Answers to Queries.
Page 22
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Shall They Fit an Electric-lighting Set ?
[4133] (Wholesale Grocers).—There is no reason why you should hesitate at the present time to put an electric-lighting set on a van and traveller's car. The repairs to such an outfit are usually extremely small, depending very largely on the care with .which the battery is kept and charged and filled, and the absence of roughness in the handling of the switches and contacts. Bulb replacements should not be costly.
Rail Corrugation.
[4134] (Student).—The problems that underlie the difficulties which are connected with rail corrugation are of but indirect interest to us. We have heard the trouble explained as being due to the conjunctive effects of (a) fluctuations of rail hardness, (b) play in bearings of the tramcar axles, (c) small variations in diameter of wheels on the same through axle. We know that these factors are not exhaustive. The last suggestions concern the behaviour of certain classes of steel under rolling abrasion. Different steels have different defcrmation characteristics under rolling abrasion ; such deformation, when stopping short of cracking and scaling, does not lead to corrugation. We think you might more advantageously apply to some electrical or tramway contemporary in this matter, or to the Secretary of the Tramways and Light Railways Association.
Wants Some Petrol.
[4135] (Taxicabby).—It is impossible to get any petrol from the Petrol Control Committee now unless on well-disclosed facts which have a bearing on national interests. Can you get the Town Clerk or the Hackney Carriage Inspector of your town.to endorse your application with a note to the effect that there is a shortage of local transport for the conveyance of military and naval officers? That might help. The Petrol Control Committee has already announced that it will consider no fresh applications, after the 2.4th ult., unless they are of a special character, and it is for you to furnish a statement of the special points which have any bearing on your present poSition. If, as we understand it this cab is to be driven by a discharged soldier, you should make a point of that. Perhaps you will do so, registering your letter of application to the Petrol Control Committee this time, and giving the secretary, say, a week to deal with it. See, also, page 500.
Charge by the Hour when Speed Averages Only 2i m.p.h.
[4136] (Munitions).—We think in the circumstances that you cannot well grumble at the charge, as the contract is fixed on an hourly basis, unless the delay is directly due to some neglect of tlae man who hires the vehicle to you. If it is due to Weather cenditions, one must remember that they have been very bid. lately. The whole matter is one of private bargaining, and may in part depend upon the wording of your contract. We doubt if it will pay you to do other than try to Settle by arrangement, unless a repetition Of the experience is likely to occur frequently; Why not add the extra charge to your account against the Ministry of Munitions on the ground of abnormal weather
Is Sir Albert Stanley an American ?
[4137] (Midland).—The Rt. Hon. Sir Albert H. Stanley, P.C., now President of the Board of Trade, is not an American. He is an Englishman, born in Derby. His railway experience was chiefly gamed with the Detroit United Railway, as general manager of the line, which extends to 750 miles of electric and steam railways, both passenger and goods. He next became general manager of the Public Service Railway of New Jersey. He carried much of the burden of re-organizing the Metropolitan-District Railway, and of making the working arrangements between. that railway and the various London tubes, the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., and several tramway undertakings. It was on the appointment of Sir George Gibb as chairman of the Road Board, in the year 1910, that Sir Albert Stanley became managing director of the " Underground " interests.
Uolighted Tree on Highway.
[4138] (Liability).—The liability of a farmer, one of -whose elm trees was blown across a highway adjoining his land, was recently the subject-matter of an appeal before Mr, Justice Ridley and Mr. Justice Avery. The appeal was against the decision of a county court judge at Bishop's Stortford, to which we have made earlier reference—" -Answer to Queries" No. 4037. The decisioa,of the county court judge was that liability attached to the farmer, when a motorcar was driven into the tree, which was unlighted, and theear-owner suffered damage. The allegation against the farmer was that, though he had been told earlier in the day about the tree, he had none the loss failed to indicate its position by lights when darkness fell. The county court judge decided that there had been negligence, on the part of the farmer, in his not warning users of the highway of the obstruction, and gave damages against him. The Court of Appeal reversed the decision on the appeal of the farmer. The reasons -appear to be the following : There is an obligation on the highway authority to remove all obstructions, but failure to do so is a ground only for an indictment, and not for an action for damages. There is no authority for the proposition, that an occupier of land is bound to guard persons passing along the highway from obstruction on the highway. -There was no duty on the defendant to keep a perpetual watch over the tree, even though he knew it had fallen, and there was no failure by the defendant in his duty for not fetching a light. The defendant was not liable for the original falling of the. tree ; it was an act of God, during a gale. Unless the tree had fallen in such circurnstaeres that a duty was cast upon the defendant to light, it and guard it, the judgment of the county court could not...be supported. If the defendant had failed, following a notice from the ..surveyor of highways, to remove the. tree within a reasonable time, he would have been guilty of wilful obstruction. The action which had been.brought was based on the failure of the defendant to light the tree and guard it, not for his failure to remove the tree.