Our "Extra " Number for Colonial and Foreign Circulation.
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A year ago, the " Overseas Special " number of this journal was combined with the ordinary weekly issue. A total of 108 pages, exclusive of the eight pages of a supplement in the Russian language, which supplement was carefully distributed throughout the Russian Empire by accredited representatives in St. Petersburg, then sullieed for us adequately to meet the requirements of both home and overseas demands upon space. Now, after an interval of but one year, we have found it necessary to treat our usual export. and foreign number as an entirely-distinct issue. It. will be found, when copies of the " Doiniuion and Overseas Special " number are sent round to home supporters, which may not be before the end of next week, that. this extra production, which marks our Tercentenary of publication, will in itself largely exceed, both in size and importance' the joint issue of a year ago. We regard this separation, which departure from earlier practice was only adopted in this office after mature consideration, to be a true indication of the calls that are being made upon us from various parts of the world, and winch calls have undoubtedly been cultivated by our regular thin-paper edition for colonial and foreign circulation. To take a single case, that of Australia, where this journal has had a resident correspondent for close upon two years. inquiries and sales, largely owing to our unremitting efforts to secure useful publicity for eonanereialmotor achievements, have bounded up teyond the mostsaugnine anticipations of manufacturers. Acting epee personal knowledge and recommendations, similar correspondents have been arranged by us in many other pits o[ the Dominions and Colonies overseas, as well as in countries of South America, and in many foreign countries where developments of internal communication are 100guessing apace in other than English hands. It is gratifying to us, in some respects, although we are not without. regret on the Editorial side, that this additional "No. 300" has not yet been sent to press in its entirety. The influx of particulars, photographs and other material from manufacturers and factors throughout the country has been unprecedented, and much of it rather later than we had asked; hence, the task of effective compilation, to say /lathing of essential condensation, has been one of such magnitude that the complete issue will not he finally passed to the machine room for printing for, perhaps, another three or four days. The major portion is already printed, but a couple of sheets is unavoidably held open in order that we may not disappoint regular supporters whose dispatch of suitable illustrations has been unexpectedly delayed. Overseas trade is now booming, and our series of special numbers, over the past 5.1 years, has greatly contributed to that welcome state of trade. Fire-Brigade Experts.
We were courteously afforded exclusive facilities, in July, 1908, to describe an unusual example of automobile fire-engine construction, in the shape of a 100 h.p. selfpropelled monitor pump. The elaboration of the detail and the excellent* of craftsmanship that had been lavished on this machine were nothing short of remarkable; the whole conception, however, unmistakably bore evidence that its designer was in no wise possessed of that vital sense of " knowing when a job is good enough "—a sen!,e that is indispensable to the man whose business it is to initiate constructional novelty. It has been well said that anyone can build a bridge, but that it takes an engineer to build one at the smallest-possible cost that is. vompatible with requirements. The elaborate equipment, to which we have referred above, was evolved, designed and constructed in a workshop belonging to the Tottenham Fire-Brigade headquarters, by a foreign mechanic. Will) wa.; !. at work on the machine from 1905 until December 190s. -ft was, thus, an inordinate time " in the building." We are aware, too, that. since its initial trial it has not given unqualified satisfaction, The need for all this. costly and unnecessary experiment was exactly nil. Good machines were procurable., at less than half the cost and attended by no risk of failure. A Local-GovernmentBoard inquiry has been held as to the allocation of the eost, and its decision has yet to be made known. The original estimate was for V_,450: the total cost of this one fire-engine has reached £3,204. The mechanic who carried out this herculean task, in the course of the Government inquiry. said that he bad constructed their first four motor lire-appliances for Merryweather's, but that the machine of that make which belonged to Tottenham was nothing to do with him. We have animadverted upon this experiment at sonic length, because the whole procedure undoubtedly focuses attention upon the need for a pronouncement as to the extent of any special knowledge of a " fire-brigade expert." There has been a tendency on the part of the fire-brigade expert., ever since the first note of doom was sounded for the fire-brigade horse, to attempt to dictate to the makers of industrial-vehicle chassis. That he knows all about horses, ladders, hydrants and lockers, admits of no discussion, and that he understands the capacity of a certain class of pump is also no subject for argument. But that he has anything more than a tithe of the vast store of information which has been accumulated by motor-vehicle builders is unlikely. We are particularly referring, of course, to the firema,ster and the fire-brigadecommittee's chairman, as types. We have inspected specifications which have been inspired by fire-brigade experts, in which quite-ridiculous restrictions and requirements are made with regard to the chassis itself. It eaenot be too soon recognised by the expert fire-fighter, that the chassis, which is now exclusively to take the place of the horse, presents no difficulties whatever to the expert builder and designer of industrial vehicles. Fire-brigade work is one of the easiest kinds of employment for chassis. It is true that experiments such as that at Tottenham are not likely to be repeated anywhere. We would assure our many expert fire-brigade friends, that they have no need to be anxious with regard to future automobile equipment. Their anxiety must now rather be in regard to the quick supercession of their horses. Their specific opinions on all matters, with regard to actual fire-lighting appliances, will always be paramount, in the nature of things, but their lack of experience in automobile matters should readily teach such an intelligent class of the community to " leave well alone " in respect of the chassis, although they must not fail to choose a good one.
