THE MOTOR WORLD

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 30 August 1924, Page 13

THE MOTOR WORLD

NOTES

Over 300,000,000 gallons of petrol are imported and used each year in Eneland. &

The Mayor of Masterton holds that boroughs ought to receive 20 per cent, of the Highways Board revenue. Automobiles in China must wear mud •‘spleasliers” to protect pedestrians as veil as the ca,;- occupants. The annual conference ol the New Zealand Motor Trade Association will ;e held in Christchurch on September 6. 17, 18 and 19;

To dim or not to dim; that is the question; whether it is nobler in the tiind to suffer the searching lights of incoming. motors or to dim and ask lights be dimmed? Or by opposing them risk accident.

A teacher was trying to give heir class an illustration ol : the word “perseverance.” “What is it,” she said, ' that takes a man up hills and down hills, over rough roads, through raging torrents Tommy, whose father was a motor-cycle dealer, spoke up: “Please miss, it’s an ” mentioning the name of a machine for which his fat-heir was the agent. After every few thousand miles l transfer the rear tyres to- the front, and the front tyres to the rear. This will give greater tyre mileage. The rear wheels are the driving wheels, therefore more wear is g?ven to the back tyres. *Y changing, the wear is evenlv distributed. See that all wheels are true, otherwise tyres will not last half as long. She was having her two-seater painted, and the assistant had suggested a variety of shades, none of which seemed to please. “What I really want,” she explained at last, rather petuleiitly, “is something with a ‘summery’ flavour.” “I see,” said the shopman brightly, “well, how about a strawberry body with cream lines?” ■UNIFORM. SPEEJ> LIMITS. The following remit, to be submitted to the union conference this year, was approved by the Wellington Automobile Club at its last meeting: “That the law be amended to provide uniform sjieed limits throughout \]e Dominion, taking away the power of local bodies to impose restrictions at variance with those allowed through the country as a. whole, and that such restrictions he put on the following basis-.—Business streets, 15 miles per nour: residential streets, 20 miles per hour; open country, 30 miles per hour; across intersections, around corners, and past schools, 10 miles per hour.” The lollowing dates for motor-cycle fixtures were, allotted to the- various clubs:— Rotorua.—October 22 (Labour Day), 1924. Hastings.—November 1, 1924. Marlborough.—November 29, 1924. Auckland.—December. 6, 1924. Opotiki.:—December 26 (Boxing Day). Manawntu. —January 22, 1925. Hamilton.—January 31, 1925. Auckland. —February 7, 1925. Rangitikei.—February 14, 1925. New Plymouth.—February 21, 1925. Hawera. —February 25, 1.925. Hastings.—February 28, 1925. Auckland.—March 7, 1925. Nelson.—March 15, 1925. Napier.—April 13 (Easter Monday), 1825. Rotorua. —April 13 (Easter Monday), 1925. ' Feilding.—April 22, 1925. POWER ABSORBED BY MAGNETO. In any consideration of the- comparative merits of magneto and coil ignitions an interesting question arises as to the relative consumption of power. It would, in fact, be possible to calculate how much petrol was consumed per 1000 miles of running by the ignition, as either system is, strictly speaking, a complex arrangement for converting petroL into electric sparks. On a bench test an average four-cylin-der magneto can be run at full speed —i.e., 2000 revs, per minute —for l-12th of a brake horse-power. On a car it would be reasonble to allow a maximum consumption of l-10th of a brake horse-power. In the case of the coil system it is not so simple to determine the power consumption, as there is, firstly, a small amount of mechanical power iused to run the make and break and distributor. This factor is, of course, very small, as there is very little friction to he overcome. Then, secondly, there is the electrical power—i.e., the number of watts used by the coil which the vuamo has to supply. On the ordinary six-volt equipment the actual working—i.e., intermittent—current passing into the coil would probably not exceed 1 amp., and this means only (> watts, which is but a trilling fraction of the 746 watts representing 1 brake iiorse-povgffi But, strictly speaking, to produce mis 6 watts the dynamo requires mechanical power representing, say, another 6 watts, so that if 1-oOth i.p. is allowed for the current used this should be added to the power absorbed by the distributor.

REVENUE FROM MOTOR

VEHICLES

It is estimated by the Main Highways Board that the revenue which will he derived annually from the annual licenses under the’ Motor Vehicles Bill will be approximately £100,OfX), irrespective of the registration fees, which will naturally be higher the first year than in subsequent years. The Bill provides machinery for the registration and annual licensing of motor vehicles, which will enable a census to be taken of all motor vehicles \in New Zealand, and on the number and nature of those vehicles will depend the actual amount that will be received under the Bill. The general impression is that somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50,000 motor vehicles a,re in use in the Dominion, so that the estimate of £IOO,OOO from 50,000 license fees of £2 each may !.e considered reasonably approximate. The owner ol a private car will l.a\e to pay £3 5s during the first year of the Bill’s operation (registr »tion fee £l. annual license fee £2, annual motor driver’s license ss). In s .brefpient years the charge under iho Bill will he £2 5s (annual license fee and driver’s license). PARKING MOTOR CARS. Superintendent Brack, chief of the Sydney Traffic Department, in a Lecture at. the Royal Colonial Institute, before members of the National Roads and Motorists’ Association, said that the most perplexing of the present-day problems to his (department was that of parking cars. One must admit, he said, that there was a tremendous number of cars left in the streets of Sydney, for which there was really no room. No city in the world had solved the parking problem. The City Council had under consideration a scheme for the erection of a large garage, which, when full would accommodate 900 cars. There were, however, 5000 cars in the streets today, and what was to become of the remaining 4100? It was expected the

