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News and Comment.

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 World.

Not many of the exhibits at the Berlin Motor Show can strictly be iermed commercial vehicles : a few illustrations will be fon rid on pages 334 and 135.

The A.A. and M.U. has voted too guineas to the funds of the Roads Improvement Association, this sum comparing with 50 guineas each from the two constituent bodies in respect of 1910.

An esteemed correspondent of this journal draws attention (page 144) to discrepancies in respect of strict uniformity of conditions under which exceptional records of gross ton-mileage per gallon of petrol are achieved.

An Acknowledgment.

We beg to acknowledge, on behalf of the Editor of " The Power Wagon,' of Chicago, the reprinting, in his current issue, of our articles " 1ssio,000 miles a year ' and "A new wooden tire." Presumably, the space available in our American contemporary's pages was too limited to admit the usual vollintary acknowledgment.

Liverpool Anniversary Dinner.

Any readers of this journal who are entitled to apply for tickets at. the anniversary dinner in connection with the Liverpool Trials, which dinner will take place at. the Royal Automobile Club on the aith inst., must apply for seats—price one guinea each inclusive of wines --not later than Monday next. Applications should be addressed to the Editor of this journal, who is acting as lion. secretary to the Dinner Committee, and it should be noted that applications eon he en

tertained only from those who participated in the trials, or who attended them_ in some capacity.

Captain R. S. Walker, R. E., who was one of the principal observers at the 1901 trials, writes as follows: " I should have liked for old association's sake to have returned to the relics ' of the L.S.P.T.A., and joined you at dinner on the 26th, but I unfortunately have to sail for Gibraltar on the 24th. However, I wish you all hick with the reunion, and, should there ever be a repetition, hope I may be able to turn up, as I consider the, experience I gained on those trials amongst the most useful of my life."

C.M.U.A.

Those members of the C.M.U.A. who have given instructions for this journal to be supplied to them receive it each Thursday morning by first postal delivery. All subscribess of 6s. a enjoy the same advantage—in the United Kingdom, and not a few people, to whom it is of importance that. no time should be lost on a Thursday before perusal and search is completed, prefer to subscribe. We would direct attention to the fact that the C.M.U.A. annual subscription covers that (postage included) for THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR, as well as conferring the benefits which are named in the Association's announcement facing page 141 of this issue. As is pretty generally known, this body is the only effective organization for owners of commercial motors, and repeated efforts to found a rival institution have resulted in as many failures. Messrs. Joynson-Hicks, Hunt, Moore, and Cardew, of Lennox House, Norfolk Street, W.C., are the Association's solicitors.

Cheshire Roads.

The Cheshire County Council has been supporting a scheme for the construction of a new road to link Ellesmere Port with Chester. It is hoped that the Road Board will make a grant towards the cost.

Off-side Lamps.

We again, further to the recommendation in the issue of this journal dated the 12th January last, advise owners of traction-type and other steani wagons and of petrol wagons, to take steps to satisfy themselves that they are complying with the requirements of the Motor Car Use and Construction Order in regard to the provision of a lamp upon the extreme off side of any motor vehicle. An " Answer to Query " in this week's issue (page 147) reminds us of the current interest which attaches thereto.

There is no question, to our minds, that the majority of Benches and stipendiary magistrates will decide against any owner or driver whose front lamps are. carried upon brackets both of which are set well inside the extreme lines of the vehicle, whether they be close to the smoke-box of a steam vehicle, or close to the bonnet of a petrol vehicle. Two simple alternatives provide a. solution to the difficulty: one is to have a hinged bracket at the right-hand front of the vehicle, and to swing it outwards only after the off-side lamp is lighted ; the other, and possibly the moresimple one, is to fit a third bracket upon the body-work, in line with its extreme off side. There is no obligation upon owners to place their two front lamps symmetrically: the near-side lamp may occupy the customary position, and the off-side lamp may be placed at any extreme position. An arrangement such as that indicated in the last sentence mayget over the expense of three front lamps, or of extra brackets and stays.

Our U.S.A. correspondent asks us to correct a printer's error, which appeared in the issue of this journal for the 21st ult. The Government allocation for new road construction should read 8200,000,000, and not $2.000,000, as published.

Eastern Tire Repairs.

