MOTORING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 158, 10 August 1914, Page 5

MOTORING.

THE MOTOR BILL. , The Motor Bill now before Parliament is. causing a'good deal of comment among motorists. The x general opinion is that the proposals are not equitable, especially in regard to the tax on the side car being equal to that on the motor cycle. Another point that will need some thought is expenditure of the money to be raised fey taxation. So far, the Bill only provides that the revenue shall be collected by a central- licensing authority, and shall be distributed pro rata among local bodies and used for the upkeep of roads. The annual revenue from the tax will probably not amount to more than £50,000 a year to start with, and that sum, spread among local bodies and spent on road improvement, would be utterly futile. It would be far better i£ the Government held the revenue of the tax and raised a substantial loan for road improvement, using the motor revenue to pay interest and sinking fund. It does not appear to be a fair proposition to motorists that they should pay a heavy tax and their money should be spent piecemeal. Messrs Dexter and Crozier have received a shipment of a new light model Paige car, fitted with electric light and electric self-starter. Owing to the war a lot of new motor material expected by Christehurch agents has been hung up in various ports. The manager of one of the biggest agencies in Christehurch remarked yesterday that there would be a great scarcity of European tyres, since the manufacture of such tyres as the Continental and Michelin would be stopped, even if it were possible to get shipments away. This will probably lead to a big demand for American and Australian manufactures, for both these countries are in a position to get their rubber direct and without having to rely on the London market. "Motor Cycling." (London) now publishes a ''black-list" of towns under the subjoined par., which explains itself: — '' The following is a list of towns which* on account of the continual police persecution, should be avoided. It is hoped that our readers will refuse to purchase any petrol or stop for meals in these places, so that by these measures »the shopkeepers, hotel and garage proprietors will realise the value of motor cyclists' custom and join us in an indignant protest against the local authori-' ties." The paper states, at the end of the list, that it will be added to from time to time. A motorist, writing of his experience with an electro-magnetic- change gear, says:—"There is no doubt, in my opinion, that this system will ultimately replace the old form of gear-box. When I was told what could be done with this piece of mechanism, I discredited it en-

I tirely, but, having an opportunity of . testing it, I was fully convinced. Brfefly, one has no side levers to handle, but merely a small' lever on the steering ~' column with six notches—four speeds v forward, neutral, and reverse —and the handle is only to be moved to this or that notch to alter the speeds without releasing the accelerator-pedal) and it is possible to move or change from top to low gear, or into reverse without any . jar whatsoever. From tpp to reverse may seem incredible, but-it is so. Indeed, : I heard of one who used this change of gear —top %o reverse —instead of a footbrake, and found if impossible to skid _ the ear. One can realise the advantage, in changing the gears, on hills without having to decelerate the engine.'' ( Another improvement about to be in-" corporated into the every-day motor, as a- result of car racing, is the overhead vn-ve. For years the designers of motor c .r engines have realised that the use of this type of valve results in more power from a given-sized engine than when the enclosed style of valve is usecr; but the trouble has been that in the past^—• there has always been a considerable amount of unreliability in the actuating of overhead valves. Makers, preferred~"to sacrifice a little power for \ the sake of increased reliability of the ■ side-by-side valve type. Racing experi- • ences of the past two years have demonstrated that improvements in the overhead system of valves now place 'it on an equal footing with the other types from a reliability point of view, and, judging by the way the overhead-valve engine has been sweeping off all the big motor events, it will ndt be long before ear manufacturers embody a system that has not only been thoroughly tested and proved efficient, but has been proved to pfive off more rjower.