NOTES.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19669, 12 July 1929, Page 6

NOTES.

The Canterbury Automobile Association recently wrote to the Paparua County Council requesting that waterraces on the Rolleston-Aylesbury road should be piped over. A letter has been received stating that members of the Council are in favour of the work being carried out and are awaiting an estimate of the cost and notification of the amount of money the Association is prepared to grant towards the project. The Oxford County Council notifies that the Eyre bridge will be closed to traffic 011 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday next and the Cx>oper's Creek bridge on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday next. A big proportion of the motorists of Wellington are strenuously opposed to the proposed new by-law which demands that every motor-car owner shall show, on a card attached to the steering column, his name, address, and occupation. An ex-city council or, with an established reputation for veracity, said that ail attempt was made to i)ring in such a law in Dublin. On a certain occasion a constable in plain clothes approached a car driver, whose name had been almost worn off by hand usage. "What's your name? Now tell me!" said the constable. "Indeed, an' I won't. Did 1 not give Mic: ey Sheehnn two shillings to paint me name on the door there?" "It's obi terated. said the constable. "You're a liar — it's O'Brien!"

Because an average of "-00 persons are killed b.y motor vehicles in Paris each month, French have proposed that operators undergo medical tests. Doctors say that license-; should be in force for a period of only five years when another examination should be considered necessary.

The American public will spend £1,320,009,000 for automobiles, replacement parts and accessories during 1929. Of this sum, £1.080.000.0U0 will be spent for automobiles and trucks and £240 000 000 for accessories and replacement parts The average retail price is figured at £IBO a car.

A sled pquipped with 18 rockets habeen developed by Mas Valier, a German. who experimented with rocket cars. The sled averaged 235 miles an hour on the frozen Starnebergen lake. The rockets were fired in five series at intervals of one and a-half seconds.

Never cut out of line to pass a car in front when approaching the brow of a hill. A car conjing from the opposite direction cannot be seen until the top of the hill is reached Yet both, with accelerator pedal pressed close to the floor to "take" the hill, are travelling under full pressure which merges into speed as tlie hill summit is approached.

Banked turns are in store for fast drivers on the rebuilt roads of France. Whenever a road is to be reconstructed or extensive repairs are necessary, the Ministry of Public Roads has ordered that the turns be adapted to the fa3t travel of to-day.

A national road programme adopted by the Japanese Government is one of the many signs of progress in motor transport. Tokio is a leader of the •world in its highway policies, as it is building 200-foot roads radiating out from the city in various directions, not hesitating to tear down whole blocks of buildings to do so.

A modern automobile road, 260 miles long, is under construction between San Sebastian and Madrid, Spain. The roadway will be 36 i ->t wide, with six feet set aside for parked ears. The curve; are to be made wider and will be banked, enabling drivers to make turns without having to slacken their speed. At every few miles there will be stationed small huts wnere one can buy petrol, tyres, and other accessories, and at no point will there be any intersection with other roads. Where other roads cross the speedway they will either be elevated or tunnelled.

According to figures obtained by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, U.S.A., the average life of a car is 6f years. Mucli time can be saved when jacking up a car if the wheel brace be utilised for winding the jack handle. The latter should, of course, be adapted to such use by having a short bolt, the head of which is the same size and shape as the nuts securing the wheels, and screwing it into the jack handle, riveting its end over so that it does not work out when unwinding the jack, which can then be raised or lowered in the minimum of time.

Paterson (New Jersey) is now the largest city in U.S.A. in which all public transportation is supplied by motorbuses. This city has a population of 143,000. Its tramway system gradually lias been diminished, and the last route recently was closed.