At Coronation Time : A Summary.
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The :aa empanying Lou pages of illustrations will serve te educate new readers. They hear eloquent if silent testimony to the indispensable place which commercial motors now hold in the national life. The first page of his issue is in part devoted to an outline comparison with the year 1902—the year of the Coronation of Ilis late Majesty King Edward VII. We are delighted to he able to put on record the unanticipated general participation of motorcars in the Coronation Procession of Thursday last. Thousands of good motorists rejoiced when they saw the Daimler, Napier, and other cars following closely upon the Prince of Wales's procession, intermingled with the historic coaches of noble families, and conveying peers, peereases. State guests, and numerous distinguished personages. It added to the conviction that motor vehicles will yet to) admitted to all grades of pageantry where road-surface conditions permit.
The Motorbus and the Motorcab.
Pride of place, in this brief review of Coronation-time uses of commercial motors, must be awarded to passenger-carrying vehicles, as much by reason of their superior numbers, as by reasoa of their direct and personal appeal to so many visitors from all parts of the Empire. New readers of this journal may be interested to know that motorbus enterprise, considered from financial standpoints, is HOW in all respects healthy and promising. With a frequency of service reaching in adequacy one of two-minute intervals on single-road routes, the normal average takings per omnibus mile-throughout the Metropolitan area are 10.5d., whilst the inclusive maintenance and other charges do not exceed, on the average, 8d. per omnibus-mile. On many of the London routes passengers are carried two miles for one penny. During the period of Coronation activity, the London General Omnibus Co. ran numbers of its double-deck vehicles along selected thoroughfares, and at a uniform charge of 6d. per head. The past 18 months have demonstrated tho fact that motorbus operation is successfully challenging that of electric traction, but we must refer anybody who wishes to study all pros and cons, to the paper which the Editor contributed to the International Road Congress at Brussels in August last. A few copies are in hand still.
In regard to motorcabs, the tremendous handicap from the owner's point of view, in London, is the uncertain factor of the drivcr, and the admitted non-registration of extras by the large majority of the men, who simply put into their own pockets the money which legitimately should go as revenue to the owners. There is ample evidence, of which we may quote that given by Superintendent Bassom before the recent committee of inquiry appointed by the Home Office, that these defalcations amount to a sum which is not below L150,000 annually, and -which represents a dividend of 5 per cent, per annum on the invested capital. That estimate was given by us a year ago. Our own summary of to-day's situation is this : numbers of London taxi-drivers are calmly making arrangements to purchase their own cabs out of the money which the weak attitude of the owners is allowing them to steal. The inclusive cost of operation of a London motoreab, with out any payment to the driver or cost of fuel, may be reckoned to vary between 3.5d. and 4.2d. per mile run, the variation bearing relation to weight, h.p. and management. The cost of motor spirit may be approximately taken at Ld. per mile run, which is paid by the driver. The net revenue which the proprietor retains, excluding the eases of driver-owners, ranges from 3.3d. to as high as 5d., according to the qualities which are found in the driver and the vehicle. It will thus be seen that a proportion of owners is losing money, and several companies have already gone into liquidation. There is a shortage of drivers, which it is hoped will be gradually overcome. P etrol Vans and Lo rries Mntorvans, for collection and delivery purposes, are tending to become universal. Coronation-time services have demonstrated this with increasing force, and the different classes of application are typified in the accompanying illustrations, and by others which are included in the report of the motor exhibits at the annual show of the Royal Agricultural Society (pages 358a to 368). In comparison with one-horse vans, the average cost of working is found to be about equal for motors when any one vehicle cannot be given work to an extent in excess of 120 miles a week. Appreciably beyond that distance
weekly, the economy of the motorvan is marked. It may be taken that few one-horse vans cost below 6d. per mile run, inclusive of all essential charges, such as driver's wages, fodder and bedding, farriery and veterinary services, painting, varnishing and repairs, rent, rates and taxes, stable labour, insurance, interest and depreciation, and sundries. Our table shows the ascertained costs for motorvans of various sizes, and from these it will be possible for any. reader to make up his own table of costs for any different mileages. On the general subject of motorvans, we would direct particular attention to the article which appears on pages 341 and 342.
Steam Wagons and Tractors.
In spite of a vigorous campaign from the petrol side of the industry, the steam wagon and tractor continue to hold their own for loads in excess of three tons. The wide adoption of solid-rubber tires for steam wagons which are capable of taking loads of 5; tons is. a development that indicates one form of response on the part of steam men to this competition. The Coronation Motor Parade, which took place at Earl' Court on the 5th inst., provided striking testimony to the persistence of the steam wagon, and to its commercial value for heavy work connected with contracting and building operations, brewers' and millers' deliveries haulage work, i
etc. It generally found that mileages considerably in excess of 250 per week are essentialbefore the five-ton petrol lorry can be held to be a better investment than the five-ton steam wagon, whilst, coming down to the 3i-ton load, the side on which the decision of the purchaser falls is largely a matter of personal choice and convenience. It is customary to reckon that a five-ton steam wagon can be run at. inclusive costs varying between 7d. and 10d, per mile, without a trailer, and at. costs varying between 100. and 1s. 10. per mile with a trailer. In some cases, the rubber-tired three-ton steamer costs a total of only Nd. per mile, rubber tires included, to work it—on the basis of 300 miles a week as a minimum.
General.
As to fire-engines, there is no space at our disposal to make any reference other than to these facts ; municipal corporations throughout the world are giving a preference to selfpropelled plant, by reason of its marked economy in maintenance, its greater speed on receipt of a call, and its greater efficiency in all respects, compared with horse-drawn plant. For the same reasons, motor ambulances are coming into increasing vogue. Agricultural motors, motor rollers, and machines of allied types, are described and illustrated in the course of our RoyalShow report, of which earlier mention has been made above.