THE TRADE IN AUSTRALIA.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20807, 17 March 1933, Page 8

THE TRADE IN AUSTRALIA.

AN IMPROVEMENT NOTED. BRITISH PERCENTAGE INCREASES. Improved conditions in the motor trade are reflected in the latest statistics relating to the origin, number, and value of motor chassis imported into the Commonwealth of Australia during 1932. Theso statistics show that the imports of motor chassis increased from 3033 in 1931 to 9904 in 1932. The outstanding feature of the trade during the last two years has been the increase in the British percentage, which rose from 16.7 per cent, in 1930 to 48.8 per cent, in 1932. The number and value of imports into Australia of motor chassis, assembled I and unassembled, in 1930 and 1932, are as follows: — Country of origin. 1930. 193.5. [U.K. .. i' 657,169 £438,2!J9 Canada .. 7,425 = 26.7% 2,104 = 21.2% £435,336 £137,636 I U.S. .. .15,561 = 56% 2.928 = 29.7% \ £1,388,688 £257,352 Other I countries 111 = 5% 89 = .8% £19,995 .£4,77? I . i Total 27,745 9,904 £2,501,188 £818,004 In 1931 the number of motor chassis imported was 3033, valued at £244,061. PIONEERS OF MOTORING. EARLY ANTICIPATIONS. CAR DRIVEN BY THE WIND. i Whilst modern scientists are busy taking out patents for inventions, archaeologists and historians are equally busy in digging into the past and showing that many of the great "discoveries" of the last 100 years were | anticipated centuries ago, wrote T. S. Denham in "The Motor" recently. Motor-cars were thought of long ago. Roger Bacon foresaw "carriages which j without the aid of any animal will run with remarkable velocity." That was in the thirteenth century. The first automobile ever described in print was J invented by a Jesuit missionary in China in the sixteenth century. This was driven by a jet of steam playing on a mill-wheel connected by gearing with one of the axles. About a century later, during the reign of James 1., a patent was issued to a certain Hugo Upton "for the sole making of an instrument which shall be driven by the wind for the transportation or carriage of anything by land." Details of tho design of this machine are unfortunately lacking. Horse-less Chaise. In March, 1742, a London newspaper announced the arrival, from Switzerland, of a chaise that travelled without horses. Augustus Pinchbeck would seem to have been the owner of this monstrosity, for the same paper recorded a lew months later that "Mr Pinchbeck's curious machine-chaise that travels without horses ran from Hampstcad to Tottenham Court road in less than 40 minutes, in the sight of' several hundreds of people; in which case it will continue to be shown during the time of the fnir." Several other similar attempts wore made about this time. In May, 1659, the "Public Advertiser" announced that "Mr Ladd's patent four-wheel carriage, that goes without liorses and will carry four or five persons at the rate of six miles an hour, is nt Mr Cook's Great Rooms. Spring Gardens. It is on solid mechanical principles": what those solid mechanical principles wore the newspaper left its readers to imngine for themselves. The "father" of the modern motorcar is commonly supposed to have been Joseph Cugnot, an eighteenth century Frenchman. His invention was a steam carriage on three wheels, the single wheel being 1 in front. Tfc travelled only n little more than two miles an hour and would noi work for more than a quarter of an hour at a time, but the Government was so much impressed with it that it awarded Cugnot a pension for his invention. Poets have anticipated many inventions, although it must l>o admitted that they liavo not worried themselves over such trifles as mechanical details. Very remarkable are the following linos written by Erasmus Darwin, . grandfather of the evolutionist: "Soon shall they arm, uncouqucrcct steam, afar, Dr:ig the slow barge, or drive the rapid car; Or on wide waving wines, expanded, bear The Flying Chariot through the field of air." CHOOSING MASCOTS. A POSSIBLE ELEMENT OF DANGER. The line which divides questions of personal choice from questions of public safety is not always a very definite one. The selection of motor-car mascots, for instance, seems at first sight to be a question which rests entirely with tho taste —or lack of taste —of the individual motorist. The British Ministry of Transport, however, put a new complexion on the matter when, in 1931, legislation was introduced prohibiting the use of sharp-pointed mascots on radiators. This provision was prompted by the fact that severe injuries in accidents had been proved to be due entirely to the sharp points of mascots which projected over the radiator line. At the time it was criticised as petty legislation and as an unnecessary interference with the liberty of the subject. A less important, though equally interesting, aspect of the matter is raised by a writer in an overseas paper, who states that the moving mascot may easily distract a driver's attention at a critical moment. Circumstances often arise in which a slightly unmual rnoveI ment on the part of an aero-propeller ! mascot, for instance, mav have serious results. While a car it, moving slowly through heavy traffic, an eddy current of air from a side street causes the propeller to stop and revolve slowly in the opposite direction. The d-iver, for an instant, focuses his eye on the propeller, and he is obviously unprepared for any emergency. The danger of such a contingency, however, does not seem to be as great as that of the garrulous passenger who, with irrelevant chatter, distracts the driver's attention when all bis concentration is needed. In any case, the degree of danger is entirely dependent on the degree of skill and resource of *thc driver concerned. Motorists who have any reason to doubt their selfreliance in an emergency would certainly be well advised to avoid potential "sources, of distraction —human or mechanical —while driving.