Our Singapore correspondent advises us that the Singapore Rubber Works, which is owned by a Dutch corporation that is registered at the Hague, is doing a considerable business in the retreading of solid-rubber tires. Experienced Continent al workmen are in charge of the vulcanising and moulding departmen ts, and the new treads are built upon

the metal bands of the worn tire. These locally-made tires have stood the test of eight months use, and the price for a 38 in. wheel is 75 dollars (about 28 15s.) per tire. Our correspondent informs us that many owners of motor vehicles in the Malay States are giving orders to this local tire factory, which underakes to complete renewals quickly.

Mator Ambulances.

The Metropolitan Asylums Board 'nas accepted the tender of the Polack Tyre and Rubber Co., Ltd., in respect of its south-eastern ambulance station.

The Lambeth Board of Guardians has accepted the tender of Dennis Bros,, Ltd., of Guildford, for the supply of a motor ambulance, subject. to L.G.B. confirmation.

The writer on " Motor Topics " in the " Newcastle Chronicle " is always interesting—as one would expect. from the special correspondent of a journal of such high standing. We wish him all success in his efforts to waken up Tyne siders to the value of motor ambulances, and we must confess to a feeling of unmitigated surprise that a go-ahead industrial centre like Newcastle should be handicapped for the want of these modern necessities. Is it the fault of the City Council or of the Guardians,

and is it of no account to them that pain and suffering can be alleviated by the smooth and rapid transit which motors alone can provide ?

Consulting Advisers.

Messrs. Markham and Prance, of Dudley House, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C., advise us that Mr. It. S. Fox, M.A.; A.I.A.E., has recently joined their staff. Mr. Fox is an old Wellingtonian, and he subsequently took Ins M.A. at Oxford with honours in chemistry.

A Lady Advocate.

At the meeting of the Southampton Board of Guardians held two weeks ago, the question of purchasing a van for delivering the bread, etc., between the workhouse, the infirmary, and I-Tollybrook House, Shirley, the Farm Committee recommended the Board to purchase the van for which two horses would be necessary. A discussion took place on the point when Mrs. Palmer inquired whether the committee had considered the advisability of purchasing a motorvan. It was eventually agreed that the cost of motorvans should be ascertained.

John 1. Thornyeroft and Co., Ltd., which company's works are at Southampton and Basingstoke, whilst its offices are at Caxton House, Westminster, S.W., with repair depots at Vauxhall Bridge &Dad, S. W., and 35, Kirkstall Road, Leeds, has recently made the undernoted amongst other deliveries: To the order of the company's north of England agent, Mr. C. Pemberton Wooler, of 2, Park Place, Leeds : a 30 lap., four-cylinder, 21-ton chassis, for John Walsh, Ltd. ; a 16 h.p., two-cylinder, two-ton lorry, for Messrs. Tennants and Co. ; a 30 h.p., four-cylinder, two-ton chassis, for Tuckwood's Stores, Ltd. ; and a 30 h.p., fourcylinder, two-ton chassis, for Cole Bros., Ltd. To the order of the company's south of England agent, Mr. j, Bruce Cooper, of The Cottage, Oakley, Basingstoke : a 16 h.p., two-cylinder, two-ton sheet van (repeat order), for Edwin Jones and Co., Ltd. ; two 16 lap.. two-cylinder, twoton lorries (repeat orders), for the

arnham United Breweries, Ltd. To the order of the emnpany's Midland agent, Mr, T. C. Aveling, of 91, New Canal Street, Birmingham : a i6 h.p., two-cylinder, 24-cwt. heet van, for The Mint (Birmingham), Ltd. ; a 30 h.p., four-cylinder, t wo-ton brewer's lorry, for Holt Brewery, Ltd. ; a 30 h.p.. four-cylinder, two-ton brewer's lorry (repeat order). for Cheshire's Brewery. Ltd.

Other recent deliveries include the following : a 16 h.p.. two-cylinder. Iwo-ton chassis, for Messrs. Curniek and Co. ;a 6 lip.. two-cylinder, two-ton, solid-top van (repeat order), for the Sterling Manufacturing Co.. Ltd. ; a 30 h.p., four-cylinder, 2'j-ton chassis for Sir Chas. Ross: a 16 h.p., 24-cwt. van. for Messrs. Corneille David and Co. We illugtrate on this page a French-built machine which has been specially designed for hauling stone, granite, and other builder's supplies, and is capable of taking an imposed load of five tons at six miles an hour. The body, it should be noticed, rests upon movable rol!ers, and the platform may be tipped by means of a capstan that is operated by the engine. By the simple act of re. leasing a lever, a steel rope which runs over a pulley is also released, and the platform may then be moved backwards and lowered to the ground, together with its load, tipping through a total angle of 20 degrees. The load may be released in two ways : either by moving the truck forward and relying upon the inertia, of the imposed load to effect the tipping movement, or by winding the load along by means of the rollers.

