THE MOTOR WORLD

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 11 April 1925, Page 13

THE MOTOR WORLD

NOTES. Eighty-seven per cent, of all the cars in the world are in the United States. Run a wire through the overflow pipe in the radia-cr to keen it from clogging. Good battery service, rendered systematically, makes good batteries belter batteries. The R..A.C. (London) is considering the advisability of altering its horsepower formulae. Tortoiseshell instrument hoards are coming into vogue for high-class cars in • England. On the Pennsylvania State highways the poles are whitewashed six feet above the ground.

In 11)23 only .495 cars were In ought into Now Zealand from Great Britain. Last year the total was Ids cars. The use of motor cars on the. roads of New Zealand was first legalised b,\ Act-of Parliament in 1893. No man will risk his life needlessly —except to neglect the greasing of ms ear til] the steering gear socks, and breaks his fool neck. , There is but one practical way to test radiators for leaks, and that i s to submerge them in a tank of water and apply aid pressure to the core. Excepting Sundays, an average of sixtv cars arrived in the Dominion every dav of 1924. The importations for 1924" were greater than those of 19*22 and 1923 together. Rim squeaks due to loose rim plugs, may be quickly overcome by applying a small quantity of oil or graphite to each lug bolt, ‘ then tightening each bolt to its capacity. i Because pliers are the most useful tool around the car, they should be kept in some convenient location. In an emergency thev will do the work of a variety of wrenches, hammer, and screw-drivers. Demonstrator (explaining features of car): “Now I’ll, throw in the clutch.’’ Man fi-om Glasgow: “I’ll take her, then. I knew if I held out long enough you’d throw in something. An analysis of 581 motor accidents in Northumberland has shown that 39 per cent, were due to persons walking or running into the cars. The percentage due to drunken drivers was onlytwo. Included among new awards by the British Roval Commission on awards for inventors for inventions used during the war were Messrs. G. Constantinesco and W. Haddon, who receive £70,000 for synchronising gears. Until the present Act came into operation there were 162 registering author, ilies for motor vehicles in New Zealand. The tally of accidents, many of them, alas! very serious, seems to be maintained too consistently. The cause was stated, by 7 a man who had experienced opportunities for observation, to be, in the main, carelessness, not inefficiency in the driver nor trouble or defect in the machines. In 1599 when the Government- took a census of manufacturers in the United States, they found that there were 57 firms producing motor vehicles, employing a little over 2000 people, with an investment of nearly 6,000,000 dollars, and producing automobiles, valued approximately 5.000,000 dollars. . At the end of twenty years this undnstry has grown to 237 manuiactnrers, employing over 300,000 people witli an invested-capital of over 1,500,000,000 and oroducing automobiles valued •it 2,003,000,000 dollars. It is now the third largest industry jn the United States, and the' largest in the. world manufacturing a finished product. The United States operates 90 per cent, of the world’s motor-cars and produces 80 per cent. Last year—l 924 —221,000 cars and trucks were skipped from the United States to foreign lands. One hundred and six thousand American cars were assembled abroad. The rest of the world built 500.000 ears and exported 70,000 cars during 1924. It is now difficult to point out a country anywhere where automobiles are not * The motor-car has become the world over, the •accepted means of transportation.

MODERN MOTORING. A.A.A. APPOINTS UER.VICK OFFICER. ' I Mi'. R. E. Champtaloap has‘taken a position as permanent ser.i-e officer ior the Auckland Autuinobi.-c Assoc.ation. His duties inci.-ue Uie supplying of members wich lull reuorLs of road conditions, erection of and attention to road signs, enrolment of new members and visits to the various branches, which now includes one each at Hamilton, Pukekohe, Wailii, Warkwdrth, Ohaeawai, Whangarei, Kaitaia, and Helensville and several others in course of formation. This is a decided step in advance and should tend to make the' Association more popular with all motorists. The step has been justilied by the success of the membership campaign organised some months ago, which resulted in an increase of 720’members since the campaign started in September last. The total membershin now stands at 2250. The Wellington Automobile Club is now going into the question of a similar appointment.

A “STICKY” BACKBLOCKS SCENE IN AUSTRALIA. A snapshot in the New Zealand Free Lance shows winter conditions in Moree, in New South Wales. Apropos of it, the correspondent writes: “We have had very welcome rains. l O' course the wet tied up the mo or cars or the time, and the buggies, etc., were brought into play once more. Even horse-drawn vehicles become useless when the black soil is at its worst — the “sticky” stage —and so much collects on the wheels they cannot possibly turn. I enclose a snapshot of my own car to give New Zealanders an idea.” The snapshot shows the car absolutely helpless in ihe mud. But then, this does happen in New Zealand at times though certainly the number of such places is steadily diminishing.

