News and Comment.
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This journal is extensively read by the heads of many wealthy commercial houses.
REMINDERS. (SFIEMS~161en*VM0WM6SAMM60
We this week include advices from our Australian and MalayStates correspondents.
Owners of petrol vehicles will be interested in the article about " Soot-proof plugs" which appears on page 35.
Tire Wear.
Mr. T. C. Aveling, of Birmingham, in the course of an article which is published on page 24, advances tfie view that vehicles of high transmission efficiency are more severe upon solid-rubber tires than vehicles of lower efficiency.
Topical Subjects.
Our leading articles this week deal with the following topical subjects: (1) "The heavier subventiontype models ; " (2) "Municipal authorities and exemption from the petrol tax ; " (3) This month's manceuvres ; " (4) " The supply of an army ; " and (5) "Aeroplane haulage and transport."
S. M. Steam Lorries.
The records of a test with a fiveton load upon an S.M. steam lorry, which appeared in our issue of the 25th April last, deserve to be recalled at the present moment, in view of the facts that there is no lull in the demand for vehicles of the kind, and that this make certainly deserves a further share of the orders that are going.
Petrol Rebates.
With further reference to the topic which is treated in our second leading article this week, it does appear strange that ratepayers should be required to pay a petrol tax on vehicles which are employed specifically upon public-health work of any description. The exemption which fire brigades enjoy should certainly be extended to other departments of public service.
Agrimotor Changes.
We are notified of the dissolution of partnership between Messrs. A. V. Gifkins and H. P. Saunderson, Mr. Gifkins finds the demands upon his time, due to his business in London as an electrical, mechanical and hydraulic engineer, too great, to permit. of his continuing to be identified with the Elstow works, As our record of new registrations shows, Mr. Saunderson has satisfactorily arranged for the transfer of the business as a going concern to a new company.
26tii Sept. to Agrimotor Exhibition and Trial* 6th Oct. ; at Bourges Sod to 12tb International Fire Conference at Oct. New York.
2nd to 3Citb Oct, Gernsan Military Trials October, Russian Military Trials.
D. If Paris Splashguard Competition. November. Swiss Military Trials.
The Late Mr. W. F. Alexander.
We learn with regret of the sudden death, on Monday of last week, of Mr. W. F. Alexander, the secretary of Dennis Bros., Ltd., of Guildford. We extend our sympathy to Mr. Alexander's family and employers.
Motors By Rail.
It is satisfactory to see that the Board of Trade is on the point of considering an application from the S.M. M. T., under Section 24 (II) of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888, requiring such railway companies in the United Kingdom as are members of the Railway Clearing House to amend the classification for merchandise traffic, so that motor chassis shall be added to the carriage class.
Indepsndent Brakes.
We understand that the Local Government Board will shortly arrange a conference between two of its engineers and two representatives of the Commercial Motor Users Association, in order to discuss certain points connected with the amendment of Article 11(4) of the Motor Cars (Use and Construction) Order, 1901, to the end that a reversible steam engine may be reckoned one of the two independent brakes thereby required. We hope this will be agreed, as the present uncertainty is unsettling.
French Subvention-trial Results.
Out of the sixty-six commercial vehicles which took nart in the recent French military trials, 40 have been accented as satisfactory models for the War-Office subsidies. The machines are : Schneider (1 and 2) ; Panhard-Levassor (5, 6, 7 and 8) ; La Buire (11 and 12) ; Aries (17 and 18) ; DeIaugere and Cla.yette (23 and al) ; Clement-Bayard (31 and 32) ; Latil front-drive (30, 40, 41 and 42) ; &direr (43, 44, 45, 46, 47 and 48) ; de Dion-Bouton (55 and 56) ; Berliet (57, 58, 59, 60, GI, 62, 03 and 64); Motobloc (67 and 08); and Renault (71, 72, 73 and 74). It must not be imagined that, 40 more types
are added to the subsidy list, for manufacturers had the facility of entering two or three identical machines in the competition, and if one of these was successful the series which it represented could be placed on. the approved list. Obviously, it is to the credit of those firms which, entering two or three vehicles in one class, had them all accepted as satisfactory.
More Ambulances.
'dford Joint Hospital Board is apparently still considering estimates for the provision of a motor ambulance.
The Leeds Branch of the West Riding King Edward Memorial Fund will shortly buy a motor ambulance.
New Registrations.
Olympia (1912), Ltd., with an authorized capital of E100,000 in £10 shares. First directors: Sir Gilbert Greenall ; Sir It. P. Cooper ; J. Buchanan ; R. Fleming ; W. Bainbridge; and R. G. Fleaton. Private company.
Saunderson and Mills, Ltd., with an authorized capital of £21,000 in £1 shares, and with its office at Elstow Works, Elstow, near Bedford, to carry on the business of manufacturers of agricultural and transport motors, etc.., and to acquire asa going concern the existing business of Saunderson and Gifkins, carried on at Bedford. First directors : H. P. Saunderson and J. G. Mills.
Fire-Brigade Matters.
The L.G.B. inquiry into the Nottingham Corporation's application for permission to borrow 22200, to be expended upon additional motor fire-engines, was held on Tuesday last.
The paragraph in our issue of the 1st lilt, we are officially advised, should not have referred to a second fire-engine for the Leyton U.D.C. We regret the misapprehension, and the unnecessary correspondence that it has caused.
The Malvern Brigade's Dennis engine, which we illustrated last week, travelled from Guildford to Malvern, via Aldershot, Reading, Oxford, Witney, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, in splendid time, on the day of its delivery, and used top gear throughout. The net running time was six hours and five minutes, or an average speed of 22 m.p.h. The latest order for an Albion vehicle, to meet the requirements of house furnishers, has been placed by Blundell Bros., Ltd., of Luton.
More Russian Trials.
Practically all the French commercial vehicles entered for the Russian War-Office trials have left their respective factories, en route for St. Petersburg. The trials, which will be conducted from the 17th to 30th inst., are very closely modelled on those that have been brought to a close in France. The French manufacturers taking part are Saurer, de Dion-Bouton, La Buire, Renault, Delahaye, Latil, Bayard-016ment, Berliet, and
Schneider. The Russian requirements are vehicles having a load capacity of 11 and 3 tons. It is understood that the vehicles which satisfy the army conditions will be purchased outright. The route to be followed during the trials will be, as previously notified in our columns, St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Krestzy, Moscow, Vladimir, and return to St. Petersburg.
Cotnmers at Chubut.
We observe that the weekly edition of the "Buenos Aires Herald," dated the 1 eth July last, contains an excellent selection of photographs .depicting Commer vehicles in service in Chubut. Our own correspondent in that part of the world furnished us with particulars
and illustrations of these services upwards of a year ago. The vehicles are chiefly used for wool transport. Many long-distance trips into the interior of the Andes have been effected.
We understand that Mr. J. S. Berry, the acting manager of the Chubut Railway Co., has other developments in mind, arising from the successful working of these vehicles, which were taken out to Chubut more than three years ago by Messrs. Moore and Tudor.
Tire Presses in New Zealand.
The latest evidence of commercial-motor activity in New Zealand is provided in the shape of an order for a number of Hollings and Guest tire presses for that colony.