In Public Service.
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The Newton Abbot is willing to buy a motor fire-engine if the R.D.C. will bear half the cest.
The tender of John I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., has been accepted by Westminster City Council at 2150 5s. for the supply of a motorvan for disinfecting work.
• The Kirkealely Town Council wishes to have tenders for a 400 gallon motor fire-engine, on or before the 10th inst. Provision must be made for carrying a fireescape.
The Whitehaven R.D.C. has been asked by the Whitehaven to support it financially in the matter of the purchase of a motor fire-engine. 'germs remain under diseteasion.
Argylls, Ltd., has successfully tendered to the Coatbridge Town Council, at 2478 10s., for the supply of a 15 h.p. prison van. The company has also contracted to supply the Dundee Town Council with a20 h.p. motor lorry, at 2496.
The Oxford Controversy.
A crowded town's meeting endorsed the action of Mr. W. R. Morris, at the Town Hall, Oxford, on the evening of the 30th ult. The meeting appeared to be considerably incensed at the fact that the Oxford Electric Tramways, Ltd., was running unlicensed motorbuses in the streets of the city, and plying for hire in the ordinary way. The following resolution was carried with only two dissentient-a: "That this meeting, in view of the public service rendered to the citizens of Oxford by Mr. W. R. Morris, by his inauguration of the existing motorbus service, is in favour of the granting to Mr. Morris of licences for not less than 12 motorbuses, and is of the opinion that for the present., at any rate, the best interests of the citizens will be served by licensing one proprietor." Yesterday (Wednesday) the City Council was placed in the position of having to take some further action, but this issue bad gone to press before the deliberations began. The recommendation of the General Purposes Committee, by 10 votes to 15, is that 12 licences should be granted to the Oxford Tramways Co., and, if this recommendation is adopted by the City Council, Mr. Morris will undoubtedly be the sufferer. Even as matters stand, the Tramways Co. buses are running with a notice exhibited upon them "No coupons required or accepted on this bus."
On Tuesday evening last, there was .a complimentary dinner to Mr. W. R. Morris, in recognition of his efforts to solve the transit question, at St. George's Cafe, Oxford.
3312 Cal-T_ff City Council expects shortly to obtain L.0.13. sanction to spend 218,707 on the erection of a new fire-station.
The total of licensed motorbuses being operated on the London streets on the 31st of last month was 3394. This shows an increase of 31 as agnin-st the preceding month.
The receipts of the National Steam Car Co., Ltd., for the 10 days ended 31st December, 1913, were 21182. This shows an increase cf 22081 over the corresponding pit .iod of last year.
The receipts of the Tramways (M.E.T.) Omnibus Co., Ltd., for the week ended 27th December, 1913, were 28052, and for the Gearless Omnibus Co., Ltd., £394. These show a decrease of 2935 and 268 respectively, as against the previous week,
Todmorden Town Council has now sanctioned the purchase of a motor fire-engine and a motor ambulance, at a cost of £1600, largely because the use of horsedrawn equipment has on many occasions been the cause of direct cruelty to horses when in service. The same Council has resolved to purchase another motorbus, to accommodate 46 at a cost of 2715. Birmingham Buys Its buses.
The Birmingham Corporation has now finally resolved to purchase the motorbus undertaking of the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., to which scheme of acquisition we last referred in our issue of the 9th October, 1913. A sum of 220,600 is to be paid for 30 motorbuses, another £10,000 for the garage, and a further 23400 for the plant, machinery and stores. There is room in the garage in Tennant Street, Birmingham, for 80 motorbuses, and the lease does not expire until the year 1951. All the motorbuses are of Tilling-Stevens make. The agreement is conditional upon the Corporation's obtaining during the present year an Act authorizing it to run a general service of motorbuses within the city, and the purchase is in that event to be completed within one month of the giving of the Royal assent.
Tilling's Last Bus Horse.
The last horse belonging to the London General Omnibus Co. was withdrawn from service on Wednesday, the 251.11 October, 1911, truly A momentous occasion in the history of the public-service motor vehicle. Not till now, however, have we to record a similar happening in the case of another of the great omnibus-owning concerns of the Metropolis, viz., Thomas Tilling, Ltd.
