NOTES.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18242, 28 November 1924, Page 4

NOTES.

' The Railway Department is making a strong bid to recapture the country transport business which has been taken from it by the motor-trucks. Last week the District Traffic Manager was in tho Ashburton County, and arranged for a contract for the conveyance of ■rc-00l from the various vroolshcds to tho railway, the Department taking charge of the wool for the wholo journey to the Christchurch stores at a cost covering transport by rail and joad.

A meeting of the committee set up at a recent conference of local bodies to draw up a basis for the apportionment of fees collected under the new joint heavy traffic by-law decided on Wednesday night to recommend tho local bodies to adopt tho following allocation of the amount of £1750 available: —City £BSO, Waimairi £240, Heathcote £l3O, New Brighton £4O, Sumner £SO, Ualswell £BO, Paparua £215, Eiccarton £145.

Mr A. D. Ford (Ricearton Borough Council) voted against the motion, and stated that he would have to report the matter to his, Council before being able to agree to the allocation. He claimed that Ricearton should receive £165, Waimairi £230 and Paparua £205, and the other local bodies the amounts set out in the motion. The City Solicitor stated that if Eicearton stood out the matter would have to go to a commission. The chairman expressed the hope that Eicearton would not hold the matter up for the sake of an extra £2O.

Will balloon tyres cause a motorist to speed when, he doesn't realise it and doesn't intend tot Will his speedometer show him travelling at a lower rate of speed than he actually ist On tho theory that balloon and oversize tyros throw the speedometer off, police departments of some American cities have ordered motorists using balloon and oversize tyres to have their speedometers corrected. One instance, for example, resulted in an ultimatum in a certain city that all cars originally using 31 x'i tyres and changed to 32 i 4J, must have their spccometere corrected, because, officials declared, when the owner believed himself to bo driving at 25 miles per hour bo would actually be going 29 or 30. The fallacy of this line of reasoning is pointed out by engineers of tho Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Co., who stato that with a single oversize tyre, In the size mentioned, and fully inflated, an increase of speed of but 3 per cent, would result. So the car would be travelling 25J miles instead of 29, because the increase in the tyre's diamotcr is but slight. Moreover, the Goodyear experts say that few oversize tyres are inflated to their full capacity, so that the hub centre is always closer to tho ground, and for this reason the full diameter is not utilised, with tho obvious result that tho speed approximates a 2 per cent, increase rather than the maximum 3 per cent. The Dunlop Rubber Co. is in receipt of a telegram from Francis Birtles at Pdrfc Darwin, stating that ho intends leaving on his record attempt to Adelaide (2600 miles) at daybreak on Tuesday (18th inst.) Although the wot season is now approaching up in the Northern Territory Birtles anticipates getting through all right, and tho prospects of putting up good time on the "Oldsmobile Six" shod with Dunlop Balloon tyres, are OJx. Birtles also states that residents of Darwin offer all help to clear a track to tho Katharine River, when the projected motor eontest across Australia from Darwin to Adelaide is held.

It has long been realised, says the "Motor" (Eng.), that the ordinary processes of painting, rubbing down and varnishing, while they can be made to give an extremely beautiful appearance to a motor-car body when new, ire anything but ideal from the point of view of the user who desires a finish which shall require the minimum of attention and possess the maximum of durability. During the past 12 months this subject has received very great attention from paint and colour specialists. Entirely new materials and processes have been developed, some of which have been made possible by experience gained with aeroplane P"dopes" during the war. The surface obtained by the of these materials is so hard that it cannot bo scratched with read dust, and consequently the body only requires rubbing down, periodically, washing being uflncctessajy. Mud can bo removed after drying on and being left for several weeks, ! without danger of damaging the sur- • face. Then, again, the celluloid enam- ' els used are not affected by petrol or . bonzole, so that these solvents can be used for removing tar spots without damaging tho finish. In America these new systems have made amazing pro- ! gross, and aro now widely used by the j larger motor-car manufacturers. There I is no doubt that it will not be long j before their advantages are recognised ! and made use of by automobile body j builders in this country.