The Motor Omnibus World.
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Paris Municipal Councillors in London.
As was exclusively announced in last week's issue of " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR," some members of the special commission of the Paris Mun.cipal Council arrived in London on Tuesday, the 23rd ultimo, for the purpose of making observations upon London's motorbus services.
Not every member of the commission was able to leave Paris, but, of those whose names were published by us last week, the following councillors duly took possession of the rooms which had been reserved for them at the Savoy Hotel :—MM. Felix Roussel (President), Chassaigne Goyon and Evain (Vice-Presidents), E. Alpy, Dausset, Desplas, Dherbecourt, L. Duval-Arnould, Froment-Meurice, Gobs, and Eugene Mayer. They were accompanied by representatives of La Liberte, Echo de Paris, and Le Journal.
These gentlemen relied to a considerable extent upon arrangements which had been made for them by the London County Council — doubtful mentors from the motorbus standpoint; but they were met on arrival in London by Mr. J. S. Smith-Winby, Chairman of the Darracq-Serpollet Omnibus Company, Limited. Wednesday's programme was largely devoted to a study of the Darracq-Serpollet vehicle, and the delegation made various trial runs in the City and other parts of London. The visits during the morning of this day, by the courtesy of the directors of the Vanguard Motorbus Co., Ltd., included inspection of the King's Cross, Albany Street, and Walthamstow depots. Mr. Percy Harris, Chairman of the L.C.C., held a reception at Spring Gardens in the afternoon, which was also turned to account for the purpose of viewing the Council's generating station at Greenwich, and the Bull Yard depot of Thomas Tilling, Limited, at Peckh atn.
Thursday saw them accommodated in the Coventry Daimler Company's experimental, English-built "Auto-mixte" (Pieper system) omnibus, which proved a useful conveyance to permit visits to the Central London Railway, which was entered at Oxford Circus, the omnibus travelling along the Bayswater Road to pick up the travellers at Shepherd's Bush, where they were principally interested in the ventilation system. The round next led by road to the Farm Lane depot of the Road Car Company, and the adjoining branch of the Vanguard Motorbus Company. Mounting a Milnes-Daimler omnibus, as ordinary passengers, after luncheon, our French guests reached the Cricielewood terminus in high spirits, and went through the Donis. Hill depOt of the London General Omnibus Company, from which they returned in a L.G.O. motorbus to the Tottenham Court Road Station on the " tube," whence they travelled underground to the Bank Sta tion, finishing up the day's programme with a journey along the Kingsway shallow tramway of the L.C.C.
Friday included trials of an " Electrobus," and upon the Hart-Durtnall omnibus, the latter trip being undertaken in company with several of the principal oflicials from New Scotland yard. Sir E. R. Henry received the deputation, and our Paris correspondent has supplied one impression of that meeting.
The foregoing constituted the general programme of the party, but individual members took every opportunity to travel upon Various of London's mechanical stage-carriages along different routes, and all of them without exception evinced great interest in this journal's last census of Greater London's motorbuses, as well as in other contents of our recent issues, which we found to be in their possession. They are charged with a report which promises to have an important influence upon the comfort of Parisians for no less a period than 35 years.
No official arrangements had been made for later than Friday's dejeuner, after which each councillor went his own way. Mr. P. G. Sedgwick, of the L.C.C. Estates and Valuation Department, was responsible for practically the whole of the above-named trips and.
A French View.
The Echo de Paris publishes a report of an interview at Scotland Yard between Sir Edward Henry, Commissioner of Police in the Metropolis, and the commission appointed from the Paris Municipal Council to make a study of traffic conditions in the French capital so far as motorbuses and tramways are concerned. If needs be, the commission will visit some of the chief European centres, and even New York, in search of information. London has offered a vast and fruitful field of investigation, alike as to the motorbuses, the regulations applying to them, and the routes which they cover.
Having explained that no general monojx)ly existed in London, and that a permanent committee was established for the purpose of selecting or rejecting motorbuses submitted for thetr approval, Sir Edward Henry emphasised the point that, not only was it not the custom to test one of a team of buses sent in for official examination but every single vehicle was tried k.)efore it was sent out on the streets for public use. The Parisian councillors explained that they had reCeived numerous complaints as to the vibration, fumeemission, and noise of the motorbus, and the Police Commissioner mentioned that these troubles were not unknown in London. Complaints of noise were received chiefly from inhabitants_ of houses abutting on thoroughfares through which the motorbuses ran. " As to the evils of throbbing and smoke-emission," Sir Edward added, " we are very .strict. Wherever necessary, the owners are immediately requested to withdraw the offending vehicle and make it comply with the official requirements. If such a warning goes unrcgarded, the bus may be seized in the streets, and the owner becomes liable to a heavy fine."