NOTES FROM ENGLAND

The English Automobile Association, says a recent circular, has extended a method of obtaining prompt iniormation .concerning ljiad conditions. Now, the pati'OiS in charge oi fifty of the A.A. roadside telephone boxes collect by te.oplmne the latest reports, and this is distributed to all patiobs as to warn tourists, A.A. members, are warned at once. An extension ui the scheme is the writing or necessary inscription on blaiiK board direction signs, placed where they will be visible to road users.

Another advice is that motoring licenses available in England a.e dune ay a system of co-operation, a. nimble in the Irish. l-Yec State ami rice versa, l'he Free State will at some future date issue an International travelling pass, available in Great ■ Mritauj. “During the past week, when fogs were prevalent, ,A.A. .members were assisted in various ways. The vehicles employed for this work are equipped with auxiliary light, enabling the drivers to follow the road during logs, and u> guide members, unable to proceed safely with their own lighting equipment, or ignorant as to theii whereabouts, to the next town or to the nearest hotel. The A.A. roadside telephones, available throughout the night have been utilised by the Night Patrols to send emergency messages to the homes of delayed members, oi to book hotel accommodation for those unable to continue their journeys. Cases of assistance rendered aftei dark to cars suffering from mechanical troubles have been numerous; cars ditched on dark roads, or during fog, have been put. on the road again with the assistance of the A.A. Nigh! Patrols, who have also been instrumental in preventing accidents to road users following the breakdown o: vehicles in the middle of dark roads. In one case a lorry which broke down at 5 p.m. occupied the whole of the road, 'with the exception- of a amah space, just sufficiently wide to enable other vehicles to pass. An A. A. Patrol ensured the safety of road users by showing red, lights, and remained until the obstruction was removed at 1 a.m. Several motorists have been able, following the failure of. their electric lamps, to proceed on their journeys after borrowing oil lamps from the A.A. Night Service Patrols, and in this connection the Automobile. Association earnestly requests all members benefiting bv this service to return the lamps as quickly as possible.’’

JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA. CAR CARRIED ON SHOULDRES * THROUGH FLOOD. The news received in Paris in February of the arrival of the TYaninDuverne expedition of Fort Lamy, on Lake .Chad, has been followed by letters from the leader giving details ql the difficulties with which the expedition has so far had to control. The party, Which includes a Swiss deputy, a kinematograph operator, and another explorer, besides the two organisers, set out from Conakry to cover the 8875 miles, to Djbouti intending to follow almost a straight line right across Africa. On leaving Conakry the expedition proceeded by train to Ivouroussa, where the, real journey began. They found the Niger in floo'd, hut felled trees and made rafts to which the two cars and the baggage were attached. The current was, however, very swift and they were continually washed against the banks; moreover, a storm was raging, and big waves covered the occupants and everything on board. Finally when, they* were at last able to land, one car was badly damaged, and several cases had been lost. Through the '.bush the heat reached loSdeg Fahrenheit in the shade, and the thermometer burst. When Bamako was reached,- S 3 per cent of the stores were abandoned in order that the expedition might travel more lightly laden. From Bamako to Niamey all went relatively smoothly, but 218 miles from Niamey it was found necessary to abandon one of the cars which was inextricably bogged. On December 26 the‘explorers, in spite of their compass, appeared to be hopelessly lost, the innumerable marshes necessitating so many deviations that it was impossible to keep any sense oi direction. > (Jn arival at Zinder it was learn! that Lake- Chad was in Hood, and foi nine days, between Kano and Fort Lamy, the one remaining car had to he dragged by a hundred men through a flooded ‘area extending over some forty miles. Often the car was nearly loste and was only 7 extricated by dint of ’\fting it on many shoulders, while the thermometer marked 150 oVrooand the tsetse fly imperilled the health of all members of the expedition. Only 7 the _vo organisers of the expedition, MM. Tran in and Duvene are continuing their route . acres: Africa; they are leaving shortly 7 for Wadai and thence will cross the Nile and traverse Abyssinia to Djbouti.