Assisted Purchase.

The purchase of railway trucks, through wagon-financing companies, is an old-established prac tice in this country and in Ger many. Certain efforts, of a few years ago, in Lancashire, to apply corresponding methods to the purchase of motor wagons, were a conspicuous failure, and brought financial disaster upon those who under took them. Nowadays, of course, with an assured degree of settled practice in matters motorial, as regards the service and performance that can be yielded from any approved types of commercial motors, the intervention of financial groups, to put up the purchase money for motor vehicles, while holding a lien upon them and taking the payments from the user over a period of three years, should be a sound business proposition.

We are prompted to make the foregoing remarks, in view of a disclaimer from the Deutsche WaggonLeihanstalt Aktiengesellschaft, which appeared in "The Financial News" of the 11th inst., apropos certain alleged statements in the prospectus of the Societe Generale de Banque et de Credit Automobile, Ltd. The protesting German company denies that it makes advances for t h e purchase of motor vehicles of any kind, with the single exception of its re cently-developed arrangements to provide the finance for the purchase of motor vehicles and trailers which are subsidized by the Prussian War Office. We hope that the newlyformed banking and credit company, which is registered in London, will not fail to give every consideration to the assistance of farmers, transport undertakings, etc,. on the road-traffic side, because there is, now that, progress in construction and use has advanced so markedly, as much likelihood of good dividends from that branch of finance as there is from the older branch of the hire-purchase of railway trucks.

Players Motors, Ltd., has successfully appealed to the Home Office against the refusal of the Folkestone Town Council to grant a licence under the Petroleum Acts.

London Traffic.

Westminster City Council has decided against speed limits, and this attitude is dependent upon the continued observance by all owners and drivers of the duty to drive with care. There are numerous spots in the City of Westminster where exceptional care is necessary at times, but there are no conditions so Into as to call for a speed limit effective for the whole 24 hours.

At the Brewers Exhibition.

Our page reproduction of motor stands at the Brewers' Exhibition. which now fills the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, N., and which will remain open until the 20th inst.. has been dependent upon flashlight photography, owing to the bad light under the galleries. In the case only of the Leyland stand was a photograph obtainable without an exposure of the kind. We are obliged to hold over the view of the Shrewsbury-Challiner stand until next week.

All the exhibits testify to the progress of commercial motoring in favour with the brewing and allied industries, and this remark finds particular point in respect of Mann. Crossman and Paulin, Ltd., whose 22nd motor vehicle is exhibited on the Leyland stand ; this vehicle is fitted with an Allen-Liversidge illuminated sign above the driver's canopy. On the Thornycroft stand. we were interested to observe that the tires upon the. petrol vehicle there shown have moulded upon them the words • Thorny croft tyres," and also that they are made tor the Co. by the Dunlop people. Imes this departure indicate the preparedness of the Thornycroft Co. to supply tires at all times, and to be similarly responsible for them The Mann lorry, sold to Mr. J. Schnurmann, of Downham Mills, .fottenham, will largely be used in connection with the transport of old india-rubber, ebonite, gutta-percha, balata belting. etc.. and we may say that Mr. Schnurmann is a very large buyer of waste rubber. There is no occasion for us to deal again at, length with the exhibit. but we may say that trade inquiries appear to he exceptionally brisk, which is a natural outcome of the widely-placed references to satisfied owners which are now possible connection with the particular industries that are represented at the exhibition under notice. New purchasers arc convinced that they will realize the inclusive working costs which are put before them from the books, or upon the testimony of users of old standing, and that like results can be yielded with approved models from the works of more-recently-established makers who have got tar enough to " round the corners off" their productions as a result of actual running under service conditions. In conclusion, we were sorry to hear of the non-arrival (up to Tuesday evening last) of the new Sentinel steamer, due to railway delay.