The Paris Commission subsetpently attended a test at Scotland Yard of a number of 'motorbuses, and were informed that nearly every day constructors were submitting fresh vehicles for approval, but many of them had to be rejected on account of their weight. -In fact, the authorities were going to reduce the carrying accommodation of the motorbus from 34 places to 28, -so as to secure lighter vehicles.
It seems that the visitors from France were impressed by the 'condition of the Streets of London, which they considered cleaner and better-kept than the streets of Paris.
Railway Motorbuses.
No omnibuses enjoy a like popularity in the esteem of the great British Railway Companies as do those of the Milnes-Daimler make, and the latest
customer to recognise the qualities of the machines which owe so many of their good points to the engineering ability of Mr. H. G. Burford, M.I.Mech.E., is the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, whose head offices are at Victoria Station, Manchester. Two of the latest 28h.p. omnibuses, with pressed steel chassis and perch bars, were delivered to th:s company a few weeks ago, and we illustrated them in our issue of the 7th March. We are now able to reproduce a photograph of one of these vehicles in actual work between Blundellsands and Crosby Station, and Great Crosby, Moor Park and Thornton, this service having been commenced on the 22nd ultimo. The service is run in connection with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company's electric trains, on the Liverpool-Southport route, and the fares range from rd. to 3d. according to the distance travelled. In addition to conveying passengers, parcels varying in weight from 711). to r 1.211). are carried at pre-paid rates ranging from 2d. to 6d., and the time-table provides for 19 trips in each direction daily. This fresh departure by the General Manager of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, Mr. John A. F. Aspinall, M.Inst.C.E., is likely to be only the beginning of an extensive series of motorbus services in the counties • which that line serves.
Smoking Exhaust: Important High Court Decision.
It is nearly ten months ago since the Star Omnibus Company, Limited, at the instance of the Town Clerk of Camberwell, was lined for smokeemission by one of its motorbuses. It has taken this long time for the appeal of the defendant company to be settled, but it is satisfactory to note that its action, in which it was financially supported by the London Omnibus Owners' Federation, has resulted in a most valuable and far-reaching decision by three judges of the High Court, including the Lord Chief Justice. It will be remembered that the magistrate convicted the appellants, who were fined 4os., with L3 3s. costs, and held that the motor omnibus in question was not exempted under section i of the 1896 Motorcar Act, but that section 30 of the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act of 1878 applied to it. The chief point which the Court of Appeal had to decide was whether, upon the statements of fact as sworn in the police court, the magistrate came to a correct decision in point of law.
Most of our readers will be aware that section 3o of the 1878 Act requires that every locomotive falling under that Act " shall be constructed on the principle of consuming its own smoke ; and any person using any locomotive not so constructed, or not consuming, so far as practicable, its own smoke, shall be liable to a fine," etc. The 1896 Act, by section i and its schedule, exempts all motorcars from the provisions of the whole of part II of the 1878 Act, which includes the section in question, and the appellants submitted that the magistrate could not correctly apply that section to such an omnibus as .theirs. In delivering judgment, the Lord Chief Justice, with whom L.H. Dar ling and Phillimore agreed, held that the omnibus in question was exempt from the penalties imposed by the Act of 1878, and allowed the appeal. An important feature of this decision is that the magistrate had held that the driver had " negligently " put too much oil into a properly-constructed engine, so that the occasional over-lubrication of an engine is now held to be no offence under the Motorcar Acts. The wording of the definition clause of the /896 Act reads " except from any temporary or accidental cause," and, apparently, negligence does not vitiate the exemption so long as a vehicle is properly constructed.
London Borough Councils.
The Lambeth Borough Council has instructed its Borough Engineer to keep under his observation the condition of the asphalt carriageway between Canterbury Road and Brixton Station, on the ground that sufficient precautions are not taken by the owners of the motorbuses which pull up there.
At the last meeting of the Southwark Borough Council, a-request was made for financial support, on behalf of the City of London Electric Lighting Corn. pany, to forward a test action against a motor-omnibus company to recover the cost of repairs to street lamps, but it was decided that there were no funds available for the purpose.