OBSTRUCTION BY SHEEP. MOTORISTS’ COMPLYINT. OTHER SIDE OF THE CASE (Christchurch Press). . ’ Many a motorist lias had occasion to complain of the attitude taken op n.» sheep drovers on country roads, as u result of which cars are often beta up for quite a long time. Such a case oaim under the notice of “Roadster” on a recent afternoon. At this time ox tixe year it is customary to meet ii-bcks m sheep on the road and on the ai teino-bu in question several Hocks were passed on the road between. Ashburton ana Christchurch, via the Rakaia bridge and Lincoln. The first trouble- was experienced on the bridge, where a muL of several hundred sheep completely blocked the flow of traffic proeeeuing directly against them, in oxuer to got past it was necessary for the three cupants of the ear eac-n to early sa.exa. sheep ahead of the flock with the view to making the others follow. As shiep have a habit of running back, quAe a long time elapsed before the bridge was able to be traversed by the car.. No blame was attachable to the drovers in this instance, but some distance xtu’"her on the car was held up on two occasions bv sheep. On these occasions, however, the driver of the ear, who has been using the provincial roads for

.•ears, considered that the drovers w ire guilty of obstructionist tactics in -that ..hey could easily have got their dogs >ut to nut the sheep on one side of the .oad long before the car, whose approach could be detected on the itraight stretch of road arrived on the icene, and instead, tiie drovers ignored die car until the driver remonstrated ,vith them for their tardiness. it certainly seemed to “Roadster’.’ that the drovers were at in acting as they did, but there are two s ides to every question, and after liear.ng the other side “Roadster” had to tdmit there was quite a lot to be said for the drover. A motorist, who is also i farmer, stated that in most of the •ases where drovers held up ears in he manner described, it would be found that they had incurred losses of stock or of dogs through unthinkng motorists. “You will find,” he iaid, “that in a good many cases when i drover pulls the sheep over to one side of the road in order to allow a motorist to pass, the motorist will .hink nothing of runping over a dog. they seem to think that if the dog .09S not get out of the way of the ear t is its own fault if disaster, in the ihnpe of a car running it down, should ivertake it, forgetting that when a /.•ell-trained animal is watching. the dieep it is turning to one side of the ■oad, it is unable to see a vehicle ap.roaching, its devotion to duty being hus the cause of its untimely end. It s for this reason that drovers clo not ,iow show the regard for motorists in his respect that they used to show. In view of the circumstances quoted be drovers certainly appear to have a egitimate reason for acting as desoribd, for :it is no joke from a drover’s ooiut of view to lose a good dog. which has taken a long time to train, by the ■ ction of a thoughtless motorist. It is enacted in some county by-laws hat drovers must clear a patch for raffic. Many times this bas been lone, but on the other hand, many rovers just stand or walk behind and b nothing. The cause assigned by the orrespondent “Roadster” has been put ist in the same way by farmer motorsts, and tiie reasonableness of the • use must be acknowledged. The a refill motorist is paying for the sins f commission by some of his brethren of the road. A GOOD IDEA. An idea we really ought to adopt i the motor-cycle and sidecar fire enine for villages and rural districts, .hat otherwise are left entirely at the nercy of the flames. It carries a two■yUnder gasoline suction pump and our 500 reet i.eiigtlis of hose, through ill of which, simultaneously, a 60 1 feet et can he sprayed on a fire. In some espects a “baby fire engine” like this s sunerior to a full-size one. It travels it a higher speed, it can travel along l pathway or a narrow bride path, ;hort-cut across tne fields, and if only i small, pond or cistern is available, ts less thirsty demands on the water upplv keep it spraying on strategical joints- long after a full-sized fire .engine's hose would have sucked the pone dry.

I ! A monster hauling tractor, so enorj mous that it would give you quite a scare if you suddenly came on it unawares, is passing its tests with flying colours in the timber, forests of Oregon. The wheels alone are twice the height of a man, and an ordinary fourseater can can run under it from front to back, its runetton is to save time and wages by superseding the present way of moving felled tree trunks, which is to sling them beneath a bar between two high wheels, and drag them off very slowly, and with numerous horses, to a chute or slipway bv way of which eventually ihey reach the sawmill. As the trees lof the north-western forests are fre■quently of enormous size, this Goliathesque car has to be.rrnmed accordingly.

