THE MOTOR

Grey River Argus, 8 May 1926, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE MOTOR

(By “ Sparging Plug. ”)

NOTES. An optimist is a tourist who starts out with poor brakes, no spares, a knock in the motor, and who wires 250 miles ahead for hotel reservation.

The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce has asked the Railway Department to erect wig-wag signals on all railway crossings on important roads.

I have to hand the second of the series of display advertisements which are shortly to be published by General Motorsi N.Z. Ltd. with a view o’f giving the general public some idea of the accurate methods adopted by the General Motors Corporation in the manufacture of their vehicles. The advertisement depicts part of the Corporation, and stresses tlie precision with which each part of the vehicle is made and tested before be■ing passed as lit for use.

An epidemic of car stealing seems to have broken out in Hamilton, no fewer than six having been taken without their owners’ authority during the last couple of weeks. In the majority of cases the cars have been recovered.

A motor bus, owned by Inglis Brothers, of Wellington, was badly burned on the Great North Road, Auckland, in the vicinity of Point Chevalier, early yesterday morning. The bus was being towed after a breakdown, and it is thought the outbreak was due to a backfire of the engine. The vehicle was insured for £BOO in the Ocean and Accident Office.

“I have decided to alter the penalties so that the defendant’s wife will suffer as little as possible. On the cnarge of negligent driving the defendant will be convicted and ordered to pay costs and his license will be suspended for a year. Ho has consented to take out a prohibition order against , himself, and I will issue the order for 12 months. The collision was due to liquor and the punishment will fall on himself,” said Mr H. A. Y’oung, S.M., to David McClure in the Christchurch Court yes'tcirdLly afternoon.

A telegram from Bakersfield, California, states that 6,000,000 barrels ol nil were threatened wncn lightning started a fire in an oil reservoir containing 400,000 barrels on a storage farm of the Standard Oil Company. An automatic tail-light for affixing to tramcars has been evolved at the Auckland tramway workshops and the city tramcars arc to be fitted with the device. Whenever the air-brakes are applied following traffic will be warned by means of a red light at the back of the car. Taxation of Motor Vehicles. The British Government intend to overhaul the whole system of the taxation of motor vehicles. Experts at the Board of Inland Revenue are to take into consideration afresh the possibility of changing the basis of taxation from horse-power to petrol consumption. They will further examine the possibilities and extent of an early increase in tne taxation of heavy road vehicles. But no decision will be reached on cither of these two points until the introduction of the Budget this month, and perhaps not till later. It is realised that a change in the basis of motor taxation would involve large administrative changes, but a tax on petrol would be easier to collect.

w— ' " ' '•* .GFt/.l' j-aS Uniform Signals. The New Zealand Police. Force has now standardised traffic signals for constables. Occasionally constables on point duty are careless in signalling, and confusion results. Again, signals have not been uniform throughout the cities. This has led to misunderstandings with travelling motorists. Recently a complaint was received by the Auckland Automobile Association from a motorist who alleged that a constable on point duty ignored the traffic while he conversed with a lady. If such things happen in Auckland, the average motorist does not encounter them.Generally speaking, the point duty constables in the city are courteous and attentive. Patience might be expected to be rare on a dusty street corner, or on a rainy day. Motor Company Fails. Losses During Slump. Hopes of Paying Creditors. Large Marlborough Concern. The Marlbp rough Farmers’ Cooperative Motors, Limited, a large business in Blenheim, with branches ht Havelock, Nelson and Scddon, has gone into voluntary liquidation, this step having been necessitated by losses incurred during the slump of 1919-21. It is anticipated that the company \ assets will realise more than sufficient to pay the creditors 20s in £, and the only losers will be the shareholders, whose claims will come after all other liabilities have been met in full. An interim balance-sheet showed that the nominal capital was £50,000 in 50,000 £1 shares and the subscribed capital was £13,906, of which £4227 10s remains to be called up. Book assets were shown as £32,000, including uncalled capital, and the liabilities were estimated at rather under £32,000. The chairman said the principal reason whv the directors had recommended that the company should bp wound up was because the liabilities incurred during the years of the slump were eating up all the profits in interest charges and there was no reasonable possibility of recouping these losses, although last year’s turnover was no less than £50,000.