increase l in the number of motoir vehicles next year would be double that of the present year. With the present narrow state of the city streets, the narrow buildings being" erected, and the “wretchedly poor” outlet, the traffic problem in five years’ time would he an exceedingly serious one. Many people urged that the trams should be taken off the streets, but he considered this could not be done until they had a train service which, could carry the i eople. At present the trams carried

■ ll.y 1,000,000 passengers a day, ana in "the event of tneir being abolished, this number, he thought, could not possibly be-carried by ’buses. SWITCH FOR NIGHT DRIVING. Those drivers who make a practice of switching off the bead-lamps when meeting other traffic will find the safety of night driving greatly en--1 anted by wiring up a spotlight focussed at the felt side of the road in such a way that it comes into action before the headlamps have been extinguished. This can be effected by mounting on the steering column a sector of ebonite, to which are screwed two eurvbd strips of copper, one of which is connected to the lamps and the other to the spotlight. The switch arm is connected with the battery. As the two copper strips overlap, it is obvious that the spotlight must be illuminated before the headlights go out, and both the headlamps and spotlight can, if so desired, be switched on. simultaneously. A special switch, is, of course, mounted in addition to the ordinary switch controlling the headlamps. ' IN THE SMALL HOURS. MOTORISTS AND “LIFTS.” “MANY ARE CALLEI>-BUT_” (Auckland Star). Writing to this paper the other day, under the heading “The Kindly Motorist,” a correspondent told, in pitiful terms, how he had the misfortune recently to he deposited in Newmarket by the last car from Remuera. His hotel was in the city. The flight was wet and cold —the hour, after midnight. He had insufficient money on him at the time to hire a. taxi, and everything pointed to his having to walk home through the dirty night. Suddenly, out of the darkened atmosphere, shot a ray of hope. He would, of course, get a- “lift” from one of the many, passing motorists. So he took up a stand on the side of the pavement and waited. Along came a motor ear. Our correspondent hailed it. It drenched him in a shower of spray. Another came. Again he called, but it had gone while lie was shouting. In all, about eight city-bound cars, empty save for the men at the wheels, passed that way, but not one driver took a tittle of notice of our stranded correspondent. So “like a human sponge” he walked to his destination, cars passing him all the way, as if to increase his plight, . and lie arrived home in the “wee sma’ oors,” drenched and disgusted with motorists in general. Anyone who has had the misfortune to be placed in a similar position will appreciate the gentleman’s feelings. There is something pitiful, one always thinks, about oneself as one trudges wearily homewards in the eairly hours of the morning, and the more automobiles that shoot pass one and disappear into the darkness, with the red tail light winking in derision, the more martyred one feels. Either that, or one curses oneself, the trams, the distance, and all the motor ears on earth. Those who have been through the ordeal, especially after hours ' of dancing, will appreciate these facts to the core. They, too, will probably know that, after the trams have ceased running, Ivhyber Pass Road becomes terribly lengthened. while Gillies Avenue seems without end. And if the rain comes — Under these circumstances, there sem.s (to the man on the road) to be an almost tragic wrong about the practically empty cars that leave one behind in a cloud of dust, or shower of water. It always appeals to the poor pedestrian, that, if he had a, car he would go about at night, doing a noble work, —taking aboard the weary plodders. dropping them at their gates, and then going back for more. As a matter ol fact, many of those who a.re passed by are often owners of cars who do not hesitate to show a. little kindness to the man on the street. The contespondent was. And that brings us to the other side ot the question. While talking about those who “don’t” one must not forget those who “do.” How many a tired, footsore reveller has set out oil a long, long, walk through the night and then, before be has gone very far, has heard the glad sound of the grinding of brakes and shout “Going fair?” Those motorists deserve our warmest thanks. Many of them steer a long way out of their home course to take a complete .stranger home, and they very seldom inform him of the fact. are thrice blessed.

And again, those people who live in districts where, in the mornings, the train service is not all that could be desired, know how much they owe to the men with cars, who bring them to the city in time to be at their places of business at the appointed hours. There' is, sometimes, just one Mile touch of irony about one receiving an offer of a ride. It is when, having walked from the city, to, say, Epsom, one is within a stone’s throw* of home, and a motorist pulls up in the centre of the road asking you if you would like a ride. One’s answer is usually unintelligible.