeals continue to be made for motorbus services, by owners of estates which are not served by other means of passenger conveyance, and there is no question That the public-service vehicle does and will remove the difficulty which confronts the man who desires to live at some distance from a railway station, -and, therefore, the owners of land upon which such men seek to live.
Inconsistency at Chelsea.
_ We are somewhat amused by a report of the recent proceedings of the Chelsea Borough Council, on the occasion of its passing the nenessary resolution for the levy of a general rate in the area under its charge. This rate,
amounting to 3s. ed. in the for the half year, is the highest in the history of the Borough. After seeking to explain the rise by the fact that there were Soo empty houses in the Borough, and to blame the motorbus for the existence of that number of unoccupied houses, the Chairman of the Finance Committee. Mr. T. J. Robinson, proceeded to .explain how it really arose, because outside bodies, over whose expenditure the Chelsea Borough Council had no control, persisted in making increasing demands upon the rate-payers. " Am, -stick. . . etc."
Motorbus Competition at Ilford.
Further evidence of the keen competition of the motor omnibuses against the electric tramways in the Ilford district was forthcoming at the monthly meeting of the Seven Kings Ratepayers' Association, when a resolution was passed impressing upon the members of the organisation to use the tramcars, which are supported by the rates, Mr, J. Johnson, who moved the -resolution, remarked that the town stood to lose practically .:5,000 a year -on the basis of the decrease in the tramway receipts. It was also agreed to urge the Tramway Committee to make the best possible arrangements to compete with the buses, Mr. S. F. McDonald mentioning an occasion on which he wished to travel by tram, but • when two buses had passed his waiting place, and no tram had arrived, he took the third motorbus. One speaker said that all ratepayers who travelled by motorbus paid for the journey twice, because they had to maintain the trams.
High Fares.
A number of the inhabitants of Rossendale think that the Corporation should revise its scale of fares for the motorbus service between Waterfoot and Water. It appears that certain inte.rrnediate stages, which are far from unpopular, involve a payment of 2d. for making a journey of little more than half a mile in length ; it is suggested that a new scale might be introduced, and that this should authorise penny fares, if not halfpenny fares.
Spare the Destination Indicators!
The General Purposes Committee of the Bangor City Council is supporting a number of residents in the district who desire to see a motorbus service between the villages of Llanfairpwll gwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwIl and Llangaffo, via Brvnsiencyn, Dwyran and Newborough. All the necessary steps are being taken to support the application before the directors of the London and North Western Railway Company. The usual abbreviation of "Llanfair PG.'' \ill, we hope, be used for the first-named place.
London Tramway Finance.
Last Tuesday's meeting of the L.C.C. was in a fever over the report of Messrs. Peat and Pixley, who are leading members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. These gentlemen have presented a long repert, in the course of which they state : (a) that the assets in the capital account stand at 4:2,380,737 for horse traction, and £4,356,000 for electric traction ; (b) that the capital shown in respect of horse traction purchases is not represented by tangible assets, and that "the approximate loss must exceed ..1,000,000"; (c) that only L14t,835 has been set aside in the accounts for the " renewals reserve fund "; (d) that the sum of*.,293,592 applied in relief of rates, in the period 1897 to 1904, should have been reserved for meeting unpaid balances or losses ; and (e) that street improvements in connection with tram_ way schemes, costing .752,128 have been charged, as to ,.:387,438, to the improvement account; and (f) that „4-864,121 for other street improvements, which did not originate with the tramways, have also been charged to improvement account, and that " a considerable, but as yet unascertained, proportion of this latter figure should also be charged to tramways capital account." The provision under (c) is notoriously insufficient, and compares adversely with leading provincial cities.
Home Office and Motorbuses.
Chelsea Borough Council has received a communication from the Home Secretary, stating, in reply to a letter from that authority on the question of alleged inconvenience caused by motor omnibuses : that he has called the attention of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to the matter, and learns that it has been receiving special attention, in consequence of complaints addressed direct to the Commissioner, in particular with regard to noise and speed ; that he observes that the Council realises the difficulties of dealing with the question ; and that he is satisfied that the Commissioner is taking such steps as are reasonably possible for minimising the inconvenience caused by the omnibuses.
Metropolitan Police Views.
