From Bombay to Burma and Simla to Ceylon.
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Vacuum Street-cleaners of Interest in Bombay.
The Bombay Municipality is not very keen on commercial motors at the moment, but they are greatly irmerested in motor vacuum street cleaners. Any of your readers manufacturing this class of motor might very well get in touch with the secretary of the Bombay municipality, always remembering that what one municipality will do to-day, another Indian municipality will do to-morrow. So there is always hope of further orders ahead.
The Crusade Against Bullock Carts.
In Ceylon, good roads have led to the introduction of the ncrnmerend motor. In this crusade against bullock carts the Government of Ceylon have taken the lead, the desire being to establish Seeder services in connection with the railways of Ceylon. For the Government experiment a Laere car was selected ; but the Ceylon planters are now interesting themselve in the new form of transport and arc ordering cornme..aial vehicles on their own account. The Government, however, have also introduced a motor mail service, which, I am told, is working up to expectations.
Calcutta Wants Something "More Sprightly" than. the Bullock.
The Commissioners for the Port of Calcutta have given orders far the purchase of two motor lorries, one from Messrs. Thornycroft and Co., at acost of £650, and one from Messrs. _'r.,,yland and Co., at 2695. f.o.b., England. And, as the result of a chat with one of the Port Trust officials, your readers may take it from me that many other orders will emanate f:,om the same source in the not very distant future. The irmble was to induce the Port Commissioners to make a -,,tart; but, now that the order has been given to forge ahead, there cannot possibly be any turning back to the antiquated bullock cart and the gross cruelty to animals connected therewith. The fact is that the harbour of Calcutta is a large .011e, and theadocks, where steamers load, and the jetties, where they unload, are miles apart. Hence the urgent necessity of something a little more sprightly than a bullock cart to cover the distance. It took a long time to introduce the motor lorry, its high initial cost standing in the way, but you will are that th-e expansion of this mode of traffic will be considerably more rapid now.
16,000 Rupees and Costs in a Taxicab-accident
There has justbeen disposed of in Calcutta High Court a case that will interest those who ply commercial motors for hire, though it will appeal more directly perhaps to the owners of taxicabs. The farts are briefly these. Mr, W. D. Shaw, a well-placed jute broker in Calcutta, hired a taxi from the Indian Motor Taxi-Cab Cn., Ltd., to go to Barrackpore, which is a military cantonmenton the riverside some 14 miles from. this city and is a popnlar resort because of the Viceregal cnantry residence with huge park there and because the road
an excellent one for motoring at high speed. being very level and generally free from excessive traffic. An important point to bear in mind in connection with this lawsuit is that the taxicabs plying for hire in Calcutta are only licensed to carry three ; but, in this particular instance, Mr. Shaw took ',vitt' him his wife, two friends and a caddie—five people instcarl of three. Mention of the caddie reminds me to tell von thatBarracknore is also famous for its golf course, which is one of the finest on this side of India ; and, as you may readily imagine, the main object of the party was golfing. Barrackpore was reached without incident. The return jourtiny was commenced at 5 o'clock, the intention being to reach Calcutta before dark.
Mr. Shaw's story is that the driver started off at great. speed and that he at once warned the driver (a native) to idnitatd-ar (be careful). Another of the passengers requested the driver more than once to aell jao (go slowly), hut the driver did not appear to be influenced by these requests to any extent. 'The speed was ahoutat5 miles per hour when the driver took a sudden turn to the left to avoid a dog and one of the tires burst. Another rapid turn was taken and a second tire burst. The brake was then put on and the cab at once capsized, all the passengers being more or less in jured, while the driver had his right wrist broken. Mr. Shaw had his left arm very badly damaged and had to proceed to England for special medical treatment. This was not successful arid, although earning an income of about £133 per month Mr. Shaw had decided to retire from India. He therefore sued the Indian Motor Taxi-Cab Co. for 50,000 rupees (£5333) by way of damages.
