News and Comment.
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The authority, circulation and influence of this journal rest upon facts.
This number starts Volume XII.
The demand for a miniature van is considered on page 1.
Colonel Crompton summarizes the ease for tar macadam in competition with weed pavement (page 3).
Tabulated results of this year's agrieultural-moter trials at Winnepeg will be found on pages 6 and 7.
The interesting topic of " fiats " upon the front-wheel tires of heavy motor vehicles is attracting attention in our correspondence columns_ Radiator and lubricator points of interest, all of which should appeal to owners of vehicles and tractors, this week occupy our space on pages 14 and 0.
The Manchester and District Motor Trades Association, Ltd., is considering whet action (if any) can he taken in respect of the persecution of motorlorry drivers at Bolton.
Congratulations to Mr. Louis Brennan, C.B., o torpedo fame, upon the award of the Grand Prize, which is the highest possible, by the Commission of the Japan-British Exhibition, for his gyroscopic mono-rail invention.
Railcars.
The more we study the matter of railcar developments, which have recently passed from the stage of experiment to that of practical application, the more we are convinced that they will be of the greatest service to officials of Indian and other Colonial railways, in order that they may be enabled to go at high speed, between ordinary trains, over the sections for which they are responsible. The use of such a railcar enables a man to treble his efficiency as an inspector, whilst the facilities which they offer can also usefully be turned to account by the heads of the locomotive, traffic and engineering departments of practically every branch line. Export Aibions.
Rhodesia is the latest colony to pay tribute to the excellence of _Albion vans, and we illustrate the vehicle which has been supplied to the Rhodesia Trading Co., Ltd. It is the first modern self-propelled motorvan to be sent to this roadless territory.
Recent Registrations.
Linwood Motor Engineering Co., Ltd. (private company), by Messrs. Paterson and Steel, of 30, George Square, Glasgow, with an authorized capital of £4,000 in £1 shares, and with its registered office at Linwood, Paisley, to trade as motor engineers, rubber manufacturers, etc..
Wulfruna, Engineering Co., Ltd. (private company), by Messrs. Rhodes and Sons, of Wolverhampton, with an authorized capital of £5,000 in El shares, and with its office at Great Brickkiln Street, Wolverhampton, to carry on the business of motor manufacturers, fitters, Founders, machinists, eta. The first directors are Messrs. W. H. ienkinson and J. H. Pickard.
Robertson Engineering Co., Ltd., with an authorized capital of £4,000 in £1 shares, and with its office at 65, Bath Street, Glasgow, to carry on the business as buyers, sellers and builders of motorcars, Nibs, lorries. etc. First directors: A. S. Nelson, E. F. Robertson and A. C, Turner.
Argentine Views. Mr. W. A. Tritton has kindly lent to 118 the negatives from which the views on pages 3 and 19 have been prepared.
Waring's Activities.
Mr. T. K Harrison, the head of the Transport Department of Waring and Gillow. Ltd., who ably carries out many projects • of which Mr. S. J. Waring is the originator, probably has one of the most-efficient cadet corps of any big London house, as well as a fine fleet of motoryans.
Motor Hiring.
Commercial Car Hirers, Ltd., of Cambridge Circus, W.C., owing to the steady development and extension of remunerative contracts for haulage, has found it necessary to place considerable orders for additional " Coinmer-Car " vehicles with Commercial Cars, Ltd., of Luton. New instructions can now be taken, Rubber Prices.
Efforts to force rubber to 14s. a pound, as our readers will lie aware, were not successful, although prices ruled quite near enough to this figure to satisfy purchasers. Another failure —that of abnormal steps to hold up rubber supplies in Brazils—promises to have early effect upon prices, and one which may reach its climax any time between he end of October and the middle of February next. Our statements in connection with this holdingup of Brazilian supplies, which were obviously based upon information and not upon mere surmise on our part, are confirmed by the " Brazilian Review " of the 6th August, from which we quote: "Rubber to a very considerable quantity is being carried at Para and Manaos in expectation of better prices. Most of it is, we understand, held as security for advances by the Bank of Brazil, whose losses on this score alone promise to be colossal should rubber prices continue to fall. As to what the future of prices may be it is impossible to tell. Rubber is far too speculative an article, and its prices too much under control of a few big houses, to respond very closely to the relations of supply to demand. Prices were boosted up to a height that made a reaction inevitable sooner or later. Where it will stop remains to be seen, but no prudent Administration with the lesson of the American erisis of 1907 in view would venture to count on the permanence of such prices as have been witnessed this ycar end last, much less to put exchange op and so help the bears to put down prices cif rubber still farther, If we are not very mistaken now, the rubber shoe begins to pinch. Para and Memos will take a more active interest in the ,,xchange cpuon."