This company has for many years owned an enormous stud of horses, and, indeed, at -the present time, continues to do a very large
livery and bait business. Its last public-omnibus horse, however, was withdrawn from service on Saturday last, and we are happy to be able to mark the occasion by the reproduction of a photograph which was taken of the vehicle, its horses, and its driver. Mr. G. Button has been in the company's service since 1872, and during the period since that date has never missed taking his bus out excepting in case of illness. That is a good record.
There is a pathetic interest attaching to this snapshot, with the old driver in the foreground and the type of his successor behind him. Even the horses appear to realize the solemnity of their last journey.
It is interesting to note in conneetion with this further milestone in the history of the motorbus of the Metropolis that this last Tilling service, viz.. from Penge and Beckenham to Shortlands, cannot accommodate the modern double-deck motorbus, owing to the lowness of many of the South Eastern Railway bridges at Kent House and Shortlands. The route in question is now, for the time being at any rate, busless
Lambeth Borough Council will purchase a motor disinfecting-van, aceording to a specification which. may be obtained from the borough engineer, and it requires tenders to be delivered by the 15th inst.
A Double Event at Bolton.
Bolton's new Leyland fire-engine has already saved property to a very considerable value. It was officially tested at the Beehive Spinning Co.'s mills, Great Lever, oa the 29th ult. Strangely enough, the demonstration and the actual call concerned the same mill, the real fire occurring the day alter the machine had been officially tested. Needless to say, the occurrence on Tuesday morning of last waek, which gave this Leyland engine its first. service opportunity, caused more excitement, in spite of the severity of the tests which had been applied the previous day. Messrs. Merryweather and Son have offered to sell the Hove Volunteer Fire Brigade a motor fire-engine, for 450 to be paid on delivery, and 1100 each year for five years. Interest on the balances is to be at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum.
The Biggest Provincial Company.
It may not be long before the Bristol Tramways and carriage Co., Ltd., reaches a total of 1000 vehicles in public service. Tt is well on the way to that total at the moment, and its latest additions have uniformly come from its own factory, at Brislington, concerning the output of which we wrote in our issue of the 19th June last. The company has numerous motorbus i
services n and around Bristol, and the first of these dates back to the year 1906. Extensions amounting to a little more than 60 route-miles have been made in the past three years. The rnotorcab branch of
this big undertaking is by no means limited to Bristol, but has its centres in various important towns.
It has been found, in the experience of the company at Bristol, that country services which were started at two-hour intervals have now been increased in frequency to halfhour intervals, whilst those nearer the city are, of course, run with a much shorter headway. Shopkeepers have benefited, as well as the various places of amusement, by the arrival of thousands of additional people in the city, whilst the country folk, in many instances, have begun to pay more than one visit a week to Bristol, instead of going there only one market day. The services will shortly be numbered, following London practice.
Bronze Coin.
Many owners of public-service vehicles are directly affected by the amount of bronze coin in circulation. It may interest them to know that there is no official or normal rate of increase, and that no special provision appears to have been made by reason of the annually-undertaken withdrawal of bronze coin through the Post Office, or the considerable demand for bronze coin in connection with the wocking of the Insurance Act. The issues of such coin, during the last six years for which data are available, have been as under: We are in a position to state that the turnover of bronze coin by the London Underground Railway and its assoeiated undertakings is a very rapid one, and that the. company is practically able to arrange • its own re-circulation of the small money and bronze without having recourse to assistance from outside banks cathe Royal Mint. In fact, we have reason to know that several of the big joint-stock banks were in the position, early in. December, of wanting to get hold of additional bronze coin, so that "the boot is on the other leg." It is the banks that are in difficulty, rather than the public-passenger undertakings, in London.
It only remains for us to point out, in concluding this short reference, that bronze coin to the total value of ;e1,119,933 was issued by the Mint during the six years 19071912, inclusive, as by the above table, whereas the amount • • withdrawn from circulation through the Post Office, by reason of its haying been unduly worn, was only 284,333, to the end of March last, since the collection by this means was instituted in the year 1908.