Full details as to what transpired at the recent interview between a deputation from the Councils of Westminster, Paddington, Marylebone, and Kensington, and the Commissioner of Police, are contained in a report of the Law and General Purposes Committee of the Kensington Borough Council is sued 17 days ago. From this it appears that, in reply to the deputation, the
Commissioner showed that out of 1,089
new motor omnibuses presented for ex amination by the Noise Committee dur ing the year ended the 31st December last, 646 had been rejected on account of noise, and 443 passed ; 229 other om nibuses had also been rejected as defec tive. During the year, 8,5o7 were or dered off the streets for various defects
to be made good. Of these : 4,862 were on account of undue noise ; 362 for defective steering gear ; 936 for defective brakes ; 2,105 for having oil or grease dropping from various parts ; 207 for various other defects; whilst 35 cases of fire were reported. The Commissioner also pointed out that, as regards omnibuses, he was expressly prohibited by statute from interfering with the route, or limiting the number passing through any street. The maximum speed, under the L.G.13. regulations, is twelve miles an hour, and, within that speed-, the Commissioner cannot interfere unless an omnibus is being driven to the danger of the public. The average weight of the motor omnibus is about 4 tons 5 cwt.; some are lighter, and a few are heavier, the heaviest omnibus running being 4 tons 15 cwt. Personally, the Commissioner would favour a lighter type of omnibus, which would lessen both noise and vibration, but the feasibility of running a smaller bus successfully is a trade question on which he cannot dictate. He stated that his powers to deal with traffic were laid down under the various Highway and Police Acts; and, as regards omnibuses in particular, he was empowered to license vehicles, by an Order made by the Secretary of State under Sections 6 and ii of 32 and 33 Vict. cap its, and to inspect vehicles under Section 2 Of 16 and 17 Viet. cap 33.
rThis report has been unavoidably held over until now.—En.)
Thomas Tilling, Ltd., has put to work, on its Peckham and Oxford Circus service, the second Straker bus, with the change-speed lever fitted at the side.
The Clacton-on-Sea Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., is to be wound up voluntarily, and Mr. A. P. V. Sansom, of Station Road, Clacton-on-Sea, has been appointed liquidator.
Route Extension.
On Saturday last, the 2ist instant, the London Road Car Co., Ltd., extended its Putney and Bow Bridge service, from Bow Bridge to Stratford Broadway.
Competition at East Ham.
The Great Eastern L.M.O. Company has always considered the Borough Of East and West Ham as its own particular territory. Immediately the Vanguard Company started running to Seven Kings, the Great Eastern extended its Seven Kings and Stratford service to the Elephant and Castle, and, a week later; it started another service between Leytonstone and the Elephant and Castle, so as to compete with both " in" and "ii " services over their whole length.
The Eternal Road Question.
A conference of Scottish highway authorities, which was held recently at Perth, resulted in the passing, inter alia, of a resolution to the effect that the Secretary for Scotland should be asked to lay the whole question of the maintenance of Scotch roads, in relation to increasing motor traffic, including that of motor omnibuses, before the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is felt by these councillors that Imperial grants in aid are essential.
L.G.O. and Vanguard Amalgamation.
The debenture holders of the Vanguard Motorbus Company, Limited, rejected the terms of the amalgamation as approved between the Boards of their company and of the London General Omnibus Company, Limited. An application has been made for the appointment of a receiver, but this has been refused, and, in view of the fact that important negotiations are taking place, and with a desire to make no comment which might in any way prejudice the conclusion of fresh capital arrangements, we refrain from passing further criticism upon the situation, which promises to develop in the next few days.
Electric Omnibuses.
The Electrobus Company, Limited, is about to issue ,Ioo,000 of fresh capital. Our readers will recollect that, at the date of this promotion, we thoroughly examined the prospects of accumulator propulsion in London, and ridiculed the suggestion, put forth in other journals, that batteries alone would cost is. 6d. a mile. Subject to proper management, this company's prospects are amongst the brightest of the day.
Indifference to Snow.
Apropos the testimony from the general manager of the Great North of Scotland Railway Company, which is held by :Vlilnes-Daimler, Ltd., we are interested to note that one of this railway company's motorbuses, during the recent severe weather in the North of Scotland, was responsible for the maintenance of the road service, between Ballater and Braemar, during a fall of snow which caused all other traffic to be suspended. The driver of this vehicle, Sam Dick by name, also deserves a meed of praise, in that he was at the steering wheel for upwards of 300 miles of running under conditions which one might readily have associated with an American blizzard.