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News and Comment.

4th June 1908, Page 10
4th June 1908
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Page 10, 4th June 1908 — News and Comment.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

This journal has an exclusive, genuine and maintained circulation: members of its Editorial staff hays practical experience and knowledge of the construction and use of commercial motors.

A British Success.

From 2,500 to 3,000 Straker-Squira cabs are to be ordered for Vienna, Mr. L. R. L. Squire completed the negotiations for the concession, in person, last week.

Westminster Tenders.

Attention is directed to the advertisement of the Westminster City Council (page vi, supplement). Tenders are invited for the supply and maintenance of from one to four motor tip-wagons, and these must be deposited by the 17th instant.

Military Transport.

The War Office has recently entered into an arrangement, under which the estimated cost of special wear and tear of roads caused by transport to and from the camps on Salisbury Plain will he repaid by the Treasury, with the Wiltshire County Council.

A Dundee Order.

The Dundee Town Council is about to order a fire-brigade motor. Tenders are now being invited for a petrolmotor tender-escape, and particulars may be had from the firemaster, Mr. J. S. Weir. Sealed offers must be lodged, with the Town Clerk, by noon on Tuesday next.

Road Traction Engineers.

The Society of Road Traction Engineers, which recently entered into an agreement of association with the Royal Automobile Club, has considerably enlarged its scope. The following additional elections have been made to the council : Messrs. Aston, Grey, Spurrier, Kerr Thomas, Witch Wilson, Willcox, Wolsey, and Wyatt. The R.A.C. associates' reading rooms, at 1.12, Piccadilly, W., are now at the disposal of members, who are also entitled to use the associates' badge on their cars, and to other advantages.

British Trade Representatives. An interview with Mr. E. R. Calthrop, M.Inst.C.E., M.I.Mech.E.,

be found on page 347. Mr. Calthrop advances the suggestion that the S.M.M.T. should forthwith appoint a British motor trade representative to take up residence in Mexico City. We discern much in favour of this course, and of its extension to other countfies.

Tariff Changes.

The S.M.M.T. notifies certain alterations in the Australian tariff. Rubber tires are now placed in a category to themselves, as follows : " Rubber tire fabrics, tire rubber, and tires for cars and vehicles, tubes, valved or unvalved ; general tariff, 25 per cent. ad valorem; if the produce or manufacture of the United Kingdom, zo per cent." The old classification of " Chassis for motorcars, and rubber tires for one car " is now altered to read " Chassis for motorcars, not including rubber tires," and here the general tariff is 5 per cent, ad valorem, with free entry for British-made cars. Opposition to the licensing of any further rnotorcabs at Brighton continues.

It has been resolved that no meetings of the S.M.M.T. shall be held during the month of August.

The annual general meeting of the Agricultural Organisation Society will be held on Thursday, the 25th instant, in London. It is proposed to widen the basis of election of the committee of management.

Our Sixth Volume.

Vol. VI of 44 Tim COMMERCIAL MOTOR " was completed with our issue of the 12th March last, and the index to the contents of the issues in question —Nos. 131 to 156—has been ready for some weeks. The Business Department will forward a copy to any reader who sends a penny stamp for postage.

General Motor Cab.

We understand that the directors of the General Motor Cab Company, Limited, will shortly issue their accounts, presumably for their financial year ended the t3th ultimo, to which date the audited accounts were last made up. We published a summary of the company's position in our issue of the 26th December last, and we confidently expect that a maintained condition of prosperity will be disclosed when the figures see light in the course of the next few weeks. Last year, the general meeting was not held until the 16th December, but there can hardly be any occasion for such inordinate delay this year. In the terms of the company's original prospectus, issued on the 23rd May, 1906, the preferred ordinary shares are entitled to a non-cumulative dividend of 7 per cent., and to half the surplus profits after carrying to per cent, to reserve. It is reported that, on a recent Sunday, the takings approximated to £3 per cab. London and Paris Exchange.

With the consent of the London and Paris Exchange, Limited, the Registrar of joint-stock companies recently allowed the registration of the London and Paris Exchange Motor Agency, Limited.

Renovation in London.

Messrs. Bartlett and Shanks inform us that they are now established at 17, Little King Street, Camden Town, NW,, where they are carrying on a general repairing, engineering, and overhauling business, and are making a speciality of " modernising " oldtype vehicles.

Petrol in Sewers.

At the meeting of the L.C.C. on the 26th May, copies of an Order prohibiting any petroleum from being permitted to enter any sewer were ordered to be sent to the following :—Express Motor Cab Co., Ltd. ; Commercial Cars, Ltd. ; the Gearless Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd. ; Motor Cabs, Ltd.; and the Great Northern, Piccadilly, and Brompton Railway Company.

Niotorcabs in the House.

Mr. Herbert Gladstone, in reply to Dr. G. Cooper (Southwark, Bermondsey), has stated that neither he nor the police can control motorcab companies or drivers, as regards special contracts for runs beyond the Metropolitan Police area. He saw no need to vary the discretionary action of the police as to the occasional carrying of extra passengers, which also affected horse-drawn cabs.

An Albion Pioneer.

The rather ancient-looking chassis which is shown on this page illustrates one of the latest additions to the Kelvin Grove Art Galleries and Museum of the city of Glasgow. It is the first chassis, built in Iwo, by the Albion Motor Car Company, Limited, and it was fitted with an Sh.p. engine. After being used for giving demonstration runs to clients, it had a small van body put on it, and it was then utilised as a station van in connection with the works. In the course of its existence it has run some 40,000 miles.