THE NEED FOR BETER. ROADS

In an article on this subject in the London Spectator, Lord Montagu" of Beaulieu, refers to the huge increase of traffic in some of the centres. Inter alia, he writes: —“If we take some figures as to the increase of traffic, they are eloquent enough. In the neighbourhood of Glasgow, on the principal roads of Renfrewshire alone, there was an increase of 1,165,030 tons for the year 1922 compared with 1921." In the neighbourhood of Liverpool, in 1913, 884,208 tons per annum used the eight principal roads leading out of the city, while ’at the beginning of 1922 this figure had risen to 7,138,248 tons. In London, at Hdye Park Corner, the tonnage in 1922, as compared with 1912 had risen bv 10,000,000 tons, from 38,000,009 to 48,000,000, and at Hammersmith Broadway from 12,000,000 to 19,000,000. Many more examples might be given, but these will suffice l ; yet in the last ten years there has been practically no street widening in London, and until about a year ago no construction of new roads. Small wonder it is, therefore, that the roads of to-day do not suffice for the traffic which desires to go over them, and accidents of all kinds are happening constantly as a result of the congestion of traffic and the lack of room for vehicles to pass each other. If one thinks of the possibilities of the future, afid considers how much transport by road is increasing every year, ■there can hardly he any doubt that the whole question of either widening roads or building new ones must be taken in hand, or else the transport of the country will ’be so seriously handicapped as as to affect national prosperity.”

THE COUNTRY BUS. IMPROVED COMMUNICATION. "What a difference there is in the modes of travelling to-day from the ways of over 40 years ago, when the *ld horse-coaolies struggled over bad roads through barren, . uncultivated country from Southbridge to Christchurch (writes a correspondent of the Press). Later came the railway, the locomotive being an improvement on [the rambling coach. To-day we can see what * pleasure there is in travel-

ling this journey by the loca.ly-owned motor-bus, which is shortly to lie replaced by a much larger and more up-lo-date bus, capable of seating about thirtv-tvvo passengers. The run is clone in one nour and a half, without the tedious stoppages at stations. At the same time one passes through small flourishing townships, where more passengers are taken on, past the splendid farms of the EJ.esmere district, rich with the excellent yields of harvest. The Selwyn riverbed is in itself a picture, with t.io little bends in the road near the Selwvn Huts, all rich with .the autumn tints on the Alain road—which is fairly good —through Ellesmere, Springston, Lincoln along the Mid-Lincon road, and along the beautiful farms belonging to the Mental Hospital, which are at present showing luxuriant green patches of lucerne.

FREAK MOTORS

The Americans continue to devise more new kinds of motor-cars— freaks and otherwise —than the rest ot the nations put together. One of the most interesting that have been evolved recently (according .o Bassett Digby F.R-.G.5., in the London Daily News) is the new type of post office van which is to be used in every town where heavy transfers of banking funds are frequently made. liold-ups by desperate armed criminals are so common, despite the arms which are carried by the driver and guards, that the new post office motors are actually armoured cars, with steelprotectecl wind shields and bullet-prom bodies. Bullet-proof stee] shutters, slotted for rifle fire by the defenders, line the sides, and can be slammed to smoothly, on their ball hearings, in a trice.

They are equipped with an automatic siren that yells for help the moment the driver, realising that he is being ambushed,' switches it on, and it continues to yell for an hour, even if the driver and* guards should be shot dead, thus arousing all the police and an- 1 nouncing its whereabouts. When the United States went dry, Herr August A. Busch, the GermanAmeriean “beer king” of St. Louis, still managed to save a few millions from the- disaster. A trifling fragment of this hoard he has recently spenf on a typically Teutonic “luxury car” for transporting his racehorses from meet to meet. It looks more like a pier pavilion on wheels than anything else, with a large panel picture of a steeplechaser on a white horse, taking a fence, let into the side —To advertise the contents. Under the car is a large tank of drinking water for the horses. The sides of the two horse-boxes are lined witu canvas-covered rubber air pads, lest the steeds should lurch against them going round a corner and get a bruise. MOTOR-CYCLING. The Flying Mile Championship, run under the ausoices of the Pioneer Sports Club at’North Beach recently, resulted in some fast time being recorded on \the ,electrical clocking de-

vice. The conditions were not the best, the be:*vn 'oeing on the soft side and a strong wind facing the riders. Undoubtedly a few seconds would have been clipped oif the time by the more experienced riders had the conditions been perfect. Additional interest was lent to the racing by the appearance ■of S. C. Stratton, the well-known New Zealand track rider. It was unfortunate that Percy Coleman had to leave to fulfil an engagement in the North Island, for a meeting between the New Zealand track champion and George i Lambert, the New Zealand beach i champion, would have proved highly in- | teresting. Lambert put up the reI markable speed of 96 miles an hour in ! winning both the up to 1000 c.c. class and. the unlimited class. The consistency with which he has been racing is remarkable. Last year he attained a speed of 99 miles an hour under more favourable beach conditions, and in doing 90 m.p.h., lie fully verified the accuracy of thetimekeeping on the former occasion. It is worthy of remark that in both his victories he [did the mile in exactly the same time —37 4-ssecs.