MOTORING

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20225, 1 May 1931, Page 4

MOTORING

"Boadster" invites articles and paragraphs of interest to motorists for this page. ANNUAL LICENSES. Motorists are reminded that the fees 1 for the annual licenses to use their cars and for the compulsory third party insurance are due to be paid by tho end of the present month; they may, however, be paid at any time between today and the end of the month. The experienced motorist will no doubt profit from previous delays at tho Post Office counter, tind ma!;c h ; s payment early, for it is certain that as usual there will be long queues at the counters during the last few days, necessitating lengthy waits. The fees arc as follows: — Private Cars, Class 4. & s d License to use .. ..200 Number plates .. .. 0 2 6 Third party insurance. .. 10 0 Total .. ..32,6 Commercial Vehicles under Classes 5, 6, 11, and 12. £ s d License to use ~ ..200 Number plates • • ..026 Third party insurance .. 110 0 3 .12 0 Motor-cycles, license plates, and insurance • • 17 0 An endeavour was made by the South Island Motor Union to get the Post Office authorities to allow it to send out forms to members of affiliated associations or clubs so as to obviate as much inconvenienco as possible, such having been done previously, but the Government refused permission, intimating that forms must not be supplied to any individual except through the Post Office. It will be necessary for motorists to obtain from the Post Office two forms, one being an application for new number-plates and the other an insurance nomination form, which are ■ to be filled in and handed in with the fees as shown above. NOTES. Mr L. D. Pickles, one of the patrolmen employed by the Canterbury Automobile Association, is at present on a tour of Nelson, and the West Const in connexion with his 'duties. Between Parnassus and Kai]:oura he erected a. number of colour route bands, the system having previuntly been only partially colour-banded. A i. :< atoi'bury motorist who iroeently made a trip over the Grove Track ■between J'i ton and Havelock along the shoves of Queen Charlotte . and Pelorus Sounds, Btates that great improvements have been made to it, the road having been widened several corners, while the erection of culverts has resulted in a good deal ot water being kept off the surface. Good progress is:being made, with the construction of a bridge over Vonnor's crdek, on the Blenheim-West Coast road, and it is escpe<jted that the work will bo completed at an early date. This will be good news to motorists who have occasion to use this route, for in wet ■ weather the creek has in the past proved a formidable obstacle. In the course of his presidential address 4 the annual meeting of the Marlborough Automobile Association, Mr R. P. Furness stated that the Dashwood deviation, when completed, would save nearly five miles oh the journey between Blenheim and Seddon. He considered that when the work -was completed the road would be one of the safest hill roads lie knew of, and one of which the Association, which had been closely associated with its authorisation, would have reason to be proud. None of the necessary bridges had so far been commenced, and there was still some formation work to be done on the Seddon side of tlie summit, and unless a more vigorous ; policy of construction was adopted he thought that some considerable time would elapse before the' road could be metalled and eventually opened. He expressed the hope that the road would be tar-sealed.

A Bromley, Kent, motor engineer, Mr A. G. Petty, in whose workshops Captain Campbell's first "Blue Bird" racer was completed, has just patented a spring steel bumper with shackles, which is claimed to bo an improvement over the rigid type. In a demonstration, a ton packing case was struck and moved, for 20 feot without damage to the bumper or car. It is said tl"-* since the mobile police began to operate at the beginning of the year in. England, the number of crimes by thieves using cars h.ts fallen by more than 40 per cent. The return issued by the Ministry of Transport giving particulars of the number of motor-vehicleß registered for the first time in England, shows that during December, 1930, these were 2320 new motor-cycles registered, as compared with 3887 for the same period in 1929. For the first time in the history of crude-oil-engined vehicles, a speed of ovor 100 m.p.h. has been reached. O. L. Cummins, driving an experimental Diesel-engined car, attained a spe6d of 100.75 m.p.h. at Daytona recently. The London County Council is reported to be considering the practicability of a system of elevated through roads in London, as in Chicago and New York. The latest statistics show that the State of California has ono . motorvehicle for every 2.3 inhabitants. A wheelbarrow is as mueh a vehicle as a motor-lorry, and should be properly lighted after dark, was the opinion given by the Court of Saint Brieuc, Brittany, in acquitting a riOtorist who was charged with running over a 50-year-old peasant. The latter, says Reuter's Paris correspondent, might have been taking a walk at the time, but as he happened to be trundling his barrow, he became technically in charge of an unlighted vehicle, so the motorist was not to blame. New regulations adopted in Madrid intended to make the streets safer (as already reported), involve seizing the cars of drivers punished for recklessness. Seals are placed upon the cars, preventing their use for six aotiths, while the driver is deprived of his license for a further six months. On the other hand, those thinking of visiting the city will be interested to • know that pedestrian traffic is controlled at all crossings by a system of lights and bdlls, tram-cars are banned from the central streets in favour of the more flexible motor-bus, one-way traffic has been introduced in certain thoroughfares, # and parking is forbidden except in specified places.

BY "ROADSTER."