Inactivity at Glasgow.
Glasgow people are wondering when the City Cleansing Department will make another move in respect of heavy motors, and whether the superintendent, Mr. D. McColl, means for ever to imagine that motors are no better than they were some nine years ago.
Argyll Points.
Marshall's Motor Co., Ltd., with showrooms in Deansgate, Manchester, and good repair works handily situated, is also selling Argyll commercial vehicles, as well as holding the Argyll sole agency for cars.
The motor-mail service between Pitlochry and Kinloch Rannoch will be performed by an Argyll vehicle.
Argyll newspaper delivery vans continue to increase; two have just been delivered to "The Daily Telegraph," and another two are leaving the Argyll
works at Alexandria for the "Evening Telegram," Toronto.
Spirit Regulations.
A White Paper, dealing with the regulations made by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise under Section 84 (6) of the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910, has been issued from his Majesty's Stationery Office. A copy may be had from Wyman and Sons, Ltd., Fetter Lane, E.G., price 1Ld. Post free.
Alleged Dangerous Driving, Henry John Slater, a driver in the ouploy of Hanningtons, Ltd., of Brighton, was summoned before the Arundel Borough Bench, on Monday the 22nd ult., charged with driving a motor lorry in a manner dangerous to the public. It was alleged that a corner had been turned too quickly, and that the man had entered a narrow street where horse traffic was impeded by his refusal to back the lorry. The Bench dismissed the case. Urtic Vans.
Messrs. Bourne and of Oxford Street, Hollingsworth. have a fleet of six [Mc vans for express-delivery purposes. These vehicles, one of which i;.7 illustrated herewith, are finished in light green and gold, and are shod with pneumatic tires on all four wheels. They are maintained by the Metropolitan Garage Association, of Palace Street, S.W., and each van covers about 50 miles a day at the present time. They have replaced tricycle carriers, and are doing a wider range of work than was comprehended by the replaced " humanpower" vehicles. Each van has a 1214 h.p., four-cylinder engine, and is complete, in our judgment, in all but one, important feature—the provision of a spare wheel.
The Horse Must Go!
Tun years ago the Berlin-Schoneberg Corporation appointed a special commission to consider whether the municipal cartage should be undertaken by the Corporation itself, and the commissioners have reported to the effect that the municipality should undertake it, but only with self-propelled vehicles, and at the same time re-organize the streetcleaning rolling stock on automobile lines. As regards street-cleaning, the rising borough is already in possession of a couple of electrically-driven street-washers such as Berlin acquired sonic time hack.
Connolly Tires.
During a recent conversation with Capt. 'Bennett, the manager of the solid-tire department of J. W. and T. Connolly, Ltd., of 57-67, Wharfdale Road, King's Cross, we learnt that business is very brisk indeed with this company. Amongst recent purchasers of Connolly solids are the following users :—The City of Westminster ; McNamara and Co., Ltd.; Midland Railway Co.; Great Western Railway Co.; James Nelson and Sons, Ltd. ; London Eire Brigade; Bean's Express, Ltd. ; Smith Metropolitan Gas Co. ; Clarke, Nicholls and Coombs, Ltd. ; and J. Lyons and Co., Ltd.
Mexican Motor Mails.
A Consular report from Acapulco, Mexico, states, as an instance of the progress of the country, that the Official Gazette of Guerrero recently contained an advertisement by the Mexican Post Office Department for tenders for the carrying of the mail 69 miles by motor—from iguala, a station on the Cuernavaca division of the National Railway, to Chilpancingo, the capital of the State of Guerrero. The route was to be over a new road, which was opened in April and which forms a completed part of the MexicoAcapulco highway. The specifications called for double trips every day of-the year between the two towns named, the trip each way to be made in less than five hours. A local tender was accepted, and new routes are to be developed.
A Stillborn Request from Eastbourne.
An official notification reads " The Highways Committee of the Eastbourne Town Council has authorized the Borough Surveyor to communicate with makers of suitable types of
rnotor-dust carts, with a view to securing the submission of specimen vehicles if practicable." We think that this most-gracious concession furnishes evidence of misconception at Eastbourne. Does not the Highways Committee know that motorbuses are a proved success in the Borough ? Manufacturers of repute can do business by reference nowadays : they do not " submit specimen vehicles."