Horseless Carriages in London.

Hastings Standard, Issue 90, 10 August 1896, Page 4

Horseless Carriages in London.

The movement in favor of substituting self-propelled for horse traffic {writes a London correspondent) has received an important impetus through the formation of an association of a very influential character, which is to agitate for a removal of the present legal restrictions next session, and to take steps generally to popularise the new inventions. There is a belief among those who are pushing the matter forward that we are on the eve of the creation of a new and highly valuable industry. Something like 20,000 men are now employed in the manufacture of cycles alone, and it is believed that the demand for the horseless carriages will in time so far exceed even the demand for cycles that forty or fifty thousand men may easily find occupation, directly or indirectly, in connection with it. " You will see," I heard an enthusiast declare the other day, "that in a few years' time almost every householder will have a vehicle of some sort in which he can go to and from his business, or even, perhaps, take his wife and children for an airing." That opens up an alarming prospect as to the condition of the streets when this millennium of oil power is reached ; but that men of capital have faith in the enormous development of the industry may l.)e judged from the fact that one syndicate has already spent £IOO,OOO in buying up patent rights. The carriage manufacturers are to the front in the new movement. The hard times of late have had a ruinous effect upon their industry ; but they see that with a little adaptability they can build a horseless carriage just as well as a carriage with shafts, and they are hopeful of a great revival of business in consequence. It is claimed too, that the new vehicle will help the farmer, who can provide himself with a cheap and effective means of taking his produce to market.