"Turn Up or Pay Up." A correspondent writes : --This would appear to be the natural deduction in regard to those owners and drivers who receive blue-paper invitations to discuss motor-lorry matters at Bolton Police Court. Thos. Anderton, Garnet Street, Bradford, should have appeared there, one day recently, on an allegation of excessive rear-axle weight on his vehicle, and Driver Atkins was summoned in connection with the same. Defendants did not appear, and the police solicitor suggested that this was disrespectful to the court. A fine of £3 3s. and costs was imposed on the owner, who must pay advocate's fee in the bargain, the driver's case being dismissed on payment of costs. Do not the solicitor's remarks rather suggest that an absent defendant should be specially punished?"

Over-" Slim" Revenue Officials.

Our Berlin correspondent writes: —" Freight. automobiles that are occasionally used for giving pedestrians ' lifts ' often figure in legal actions by the German Revenue Office, which is always sniffing about for 'defaulters' in connection with the Motor Taxation Act. The ease of a brewery-owner of Konstanz, who was requested to hand over 125 for having used, or permitted to use, a motor lorry for the carrying of persons, to wit, a lame old lady and her daughter, has just been decided in the Imperial Law Court in favour of the brewer. In the course of his speech for the rejection of the appeal by the State Prosecutor against the judgment of the lower courts, whereby the Revenue Office lost its case, the Imperial Barrister had claimed that a. lorry without seating for the transport of persons could be regarded in the light of a passenger automobile. The view of the Public Prosecutor might be advantageous to the Revenue Office, but would inevitably lead to extraordinary vexation, since any Revenue Officer could stop every lorry for the purpose of securing proofs that each person in the lorry was assisting in working it. Whether an automobile was a freight vehicle or not depended on its outward appearance, and not upon its being used now and then to carry a person or two other than the attendants."

Engines as Brakes.

We report, together with con:ment, on page 131, an interesting case in respect of the use of the engine of a steam wagon as a brake.

1912 Parade.

A.M. the King has intimated his pleasure to become Patron of next year's C.M.U.A. .Parade. The engineering inspection will begin, as has been announced, on the 1st January.

Motorvans to Circulate a Million Books.

A recent and important move on the part of Mudie's Select Library, Ltd., of 30-34, New Oxford Street, W.C., has been the fixing up of a contract with McNamara and Co., Ltd., for the supply of a fleet of Belsize motorvans on contract. Three vans are at present kept going regularly, with the exception of Mondays and Saturdays, when two are required, as they are more or less short days. Their load is a constant one, as for every book delivered one is returned. The chassis are of the newest 14-16 h.p. four-cylinder worm-driven pattern, and with their service to date Mr. G. W. Hammond, Mudie's manager, is more than satisfied. The three motorvans are finished in the library's own colours—claret with red lines, whilst the writing on each side is an exact copy of the label which is placed on the lentout books. Avon solid tires are fitted to the rear wheels of the vans, and the front wheels are shod with Continental pneumatics.

New Registrations.

Charles Clark and Son, Ltd. with an authorized capital of 110,000 in 21 shares (4,000 pref.), and with its office at Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton, to carry on the business of motorcab, motorbus, motorvan, etc., proprietors. Managing director: E. E. Clark.

Twickenham Motor Co., Ltd., with an authorized capital of .C5,000 in 21 shares, and with its office at 9, Richmond Road, Twickenham, to carry on the business of dealers in motorcars and vehicles of all kinds, etc. First directors : G. W. Colmer and W. E. White.

Tire Legislation. We are informed that the following letter has been issued by the company which was responsible for

the disconcerting statement that there would be compulsory requirement of solid-rubber tires upon steam vehicles as from the 1st January next. We are indebted to a subscriber for this information. The letter reads " We would refer to our letter of the 6th inst., in which we informed you that an Act of Parliament would be coming into force on 1st,. of January, whereby all motor lorries carrying their own loads would be compelled to run on rubber tires. We wish to withdraw this statement, as same was made under a misapprehension arising from a rumour. Please accept our apologies for any trouble caused." This appears to us to be in the nature of the amende honorable for a genuine mistake.

Sohweppe's Lacre.

The 30 lip, two-ton Lacre vehicle, which we illustrate herewith, is doing good work for Schweppe's. Ltd.. in Glasgow. The chassis of this vehicle is painted red, and the body-work dark green with gold lettering : it will be observed that the body can be opened from the side, as well as from the back. This van, I he order for which was placed by Mr. Barclay, the general manager for Schweppe's in Scotland. is one of a number of Letchworth-built Lacre vehicles which are either de livered or on order for Scotland.