NOTES AND COMMENTS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 15 January 1927, Page 15

NOTES AND COMMENTS

Reporting to the Taranaki County Council" that there had been a great deal of traffic over the roads the holiday season, the inspector (J»u R. Aroa) said: “Taken on the whole, there has been practically no speeding or dangerous driving to report. From my observations 1 should say that motor drivers are using more care than has been usual.” In Hawera Sergeant Henry reported that outside mororists were inclined to break the by-law over crossings and round corners

The work of the Automobile Associations was freely acknowledged by a touring Wellingto.niau a few days since. He said motoring in the North Island was at least becoming a pleasure. Durng- the whole of the trip lm had not once had occasion to use chains, while the erection of signposts by various automobile associations, and especially the Auckland body, had done much to make travelling easy. Writing of the road to Waitomo, the same motorist said: “It is thrive years since I was on the West Coast Road to New Plymouth, via Watomo and the Awakino Gorge, and there has been a wonderful improvement there in that time, bullocks were then engaged in drawing metal from the bed of the Mokau River to put on what was then only a clay road. The approach to the Molean River has been considerably improved, metal now being laid all along the road to the bridge. The main road over Mount Messenger is no longer a bug-bear to the motorist, being tarsealed, as are many portions of the road between Te Kuiti and New Plymouth, where there are no motorng difficulties at all. “The roads throughout Taranaki generally are not up to their previous standard, the opinion being that in doing away with the toll-gates the local authorities have not the same amount of revenue for roadng improvements. It. is particularly noticeable that the edo-es of the tar-sealed roads are breaking away and many are in urgent need of repair. ’ ’ There are few places in which a. man s taste is more prominently displayed than in the ornament he buys to put on his radiator cap unless it is in the character of the decorations he puts on windows and windshields, In the form of tasselled curtains and the truncated legs of young ladies of . a singularly well nourished disposition and habit. The kewpie, the windmill, the decoration that looks as if it had been designed from the drawing of a lamp by Goldberg, are among the horrors. iVlany of the manufacturers, notably Rolls-Royce and Hispano-Suiza, sell an emblem with the car that is full of beauty and grace; others, who shall be nameless, furnish ah emblem that it is very hard to look at wth a straight face.

A new Australian 24 hours motor car record was established at Maroubra Speedway, N.S.W., on December 22 and 23, by Norman Smith and Otto James. Driving a Chrysler car, shod with Dunlop tyres, they covered a. distance -of 146 S miles; thus bettering by 59 2-3 miles the previous record of F. 0. Withers and F. Crouch also established at Maroubra in March 1926. In the course of their record Messrs. Smith and James covered the first 100 miles in 1 hour 30 mnutes, 500 miles in 7 hours 39 minutes. 1000 miles in 15 hours 55 minutes, thus achieving the first objective in the record of covering 1000 niiles in 1000 minutes and 1400 miles in 21 hours 36 minutes. Thenaverage speed for the full distance including stops was 61.1 miles an hour, this being the first time Fiat a speed of more than a mile a minute has been maintained for the full 24 hours in Australia. . The time lost in stoppages tor fuel etc-., totalled 58 minutes 35 seconds, so that the actual running speed averaged 65.09 miles au hour. A great deal of trouble which arises in the matter of starting may be eliminated if the conditions are carefully appreciated. Often the starter motor is blamed when t is having imposed upon it a load and a duty which is unreasonable and unfair. Unfortunately, many new motorsts have not experienced the necessity for hand starting and haf.e relied always upon the starter motor. And the use of this very valuable and convenient appliance has undoubtedly, in many eases, had the effect of making users neglect their engines in a way they would not be guilty of if hand starting were still the order of the da> In such a case they would make sure that the engine was in proper trim for the easiest start and would look to their plugs, timing and carburetter setting so that the minimum of cranking would have to be indulged in when a start was to be made. In too many eases these conditions are not attained, and the heavy duty of starting an obstinate motor is imposed upon the electric starter, with a very serious drain and strain upon the accumulator and the electrical equipment generally. If motorists would make a habit now and again of getting a start, by hand they would become acquainted with the‘state of their engines from the point of view of easy starting, and would be constrained to see that everything was in ship-shape order for an easy hand start —always a desirable eonditon. toi it is generally under adverse conditions that, a compulsory hand start has to be made. This little attention would have the effect of ensuring that the engine was equally readv for the electric start and would obviate heavy and unfair loads being put upon the starter motor and the accumulators, which would thus be allowed to give their maximum of life and efficiency and economy of operation. The precaution would also lead undoubtedly to economy of operation all round for carburettors and ignition systems would, of necessity, be kept in the most favourable conditions for economical usage and the minimum of expense in running and upkeep. Five ears stranded for tyro repairs were counted by a Christchurch motorist between f’hVistehureh and Kaiapoi on Sunday morning, and by the time he reached - NVaiati he had counted nearlv 20. Asked whether he attributed this unusual number to the hot weather and over-innation he replied in the negative. giving it as his opinion that the large number of old used cat's going into service again were on the who! hadl v shod.'Many of those new owners, would bo better advised to buy new tvres than spend money on repairs. Many motorists from the north will remember their 1920 Christmas visit to Rotorua over the Mamaku hills road. On Christmas night 12 cars were bogged on the road, and Sunday night found six of them still there. The road was in a deplorable state, and the troubles of several ear loads of tourists were added to by the fact that one big machine became lodged in the “fairway” at the worst spot, and every succeeding party had to find a way round it, leaving the crown of the road and plunging into- the softer mud at the sides. Those cars which did get through bore ample exidenee of their trials, and their owners seeking other routes than the Maiuaku for their return journey.