Photographing Late Arrivals. Renault's New Conoessionnaire. "That Settles It."
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Charles Lamb's excuse for arriving late at his office, when he was employed in a Government. aepartment, has become quite a classic, " Yes," he said, "I do come late, but then you see I leave so early." This recurred to my mind the other day, when I was up North calling on an engineering concern in connection with the motor business. Diverse methods had been tried to ensure punctuality on the part of the office staff in the early morning. The more important members can hardly be expected to sign a book, and a time register is, of course, quite in order for the workpeople, but it would be properly resented by heads of departments and others. The general manager, however, is a resourceful person. Everyone on entering passes by a large clock. On the last stroke of nine, an official stands opposite with a camera and secures the counterfeit presentment of the late corners with the tell-tale clock-face included on the picture. It has cured them, T believe ; the portrait gallery is very small: It will be seen on another page that the commercial vehicles of the famous Renault concern are in the hands of C. H. Saunders, of Cookham Dene, Berks., to whom inquiries and applications for agencies for this country should be addressed. Captain C. H. Saunders has had a long apprenticeship to the needs, requirements and capabilities of the commercial vehicle, seeing that he was one of the founder's of the mechanical Transport Section of the Army Service Corns. He is an Irishman, a member of the R.A.C., full of zeal and enthusiasm for and knowledge of motor transport. That it will 'be found quite worth while to have a business talk with him on these subjects is very clear. Appointments can be made to meet him at the London office of the Renault.
By the time these lines appear in print„ I suppose normal conditions will prevail on the railway lines. Those of us who have been obliged to go about have had, amongst other inconveniences, much trouble at some stations to get luggage handled ; the commercial traveller with samples has passed through a really-bad time, and the idea. of independent and individual transport for commercial travellers has received a wonderful fillip. The railway companies are bringing it about themselves. The traveller in drapery and its allied trades in heavy woollens, boots, fancy goods and dozens of other trades, taking town after town, would get through double the amount of work. One exasperating case came before my eyes at Sheffield station last week. They were working with a very small staff of porters, and a traveller with three large skips of samples brought to the station by his outporter was unable to get a station porter to take them across the line to the train. He had allowed himself a quarter of an hour, but could not get hold of a porter ; the railway officials declined to allow the out-porter to take them over. As I saw for myself, he had to leave without them, but before the train departed he expressed from the carriage window his opinion of railway methods to one of the station officials. it. was concise, it was illuminating, it had more than a dash of the profane, so I cannot reproduce. But he turned to me and said "That's the last straw. I have been thinking about a motor for my work for some time, and. that settles it."
Many names have reached me in connection with my competition. some which nearly hit the mark but not quite. It is felt that the word " car " should not be used, because a three-wheeled vehicle is not a car, otherwise the suggestion sent to me by that grand old man of motoring, Sir John H. Macdonald, would probably be selected. He proposes " Box-car" and writes appropriately enough, " The name should be short and expressive, and it seems to me that the feature of these runabouts is that they are boxes on wheels replacing the push-boxes of the past." It has been decided that we shall extend the period of the competition during the month of May, and in order to make it better worth while, the prize is increased in value to the sum of two guineas.