New Motoring Record. Over 170 Miles an Hour. Tarry Thomas, driving a composite car equipped with a 400 h.p. engine and an American aero, engine which developed 800 h.p., beat the world’s record on Pcndine Sands, Carmarthenshire. Thomas drove one mile and back at a rate of 169 miles an hour. At one Lt age he reached a speed of 172 miles an hour with the wind behind him. Neglect to Register. Motor Owners’ Liability. Police Ready for Action. Motorists who have been dilatory in relicensing their vehicles and obtain-* ing sets of the new number plates before the date prescribed, April 14, arc in danger of finding themselves before the Court to show cause why they should not be fined for breaking the Act and the regulations issued thereunder. The Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon R. F. Bollard, states that the police have prepared lists of the names of owners of vehicles who have neglected their duty. The law is clear on the point that a motor vehicle may not be used on an* public road if the annual license has not been paid. The penalty may be anything up to £2O a day. Kerbside Pumps. Wellington Regulations. The following conditions governing the erection of kerbside petrol pumps have been adopted by the Wellington City Council: — That applications for permission ' erect kerbside bowser pumps be approved, subject to compliance with the following conditions:— 1. Installations shall be kept back 35 feet from the building line of street intersections. 2. The minimum distance to be IS feet from a kerb to any tram lines. 3. Clearance for safe working shall bo left over working fire plugs, tram stops, and approved bus stops. 4. All tanks to be installed in private property.

5. Kerbside fill boxes to be allowed and the cost of replacement to footpaths to be covered by deposit, as in the case of water and gas.

6. In the case of more than one pump being required, these pumps to be placed close together, ami the spreading of any firms’ installations not to be allowed on account of blocking traffic. 7. No pump to be placed on a footway less than S feet wide.

8. All the construction with regard to the installations to be carried out in a proper workmanlike manner, to the satisfaction of the different inspectors under whose control the work is carried out from time to time.

9. A rental of £5O per annum to be charged. 10. Each application to be dealt with on its merits.

11. The license to be renewable by the corporation at any time. 12. And such other conditions as may be laid down by the city engineer from time to time.

“Can nothing be done to punish speeding motorists? It is a crying shame the way some of them carrj on,’’ said a member at last meeting of Franklin County Council. He spoke of fixing speed-governors to motor lorries and passing a by-law making it an offence to tamper with the governors. The county engineer stated that governors on motor lorries were entfroly unsatisfactory, particularly if a lorry got into a tight pinch, lie was requested to advise the council as to the best steps to take to solve the problem.

The increase in number of autoniobiles in use in the United States last year over 1924 shows an average now of one car for every five persons instead of one in every six, as in 1924. MOTOR CYCLE NOTES An American statistician has computed that the number of motor-cycles at present in use in the world is 1,475,010. “Though a motor-cycle may require more riding, a car is undoubtedly more dangerous to the public if control is lost. ” An allowance of £lO per annum is to be made to members \f the Breconshire police who own and use motorcycles in the course of their duties. At a recent meeting on the Maroubra Speedway (Australia) a HarleyDavidson rider successfully competed in the 350 c.c. race. T. Benstead, an old 7 h.p. rider, now astride the new, 2} h.p. model, was the rider, his average speed being 77 m.p.n. S. "Westwood, a veteran motorcyclist of 64 years of age, recently completed a ride of 5120 miles over some of the roughest parts of Australia. With the same machine he now contemplates making a trip completely round Australia. His mount was a 2f h.p. B.S.A. | Although the running of a stock machine T.T. has never apparently been considered seriously, there is much to bo said in favour of such an event. As the law demands that motor-cycles on the road should be fitted with silencers, it is thought in some quarters that standard silencers should he used in the Isle of Man. This wpuld mean using the races to exploit, ~ machines such as are sold to the public and would develop the fast touring machine of the future.