The Industrial Motor Company, of 59, Thames Street, Windsor, has recently dispatched a one-ton van to Messrs. Sillito. This i5 the second of a series of vans for the same purchaser, the first having been constantly used in Staffordshire since last August.

A New Cab Company.

The Victoria Motor Cab Company, Limited, with an authorised capital of ,;12,000, is now offering I ,900 ordinary shares of ,4;i each at par. It is proposed to run a number of Argyll cabs in London, and the concern will be under the management of Mr. L.

Gordon Greig-, lately manager of a company called British Motor Cabs, Limited, Messrs. E. R. Calthrop and Partners, of 3, Crosby Square, E.C., are consulting engineers to the undertaking, whose directors are Messrs. Walter Jefferies and George Dundas Price. The promotion, if on modest lines, is a clean one, though we should have preferred to see no deferred shares. The company's registered office is at Finsbury House, E.C. Ceremonial Taxicabs.

Previous to the arrival of M. Fallieres, the President of the French Republic, for the reception by the City of London Corporation at the Guildhall, on Wednesday, the 27th ultimo, an interesting feature of the preliminary proceedings was the conveyance of a very large proportion of the City's guests in taxicabs. The wearers of full dress uniforms and summer toilettes, who were not conveyed in their own carriages or private cars, utilised the popular taxicab to the complete exclusion of the horsed han

som and four-wheeler. Five yellow Argyll cabs in procession were filled with French officers in State uniform. The drivers, in most cases, carried their official passes in their cap-bands, to ensure passing the police cordons.

Gloucestershire Roads.

The i9th annual report of the Highways and General Purposes Committee of the Gloucestershire Council has been issued. It shows that a sum of ..74,703 was spent on the toads during the year ended the 31st March last, compared with ,4-73,8o0 for the previous year, ....71,698 for 1905-1906, and 470,164 for 1902-1903. The sum of ,4.:821 is. was received for tractionengine and motorcar licenses, and it is suggested that such sums should in future be put to a reserve fund for road improvements and the prevention of dust. We observe, with feelings of regret, that, in a total of 89,942 tons of stone used during the year under review, no less than 34,970 tons were limestone, and that a similar large quantity of this unsatisfactory material is to be laid during the ensuing year. The estimates for 1908-1909 total to ;4,-80,47r, in respect of 1,100 miles of road, but this appropriation includes the purchase of two new scarifiers. Many of the Gloucestershire roads are excellent in every way for motor traffic, whether light or heavy, and we shoul4 like to see an extension of the use of the granite and basalt which account for that excellence along those sections. Halley Vehicles in Glasgow.

Two more Halley tower-wagons have been ordered by the Tramways Department of Ehe Glasgow Corporation. One will have a 2oh.p., and the other a 3411.p., engine.

Two Changes.

The New York Motor Cab Company, Limited, has had its name changed to the New York Taxicab Company, Limited, and its authorised capital has been increased from L303,000 to .4.603,000.

Hans RenoId Chains.

Our contemporary, " Engineering," in its issue of the 22nd May, began an interesting description of the new works and methods of Hans Renold, Limited. This most interesting of modern factories is at Didsbury.

Another Drapery Van.

Messrs. E. and R. Garrould, of Edgware Road, W., have recently put into service their first motorvan—a " Uric," supplied by Mann and Overton's, Limited, of 7a, Lower Belgrave Street, S.W. We illustrate this van herewith, and confidently look forward to a good account of its running. This type, as many of our readers will recollect, gained the gold medal in its class during the recent R.A.C. Trials.

Organisation at Manchester.

The annual general mee:ing of the Manchester and District Motor and Cycle Trades Association, Limited, took place, on the 29th ultimo, at the Palatine Hotel. The report and accounts for the year ended the t8th April, 1908, showed that the profit over the period had been £276, the net result being that the company had cash assets of ,*538 compared with a paid-up capital of L288. This association promoted and conducted the commercial vehicle show at Belle Vue, in February last, and in this connection we quote one paragraph from the report : " During the past year, efforts have been made by your directors with the object of amalgamating the different interests in the motor trade of Manchester and district, with a view, amongst other things, of securing one large. and representative exhibition for the North of England, such exhibition to be under the complete financial control and management of the motor traders of Manchester and district. Your directors hope that their efforts in this direction will be ultimately successful." The name of the association was changed to the Manchester and District Nlotor Trades Association, Limited, and the voting throughout was unanimous.

Thames Cabs.

We referred; a fortnight ago (page 303 ante), to the large number of cabs which are being brought through the works of the Thames Ironworks, Shipbuilding, and Engineering Company, Limited, of Greenwich. We are now able to illustrate the first of these vehicles to be licensed by the police ; it has a two-cylinder, 12h.p. worm-driven chassis, and it is owned and operated by the British Motor and Motor Cab Syndicate, Limited, of ii, Cannon Street, E.C., and the Premier Mews, High Street, Putney, S.W.

Sunbeam Commercial Vehicles.

The Sunbeam Motor Company, Limited, of Moorfield Works, Wolverhampton, is now doing an increasing business in delivery vans and light lorries, all of which are fitted with oilbath lubrication for the driving chains, in which connection the name of Marston immediately comes to mind. This model is admirably suited for station purposes, and embodies the latest practice of the Sunbeam works. The chassis price is L395, complete with oil-bath chain casings, front wings, bonnet, petrol and oil tanks, and tires, but exclusive of rear wings. The lorry, with flat platform, costs 4412 complete, whilst a delivery van, a canvas-topped lorry, or a m-seated station cart can be had for ,420. With a successful record in other branches of the industry, the company should do well.


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