In cross-examination the driver admitted the high speed and was led to say that. any attempt to turn slightly to the right or left to avoid the dog, which was about a hundred yards away, would have resulted in capsizing the car. This was a fatal admission, a-s the Court at once held that the speed was so excessive that the car could not be turned ever so slightly even to avoid a possible accident. It was, Oa Court held, not only a high speed but a negligent speed and damages to the tune of 16,000 rupees (£1066) and costs were awarded to Mr. Shaw, despite the contention of the company that the accident was eansed by the overloading of the cab. His lordship (Mr. Justice Chandhuri—a native judge of the Calcutta High Court) intimated that he would have awarded higher damages only that he had to take into consideration that the Indian Motor Taxi-Cab Co., Ltd., was is new and not over-wealthy concern, and it would therefore be useless to award damages beyond the power of the company to pay and which could only lead to its ruin. On the other hand, it is felt in some quarters that 16,000 rupees and costs for a damaged left arm, which is capable of use, is a trifle high, and that the speed minus the overloading was not sufficient to account for the overturning of the cab. The costs will amount to about 5000 rupees. An appeal is possible against, the decision.
Motorbuses Wanted for Rangoon.
A report reaches me that under the auspices of the Rangoon Electric Supply and Tramway Co., Ltd., a motorbus service will shortly be started in Rangoon. The idea here is that it would be cheaper to run nuatorbuses over those roads not served by the trams than to la ?.7 down new tramlines and rolling stock acid to pay the usual rood rent to the municipality. The electric trams in Rangoon, which run out as far as Kommendine, aboutsix miles distant, are fairly comfortable, but horribly slow on account of the 110111eFOUS stoppages. Perhaps motorbuses will be an improvement. Let us hope so.
Motor Service from Calcutta to Chandernapore.
A correspondent reminds me that this question is again to the fore. I may explain that Chandernarxire is a small French possession situated on the River Hooghly, about 20 miles north of Calcutta, and it serves as a week-end spot for many who desire to Shake the dust of Calcutta off their feet from Satordav evening till Monday morning. There are a couple of hotels in the place, and also a nice promenade along the river front., where the people congregate daily to obtain a whiff of fresh air -during the long-drawn summer months. There are also battlefields and forts that take us back to the days of Clive, end recall the serious defeats we inflicted on the French. But there is nothing else attractive. Most of the houses are in a dilapidated condition., the bricks staring rudely through the mortar as if to tell you that they have been exposed to the weather for about 100 years, as perhaps many of them have.
I cannot. yet sa.y whether a commercial motor service to this old French settlement will materialize. I ant doubtful, because it is served by one of the finest railways in this country (the East Indian) direct from Calcutta, and because the river offers asplendid chance for the inauguration of a motor launch service. But it is always the unexpected that happens, and a commercial motor service by the fine and broad Crawl Trunk Road may be found the most suitable method of reaching the solitary emblem in Bengal of the faded power of France. I shall keep my eye on this proposal, and will let you know in good time should it develop.
In the meantime, I see that Marlin and Co., Calcutta, are pushing Thornycroft's passenger vehicles, some of which, 1
notice, are now running in Ceylon, and are far from being strangers in Colombo. They are used out here with either kerosene or petrol for fuel, which is perhaps an advantage, seeing the heavy rise in the price of petrol.
Seventy-live per cent. Motor Imports are British.
The number ef motor vehicles of sorts imported into India and Burma during the official year ended 31st March, 1913, was 3089 and these, with parts and accessories, were valued at £858,000. About75 per cent, of these imports came from Great Britain. The total value of imports just given shows an advance of L189,000 over the figures of the previous official year. That fact speaks for itself. When coupled with another fact, namely, that the total value of these imports during the official year 1909-10 was only £317,000, it stands out more clearly still and shows indisputably that there is an excellent field in India for motor vehicles of sorts. I am sorry that the published returns do not enable me to show separately the proportion of commercial vehicles.
Proposed Transport Service Tor Calcutta.