We reported in our issue of the 9th August, 1906 (page 473), the adjournment of certain summonses which had been taken out at the instance of the Southwark Borough Council against various motorbus companies for depositing oil and grease On the roads. This council is of 'opinion that no material improvement has taken place, a view which it will find if difficult to support by evidence, and it has decided to draw the attention to the Commissioner of Police to the matter, a course which we consider superfluous.
Compulsory Halving.
A number of omnibus companies in London have halving and "bump for bump " arrangements, under which any damages, both personal and material, are borne in equal shares by the proprietors. In a case heard last week before Mr. Justice Bray and a common jury, a lady passenger on an omnibus belonging to Thomas Tilling, Limited, had her hand damaged, in descending the stairway, through the impact of a tramcar owned by the Metropolitan Electric Tramways and Lighting Company, which tramcar ran into the back of the omnibus while it was at rest. The jury awarded the lady Lioo damages, to include agreed special damages of ,4;43, and held that both companies were jointly responsible. Although it is clear that the omnibus company had a good fighting case, they will probably rue the absence of a voluntary halving on this occasion, in view of the heavy law charges.
A London Order.
Our congratulations to the New Arrol-Johnston Car Co., Ltd., of Paisley,' on its success in securing the order for 30 of its 24-3oh.p. double-deck omnibuses from the Great Eastern London Motor Omnibus Company.
Address Wanted.
Will the correspondent whose letter was published in our issue of the 14th March (page 52), under the nom de plume of " Practical not Expert," please communicate his name and address to this office, as these have been inadvertently mislaid. A communication is here to be forwarded.
At Clacton-on-Sea.
The superintendent of the line of the Great Eastern Railway Company draws attention to the attractions of Clacton-on-Sea as a spring resort, and many of our readers will remember that a service of motor omnibuses, carried out by Leyland vehicles, is in operation at this well-known watering place.
Voluntary or Compulsory?
Mr. H. S. Schultess Young, barrister-at-law and a shareholder in the Edinburgh and District Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, is at the head of a movement to take steps to secure the compulsory winding up of that undertaking, in place of the existing prog-ranune for a voluntary liquidation, which has been duly reported in our pages (see page 141, Itth April, 1907). Mr. Schultess Young then stated that he represented a group of shareholders holding 7,000 shares.
From Our Berlin Correspondent.
Berlin omnibus companies are not particularly wide-awake as to loss of business in wet weather. The outside passenger gets no consideration whatever : no waterproof cover for his knees, and not even a dry seat ! On a pouring wet day, being in a hurry, I boarded a motorbus, which was full inside, with the intention of standing on the "upper deck," as I had not to travel far; but I was faced with the choice between alighting, or sitting in a pool of water. Needless to say, I alighted without delay, and walked the distance. The company might have fixed up a notice-board : " Rheumatism cheap to-day ; only to pfennigs !" As I walked on, I thought of the dry, outside seats obtainable in London. If the police here do insist on the herringbone system of sitting accommodation on the outside of omnibuses, presumably for the purpose of throwing as much weight as possible towards the centre, that is hardly a reason for not making the slightest attempt to look after the outside passenger's comfort. In penny-wise-and-pound-foolish style, the Berlin companies prefer to lose half their passengers, rather than to devise a means of filling their vehicles. At the next general meeting, we shall have the directors complaining that unfavourable weather adversely affected the motorbus traffic. Perhaps a London manager will show the Berlin companies how to combat weather, at least to some extent. [They do these things better in Paris.—En.1 The British Thomson-Houston Cornpany, Limited, has entered its new petrol-electric omnibus, with WolseleySiddelev chassis, in the hill-climbing competition which is to take place at Frome's Hill, near Hereford, to-morrow (Friday). This hill is some 1,300 yards in length, and has an average gradient of i in 11.2, with a maximum gradient of i in 6.4.
The General Council of the Department of the Marne decided at its last meeting to grant a subsidy for motorbus services and goods transport by auto-vehicles in various districts of the department. The following towns will very shortly benefit by this decision : Rheims and Thillois, Gueux and Roenay, Vitry-le-Francois and Eclaron, serving the different communes of the canton of St. Reny en Bouzemont. The omnibus to be used is the 4oh.p. Darracq-Serpollet, fitted with powerful brakes, and designed after the char-abanes, with platform. Accommodation for 2o persons is afforded, and an average speed of 20 kilometres an hour effected. Several practical trial runs have been made in the districts to be connected up, and local support is willingly proffered.