Confusion with Regard to Joint-stock Companies.
Our correspondence columns this week include, amongst other letters (pages 289 and 290), one from the general manager of a joint-stock company whose name is well known in motoring and commercial circles generally. This correspondent rightly protests against a measure of confusion which threatens to cause not-inconsiderable inconvenience and expense to his company and its shareholders, and which present trouble is directly traceable to the acceptance by the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies of a similar title, which was filed some three years later than that of the company on behalf of whom protest is now made. Accompanying that letter, there will be found reprints of questions in the House of Commons, and replies thereto by the President of the Board of Trade. We leave it to our readers tor judge whether those replies justify the acceptance of the second registration, which to our mind could not conceivably have failed to bring about a distinct measure of misunderstanding in the minds of insurers and the public at large. It is, in some senses, a personal grievance which is thus ventilated, but we feel that the circumstances have a direct bearing upon all who are interested in trading matters. The mere prefixing of a single word, to the otherwise-complete title of a company which is already in existence, can seldom be held, in the opinion of an impartial critic, to introduce the necessary element of ample differentiation, and we hope that this most-recent example of undesirable consequences, of which more is likely to be heard in the near future, may have a salutary influence upon the department at Somerset House which holds in its hands the future of many investors whose interests must be at least temporarily
damaged by any like act of inadvertence, or by insufficient appreciation of particular factors in particular cases. In a new industry, such as the heavy side of motoring, there is every occasion for these words in season.
Unfounded Taxation Rumour.
Certain provincial and other papers have been giving publicity, within the past week, to points from an alleged report by a committee of the Association of Municipal Corporations, in which notices it is suggested that an annual tax of £100 per annum per county should be placed upon heavy wagons with a certain style of tire, and another i:39 per annum for each additional county through which they travel. This proposal is preposterous on the face of it, and its extreme nature, had it been made, is a, guarantee that it would be ignored in Departmental and Government circles. We should make no reference to a silly idea of the kind, were it not for the fact that several correspondents have addressed inquiries to us about it : one of these, from a Yorkshire subscriber, reads:" I am about to adopt heavy motor traffic, but I cannot go into the business if there is legislation approaching this in hand, In fact, I think that, instead, of my going into the business, many owners who have established a connection will have to quit the roads. Can you give me any information on the subject? We replied to these queries as follows: " Yon need not be the least perturbed about this ridiculous report. There is not the remotest likelihood of its being seriously considered by the Government, and it is the work of enemies of heavy motor traffic, whose extreme views will prevent their making any progress or converts." We are now assured that it is unauthorized!
In thus giving publicity to a query and answer, on an early page of our issue, instead in that part of the journal to which it would otherwise be allocated, we feel that the interests of the steam-wagon branch of the industry call for a prompt and prominent denial of the idea that any such taxation will be imposed. If any tax is in the future placed upon steam wagons or tractors, it will certainly be a reasonable one of, say, 10s. per ton of registered axleweight per annum—for the whole country, and not per county. We have the written assurance of the secretary of this association, that no such report has been issued by it, and we feel every confidence in reassuring existing owners and intending purchasers with regard to the malicious wording of the Press notices.