GENERAL NOTES

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 3176, 13 December 1927, Page 2

GENERAL NOTES

About 3250 dealer demonstration number plates have been issued in New Zealand. * * * The British Ministry of Transport has recommended all licensing authorities to fix the maximum length for omnibuses and motor coaches at 26ft. * « * Poland has entered the commercial vehicle business. Production of light trucks was commenced in Warsaw in October. Capacity is stated to be 50 vehicles a month. « • « • Judge: "Did you sound your horn before striking this farmer's pig?" Defendant (owner of a very decrepit automobile): "No—l thought he'd prefer not knowing what hit him." » # • Alterations to the meters on all London taxieabs were made during November on account of new regulations requiring that the fare register should show 6d for the first two-thirds of a mile instead of 9d for the first mile. * » #

A speculative motorist bought a 1914 ear for £3 10s at an auction and started straighaway on a 400-mile run on it. Report says he reached his home in Aberdeen on it without mishap or incurring additional expense. • * * Speaking at a function held by the producers of a British car in which sheet metal replaces all castings, the chairman, Mr J. S. Wardlaw-Milne, M.P., said that the company hoped to effect huge savings and produce a car in the £100-£125 class which would give a new impetus to the British industry. He stated that the welded steel pressings used so extensively in the car cost less than §d per lb., while the common drop forgings of the orthodox car cost 4d per lb., and steel or malleable iron 6d per lb. * # • Improved lubrication systems for the owner-driver were conspicuous at the Olympia held in London in October. Two British ears appeared with the centralised reservoir or "one-shot" system. This is a simple equipment by which every important chassis bearing receives a few drops of oil when a plunger is touched jgith the foot. The system has been standardised on two American cars for some time. In the more modest lubrication systems there is evidence of a move to make greasegun connexions more accessible. Rubber bushed shackle bearings have also been used on some cars to cut down the number of lubrication points.

* * * The Post and Telegraph Department of New Zealand uses over 540 motor vehicles. On March 31 last the fleet consisted of 340 motor lorries and vans, 104 cars, and 96 motor cycles. This is an increase of 50 vehicles on the department's fleet during the previous year. The cost of maintaining the fleet during the year 1926-27 was £42,526. The Publie Works Department is also a large user of motor vehicles. This department's transport expenditure for the year was £33,635. * * * Experiments with reflecting mirrors are being made at several underpasses on automobile highways near Harrisburg, U.S.A. It is claimed that the large mirrors, made of highly burnished brass, will enable motorists to see automobiles approaching from the opposite direction, and will, therefore, provide additional safety at the points where they are placed. » # * The police of several cities in England have arranged with the United Commercial Travellers' Association to allow cars bearing members' badges to