Excessive Damages.
We have often heard it stated that it is cheaper to kill a workman outright than to injure him, and this rather greesome fact appears to find support in a recent award of upwards of £1 ,200 damages to the driver of a horse omnibus who was hurt in a collision between his vehicle and a motorbus owned by the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited. Exactly on what basis the jury could see its way clear to award such enormous damages to a man drawing about 305. a week, we are at a loss to understand, and nobody can suppose that the defendant company wilt be able to refrain from an appeal in the matter. If juries were more reasonable in respect of their assessment of damages, claimants would probably come out of such actions both at earlier dates and with more money in hand to enable them to start some business to keep them in their state of manual incapacity.
A Manchester Liquidation.
The liquidation of the Manchester arid District Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, continues to present difficulties, and sustained efforts are being made by a committee of shareholders to save something from the wreck. We drew attention to a meeting, which was held in Manchester on Wednesday of last week, in our issue
of the 25th ultimo, when the Chairman of the Shareholders' Committee, Mr. A. E. Healey, of 35, Marlborough Hill, London, N.W., was able to show that he had 17,519 shares in his favour, and these all from holders of subscribers for cash. Mr. Healey hopes to be able to make a cash offer to take over certain assets of the company.
At the adjourned hearing before the registrar on Friday last, the question of the compulsory sale of ii of the motorbuses owned by the Manchester Company was deferred until yesterday (Wednesday), in order to see whether a definite and binding offer could be formulated on behalf of the subscribers to the proposed new company. This committee of enquiry has ascertained certain important facts in connection with the early stages of the Manchester company's operations, and it is not unlikely that more will be heard hereafter in reference to certain of its proceedings.
A Good Lock-Nut.
The " Fastnut " is, perhaps, one of the most interesting amongst the numerous nut-locking devices. Our illustration of a bolt, taken from an edge-runner, stone-crushing machine, shows that this form of lock has held up in spite of the excessive vibration to which it has been subjected. It will be seen that a large part of both nut and bolt is worn away. This device is marketed by Fastnut, Limited, 6, Aldermanbury, E.C.
The test of the 4o-4511.p. Ryknield omnibus by the London General Omnibus Company, Limited, is proceeding, and our anticipations of a satisfactory result are being borne out to the full. This omnibus was submitted to a critical examination about three weeks ago, when it was taken off the road for a little more than a week, in order that the parts might be taken down and examined by the company's engineers. It is now back in service, and running to everybody's satisfaction. As showing the performance accomplished to the rah ultimo, we may quote a letter addressed to Mr. W. F. French, the London manager of the Ryknield Motor Company, Limited, by Mr. R. T. Kingham, the Secretary of the Company, on Monday last, which reads :—" With reference to your letter of 23rd instant, I am instructed to say that the trial of your motor began on the and February and ended on the 'nth instant—during which period it covered 7,847 miles and ran 317 journeys out of a possible 318. I find the consumption of petrol was f gallon per 7 miles run—lubricating oil, i gallon for 234 miles, and grease, ilb. for 116
The omnibus is fitted with Shrewsbury and Challiner "World " tires on its driving wheels, and, in answer to our query as to their behaviour, Mr. French expressed the very confident opinion that they are good for another 15,000 miles. We reproduce a photo.. graph of one double-tread tire, taken on Saturday last.
Extra Precautions Against rire or Explosion.
We have received from Steinhoff, Sons and Muir, Ltd., 6, Trinity Square, London, E.C., a most interesting booklet, dealing with the safe storage of inflammable liquids. The system chiefly described, is that of Martini-Hiineke, and this, in its simplest form, consists of an underground tank containing the liquid, and a "gasbottle " containing carbonic-acid-gas, which may be admitted to the tank when it is desired to draw off any of the petrol or other liquid therein contained. The fact that carbonic-acid-gas will not form an explosive mixture with petrol vapour, renders an explosion within the tank, impossible. A quantity of interesting facts are clearly set out, and the results of tests are given and fully illustrated. The book contains a re-printed lecture given by Prof. W. Schleyer, of the Royal Technical High School in Hanover, dealing with "Inflammable liquids and the storage cf the same, in a manner absolutely safe from all risk of ignition and explosion." Operating engineers, and all who deal with petrol in bulk, might do worse than write for a copy of the book and give it their careful consideration.