Motorcab
Page 13
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Mr. Alfred Elliott, of Middlesbrough, is putting three motorcabs into service in that town.
The Mayfair Motor Cab Company, Limited, has been registered with an authorised capital of 25,000 in £1 shares.
Birmingham horse-cab interests are endeavouring to show that motorcabs should ply for hire in that city at 3s, an hour by time.
The inhabitants of Newcastle-onTyne are growing very restless, owing to the fact that they have not yet got a motoreab service.
On page 109 (issue of the 15th instant), with regard to taximeters, in line 20 of the first column, for " substantial " read " substituted."
There are now about 3,150 licensed motomahs in London, and only some 1,200 more horse-drawn hansoms. There are 1,900 less hansoms licensed than was the case a year ago.
Scarborough Hackney Carriage Committee, which recently decided to license no motorcabs for 12 months, has announced that it may not adhere to that policy after the expiration of that period.
Pearson and Cox Steam Chassis.
We are requested by Mr. H. Pearson of Messrs. Pearson and Cox, Shortlands, S.E., to deny the report, which has been widely circulated by a local Kent correspondent, to the effect that they had secured an order for a number of steam cabs for London. The rumour must have originated from the fact that a tender has been despatched to New York for a cab, which will embody the Pearson-Cox system, which will, at the same time, conform to the structural requirements of the New York licensing authorities. If this tender be accepted, and the first machine be found to be suitable, an order for 25 similar cabs is likely to follow.
The Pearson-Cox steam system for touring cars comprises a flash boiler of the Serpollet type, which is heated by an improved pattern of burner ; three vertical cylinders, cast in one piece. provide the motive power which is transmitted to a live back axle, either with or without the interposition of an emergency reduction gear. Simplicity of control has, in many cases, been attempted by the designers of steam systems, by means of the introduction of somewhat complicated automatic fuel and water regulators. Messrs. Pearson and Cox rely, quite satisfactorily they tell us, upon hand regulation. Pilot Cabs.
Mr. Turbeville Smith, -the managing director of Motor Schools, Limited, requests us to state that the Pilot motorcabs, which we illustrated and described in our issue for the 8th of April, are made throughout at the company's works in Coventry. In our description of this machine we ascribed the manufacture to West, Limited, of Coventry; we are now asked to make this amending statement.
General Motorcab Company.
The current traffic returns of the General Motor Cab Company are sent to us as follow :— Week ending Saturday, 24th April, 216,582.
Previous week, £12,963.
Corresponding week, 1908, £8,690. Increase on previous week, £3,619. Increase on corresponding week, 1908, £7,891.
Total receipts from 1st August, 1908, £520.394.
Increase on previous corresponding period, £229,028. It should be noted that the above figures take no account of the average number of cabs in service for the respective periods.
The company notifies holders of share warrants to bearer that, in accordance with the resolution passed at the extraordinary general meeting held on the 12th January, the preferred ordinary shares of kl each have been consolidated, so that four of such shares now form one share of £4. Share warrants to bearer representing the old E1 shares must be deposited at the office of the company.
Examine the Steering Gear.
A recent accident, in the East Ena, to a motorvan owned by the Associated Newspapers, Limited, when, owing to the coming-adrift of the steering connections, fatal results ensued, should serve as a further warning to drivers to go carefully over their steering .gear and its connections periodically. Once a day is not too often, although it is generally a matter of weeks before wear on any pin, ball, tube or spring can become dangerous, after first indications of slackness. A fracture, of course, is a more difficult matter for correct diagnosis.
Lord Rosebery's Appeal.
The sad plight of the older London cabmen, many of whom have been reduced to the verge of starvation by changed conditions, has attracted the sympathetic attention of Lord Rosebery, and " The Daily Mail " has opened a relief fund. It is not yet clear how the fund will be applied, but there are certainly deserving cases where temporary help should be of real use. The younger men have taken over motorcabs: in fact, above twothirds of London's taxicab drivers are, as we pointed out in our " Motorcab Special " a year ago, ex-horse-cabbies.
We are interested to note that there has been an excellent response to the appeal, and that the fund promises to exceed t5.000 without difficulty. One point occurs to us as worthy of mention: that taximeter cabs should not be blamed for the present depressed condition of the horse cab trade, as extensions of electrified tramways and " tubes " have aided the slump,