News and Comment.
Page 10
Page 11
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
This journal is admitted to possess the influence, the men, the standing and the leading circulation, It is exclusively read by the heads of many wealthy commercial houses throughout the Empire.
The notes on page 509 are from our correspondent at Toronto.
"One Hears " has got into the middle of the paper this week ; it follows "Out and Home."
Mr. Julian A. Halford, whose interests are those of the " Corn'tier Car " truck in America, sailed from Liverpool, on Saturday last, by the R.M.S. "Mauretania."
Points about cane tires are subnutted for consideration (page 313), and the Knight wooden tires have been submitted to test by one of our staff (pages 500 and 301). Both systems possess many points of interest, but no rubber-tire firms have put up the shutters.
No CapitaftLoss.
The strikes have nearly involved some horse-owners in the capital loss of their animals. Temporary shortage of petrol or other fuel does not involve motor-vehicle owners in any such grave risk. The only point is to have good storage accommodation and to keep it never less than half full. Two of our leading articles this week are devoted to strike and allied considerations. As we insisted a month ago when dealing with the dislocation of transport due to the strike at Manchester, many a commercial motor will be sold to parties who were hostile a few weeks earlier. It is a case of necessity : modern conditions demand the use of motors. Petrol Tramcars.
Well-designed and soundly-constructed petrol tramcars are described and 'illustrated on pages 498 and 499.
Agricultural Organization and Direct Motor Supply.
The report of the Agricultural Organization Society, for the year ended the 31st December last, is
to hand. This society, of which Mr. J. Nugent Harris is secretary, and whose offices are at Queen Anne's Chambers, Tothill Street., Westminster, S.W ., is going ahead splendidly, with the aid of its annual grant from the Board of Agriculture, which amounted, for the twelve months under notice, to £1,411, compared with 2968 for the previous year. THE COMMERCIAL .ikloToit, through its Editor, contributed annually to the guarantee fund of this society, during the years 1906 to 1909, when the matter of finance was one of grave difficulty, and we are therefore all the more pleased to observe that the society is giving every encourage
ment to farmers and others who wish to develop their connections by means of improved transport. There are undoubtedly many commercial-motor schemes that might take definite shape under the provisions of the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act, 1909, and particularly do we believe this to be the case in the matter of the organization of services for the collection of eggs, poultry, and dairy produce. For instance, in the case of the Frau:linghain Egg and Poultry Society, we find that only 453,0■9 eggs were despatched in 1904, compared with 3,029,133 in 1910,. the increase in this affiliated body's sales being from £5,000 to £18,000, of which
13,000 represents the increase in the egg branch alone. The direct supply of eggs to London and other big cities, from neighbouring areas, is one which undoubtedly offers large profits. If mineralwater manufacturers can earn money by the direct supply of soda-water, etc., in syphons, under circumstances which involve them in big losses in respect of the syphons, there ought to be a muchgreater profit in the direct supply of eggs.. Possibly, with proper organization, the same vehicles might, in the summer season, when the sources of egg supply are more numerous, and when the prices obtainable are less remunerative, be occupied upon the direct supply of we in small blocks? We commend die suggestions to certain of our friends who are identified with an undertaking with its headquarters at Kingston-on-Thames. In the case of the Framlingham Society, to which we have referred in particular above, the dispatch to London and elsewhere is necessarily by rail.
The Manoeuvres.
In spite of allegations that petrol motor vehicles of all sizes are being "picked up" at quite low rates for the forthcoming manteuvres, we are pleased to be able to state that Messrs. Wort and Way, of Castle Street, Salis
km IT, who are amongst the largest firms of general and Government contractors, are prepared to pay the following prices per day for the hire of petrol vehicles : for loads of 30 cwt., 22 10s. ; for loads of 40 cwt. to 50 cwt., £3; for loads of three tons, 23 10s. ; and for loads of four tons, 24 108. Owners who will be slack next 111021t11 may care to get in touch.
French, Military Trials.
After being nearly a month on the road, the vehicles taking part in the French Army trials have returned to their respective factories. The trials terminated at Versailles by a final weighing of the trucks, with and without load, and a technical examination of various essential parts of the motors and transmissions, in order to determine how they had stood
the test. In one case, the committee would order the motor to be taken down, in another case a gearbox had to be laid bare, and in other cases the rear axle had to
be taken down. In addition, a close examination of all the sealed parts was undertaken, and the full number of spares had to be shown either in the tool chests or in use
on the vehicle. Throughout the competition, everything has been conducted on military lines, the civilian element being practically nil, for this year the Automobile Club of France is in no way interested in the test. An example of military rule was given on the final day of the competition, when the various manufacturers taking part in the triall were invited to meet the Minister of War at the open-air garage at Versailles. On arriving there, they were informed by the adjutant in charge that no civilians could be admitted into the park, and the unusual sight was witnessed of the makers of the trucks peeping through the railings while the Minister of War and Army officers examined their products, The trials have been remarkable for the small number of failures. During the first three daysl four • rucks were withdrawn, leaving 44 in the competition. All these • have gone through the trials, using three kinds of fuel, with full load, empty, and in convoy formation, and under most-trying weather conditions, without a single failure. It is expected that all the models represented will be accepted as suitable for the Army subsidies, but an official announcement will not be made until the report has been signed by the Minister of War.
1912 Parade.
At next year's C.M.U.A. parade, the principal prizes for drivers will be awarded according to the results in a written technical examination, and these will be to the value of 210, £7, and Lo respectively.
Fire—Brigade Matters.
The Fire Department of the City of Montreal has issued specifications for two motor fire-engines.
Reading Town Council is inviting tenders for two petrol-driven motor fire-engines, one to be fitted to carry a telescopic 50 ft. escape. It is estimated that the cost of the two engines will be .21,900.
Oxford City Council agreed to contribute the sum of 2400 towards the provision of a motor fire-engine for the local Volunteer Fire Brigade, after an amendment, to the effect that the Corporation should purchase the vehicle: outright itself, had been lost.
Mr. Alderman Kirtley_, Chairman of the Sunderland Watch Committee, seems to live in an atmosphere of motor delays and mishaps. He is reported to have stated that motor fire-engines stop so frequently on the way to fires, that they would need to be improved, so as to become reliable, before his committee adopted them. This attitude is distinctly a musing, arid certainly wrong.