I recently received a letter from a concern which desires to be known to fame as the "Calcutta Motor Transport Syndicate, Carriers and Transport Agents," and who assure me, quite rightly, that " the progress of nations is to be gauged by the extent and perfection of their means of transportation." The letter goes on to say that, in view of the want of a modern transport service in Calcutta, a. syndicate has been formed to promote a company for the introduction of mechanical traction in the place of the antiquated, slow and cumbersome bullock carts. The existing system of transport, the syndicate urges (and I have urged it in your columns before to-day), is quite unsuited to the needs of a modern and growing city like Calcutta. As a start, the syndicate has a Renard motor train as the nucleus of its stock and intends to place more up-to-elate motor vehicles on the streets as soon as it possibly can The principal aim is to substitute a quicker and cheaper mode of transport, thus doing away with the present terrible congestion of the streets in the commercial quarter, to say nothing of the gross cruelty to animals that is now a standing disgrace to Calcutta, I shall refer again to this concern at a later date. In the mean. time I wish it all success, though I am fully aware that it will have a very up-hill task in displacing the vested interests:of the antediluvian bullock cart.
Motors for the Carriage of Timber in Indore.
As -you may well imagine, tropical India is one of the most luxuriant' producers of timber in the whek world, and some of her timbers, notably teak, sal, deodar, mahogany, etc., are also among the most costly, Of course there is not a plethora of good timber now in easily accessible spots; but there are still virgin forests in many out-of-the-way places. I see that the native state of Indon., has taken steps to level up matters by introducing motor transport trains for the carriage of timber from forests. The Bombay Governmeet is about to folio" r this lead for working the forests in the Surat district, A Fowler road transport train is the one mentioned for this service.
In this connection I would like to remind your readers that India is split up into many administrations, each of which has fmests to be worked and no superabundance of transport facilities ; and, now that Indore and Bombay have gone in foe' road transport trains, there ought to be little difficulty ire urging other administrations to follow snit. Those manufacturers who have agents out here should set them to work, for there is abundance of room for many road motor trains both in India and Burma, and it is the early bird that catches the worm. As I have told you before, orders do not come out this way to those who simply wait for them, but are seemed by those Ivho search for them. My advice to interested parties would be: Don't wait. for orders to tune up ; go out and turn them up. Verb sap.
American Agents Flooding India.
As I write, India is flooded with a sort. of invasion of American travellers who are anxious to secure orders in the motor line, They have been more successful so far in fixiog agencies for known American cars, such as the Ford, Overland, Buick, and ,Studebaker, than in obtaining orders for motor lorries. I was speaking the other day to the head of a large limited company on the -subject of motor transport, and his complaint was, that the initial price of such vehicles is far too
cI2 high to suit most pockets, especially in places where the use for them is limited. The cost of upkeep did not, frighten him for, as he put it, these vehicles are Row so well made that there is nothing much to get out of order, if carefully driven, He agreed that the steps now being taken by the Government of India to popularize commercial motors by hiring out Government vehicles would prove successful, and that merchants who once came to appreciate the great. superiority of the motor lorry would never be content to fall back again on the primitive bullock cart, which would be dethroned for all time. The sooner the better for the bullocks, public sentiment, and up-to-date trade methods.
Tire Manufacture in India.
Some time ago I advised you that steps were being taken by a Calcutta firm in the motor line to float a company in India for the manufacture of tires of all sorts. The argument was that rubber in plenty grows in India and Burma and can be purchased in Calcutta a great deal cheaper than it can be in England, that labour here is ever so much less expensive, that the manufacture of tires is an eminently profitable business, and that it would be possible to put tires on the Indian market at prices with which the English and foreign makers could not oempete, though a sufficient profit would be left over to pay a substantial dividend. The formation of this company was in native hands and, in such cases, there is never any hurry to have things done quickly in order to proceed to the next task. So far as I know, this proposed tire-making concern is still in its embryo stage, and haspermitted the Continental Tyre and Rubber Co. to step in ahead of it. At any rate, that company has opened a rubber works at Mazagon, Bombay. These works consist of a perfectly self-contained factory with an up-to-date power-house and plant, which, I am told, will be chiefly used for reconstructing old tires, or making new ones out of old ones. I do not know how the company's enterprise will affect the Calcutta venture, which issued a prospectus some time ago and was, when I last spoke to the manager on the subject, ore the eve of going to allotment. It is possible that the Continental people will not stop at reconstruction work, but the freight on tires from Bombay by either rail or steamer costs something, and there may be room for the Calcutta enterprise after all, especially if effect is given to the promise greatly to -under-sell English and foreign makes. But, as the French say, WOUS verrons. A. or C.