Armoured Tires.
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Users of commercial vehicles have but little occasion to be perturbed in regard to the imminent penalising of armoured tires, the extent of which is under consideration by the Local Government Board. Comparatively few vans are fitted with pneumatic tires, and the studded tread has not become the vogue for solid-rubber tires, owing to the practical effectiveness of twin sections, whether they be plain or with grooves cut in the body of the rubber. There are two points, however, to which we would direct the attention of users of light vans with pneumatic tires : the first is that any substitution of smooth tires will bring upon them higher insurance rates; the second is that they will do well to get into immediate communication with makers of a tire, such as the " K.T.," in which the valuable qualities of the pneumatic tire are retained, and due provision is made against side-slipping and skidding, without the use of armouring.
Better Times for Back Streets.
• Mr. J. Landfear Lucas, of Hindhead, a frequent correspondent on motor topics, has drawn attention, in certain London daily papers, to the fact that the advent of commercial motors has brought about an extended demand for houses and shops in what have hitherto been looked upon as back streets. We have frequently pointed out the unpreparedness of property owners to admit the appreciation of land and houses by reason of the advent of the motorbus, and we think that Mr. Lucas' statement very aptly and terSely gives point to a circumstance whose presence is only too often denied. There is a lack of proportion, though not of self-interest, in the men who grumble about the receipt of _notices to terminate leases from tenants in .Cornhill and Leadenhall Street, and who forget that other agents and owners are in the happy position of being in receipt of brisk enquiries for new offices and premises. It has ever been the law of real estate, that centres of high value are changed periodically, and that temporary periods of depression attach to frontages pending their conversion to uses which are properly in keeping with the times.
Motorbus Fatalities.
The steady decrease of motorbus fatalities, which the statistics given in our issue of the 25th June (page 397 ante) prove to have obtained over the 18 months ended the 31st March last, has received a check : there were five fatalities in the Metropolitan police area during April, and 12 in May. The number for the last-named month is only one less than the total for the six months ended the 3ist March last, and this extraordinary increase should lead all impartial persons to take steps to investigate the cause. It cannot be that drivers are more careless, or less qualified, and there has not been an appreciable increase in the number of motorbuses. There is, possibly, occasion for an analysis of the returns in relation to the presence of both motorbuses and electric tramcars on the same highway, although we hold that the figures for any two successive months are not necessarily a guide to the true position, any more than theclaims upon an insurance company for any 8 weeks are necessarily a guide to the total of its claims for the year.
Scope for the Motor Mail Van.
Until the motorbus trade is revived, of which there are no immediate indications, manufacturers will continue to seek outlets for production in various quarters. Some are turning their attention to motorcab developments, and others are satisfactorily maintaining their position in the delivery-van branch. Several are hoping to make up their order books in connection with contracts for mail-van services by road_ motor, both at home and abroad. In the heavier sections, the tractor and wagon trade goes on steadily, if not with the same spontaneity that characterised it two years ago, but any change is probably accounted for by the uncertainty of brewers as to their future, the slackness of the building trades, and contracting, and the general wave of depressions in certain important industries of the country. We believe! that the motor mail supplies one of the most attractive propositions for development during the next few years, and that it will provide scope for the activity of many local1 contractors, provided they give proper attention to the dis-charge of the work that is entrusted to them.
Self-Contained Motor Wagon or Independent Tractor ?'
The comparative merits of the self-contained motor wagon and the independent tractor appear likely to provide material. for a controversy which will be a rival to, and may even, outlive, those of the water-tube versus the smoke-tube boiler,. and the unending topic of the Australian teamsman—narrowversus broad tires. It has been generally believed that the tractor, owing to its lesser axle-weight, is universally superior to the motor wagon for employment on weak roads,. but there is now experience available to show that a qualification of this statement is necessary. Where no foundation has been provided, the tractor will often go over a road into, which a motor wagon will sink, but the converse obtains in some unlooked-for instances. For example, we have known cases where, after the laying of tar macadam upon a good
!foundation, a five-ton, fully-laden wagon has, with one axleweight of close upon eight tons, travelled over the surface -without causing any abrasion or attrition, without sign of slipping, and with positive evidence of beneficial, consolidating effect. On the other hand, under strictly-parallel conditions, a tractor, with about half that maximum axleweight, has seriously damaged the surface, and cut into the tarred metal. Continuous gripping of the surface is a factor of very great importance. In the absence of any special provision, there is reason to believe that the driving wheels of a tractor, under not a few conditions of surface, slip on the road for as much as 20 per cent. of their total revolutions. Another factor of importance is found in the superior point-to-point speed of the wagon, and we shall be glad to open our columns for discussion on new features, such as the above, which may have come under the notice of.our readers in the course of their haulage undertakings with modern plant.