NOTES AND NEWS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 30 March 1929, Page 10

NOTES AND NEWS.

A yardage oi ail-concrete roadway, equii alout to 2j17 nines was laiu in tne jL>ntisu isies during lynb. Tlie city ox Gloucester (England,) lias decided to scrap its tramway system and use motor buses instead. The town hall at Gel tow, Germany, has been built with money ironi motoring nnes, and tne municipal authorities hope to erect schools ironi the aame source. Have you ever met the fool driver who starts to sound the horn hall a mile from a corner and keeps sounding it right up to and over tne intersection v Such drivers think that it will prevent accidents. After remonstrating with a lady motorist for infringing civic uy-laws, and giving her hints on driving, a xraftie policeman in Huddersfield (England) discovered that the lad) was Miss Yiolette Cordery, the world-famous motorist. hollowing ihe lead given by the Aivis Company, the lirst linn to produce a standard front wheel drive car, the Auburn Company ot America has produced a car lor the market with this unusual transmission. A motor-car at Birmingham was hit by a motor-lorry which liad cannoned oif a handcart, and which then crashed into a second car, which it foived into a fourth car, which, in turn, demolished a lamp in the street. At Goole a bus, which had pulled up beside two lorries in a collision, was run into by a third lorry, while a fourth dropped into a ditch and a motor-car demolished its radiator. A practical way of dealing with those concerns which persist in spite ot numerous protests to disfigure the beauI ties of the countryside by the erection [ot unsightly hoardings lias, according I to Mr. V. rv. Harman, secretary of the j South island Motor Union, who has returned from a trip to the northern part of the (South Island, been taken I by the is'elson Automobile Association, i ft is to write to members of the asso- . edition urging them not to trade with the olleuding concerns. A considerable number of such hoardings have I recently been removed, but there is still one at the top of the Whangamoas | which should be taken away, and .it is I hoped by oiticials of the union that this j will soon be done. A hive of cars. This was the impression that iNgaruawnhia conveyed to the visitor on Saturday (says the Auckland ‘‘Star”). Every country road in the district buzzed with the hum of the motor, and dust-clouds hovered day-long over the few streets of the usually sleepy village at the junction of the Waikato and the W aipu. It is estimated that over 2000 motors were parked in the Domain, in adjacent paddocks, and in by-lanes. Through efficient police control, cars, lorries, and charabancs were handled effectively, the only mishap to incoming traffic occurring when a lorry, crowded with Maoris, crashed into the rail on the town v side of the bridge, and poised there perilously while its occupanst scrambled down on to the embankment. "What becomes of all the old motorcars is a question which occasionally perplexes the consciousness of the casual observer. Vague theories suggest that they are boiled down to make new ones, but the constant stream of imports discounts that idea. The fact is that the “trading-in” process moves ) them on through successive stages to | dissolution. At various car cemeteries in the back-blocks there may be seen abandoned derelicts —sans hood, sans engine, sans wheels, sane everything except the bare skeleton of what was once the pride of the road, Midway to this extremity some old models still serve as transport facilities —of a kind, iThe outstanding example of living car (decrepitude was observed in a Bay of . Plenty township. A ''Liz” of the original vintage, with engine uncovered, site wheezed along on three tyres and a “rimmer.” Garage experts reverent- [ ly uncovered as slio passed—a relic oi I a bygone age. All wondered by what I magic she was started, but the marvel jof that miracle was surpassed by the laet that the car istill ran, and her pilot proudly steered her on her clattering way. The question was, “How was she stopped;-'” This was easy. A large size Maori on the oil-side carried an old anchor, and when the driver gave tlio signal his mate “heaved the hook” on to anything that promised a good hold, and brought “Liz” up all standing, panting and spluttering, but nevertheless ready for a fresh start without the ministrations of a crank or of any new fangled starting device.

Iu Japan cars have to be illumiu ated inside as well as out at sunset.

Motorists in Buenos Aires are compelled by the municipal authorities to keep their cars free rrom mud.

The .North Island Motor Union is investigating the various metnods ot setting speed traps, and recommendations for uniformity are to be made to the Minister of Bublie Works.

In all parts of the worm the campaign against noise is going on. In Jerusalem, for instance, a new by-law forbids the use of ail electric horns.

Confronted with a motor ’bus and a decorator’s hand truck, and no room to pass, a South Wales motor-cyclist rod e up a ladder on the decorator’s cart, balanced neatly at the middle, and then rode down the opposite side. He then rode calmly away.

About four years ago experimental one-chain strips of concrete and bitumen were laid iu Cambridge. To-day' the bitumen surface is apparently still as smooth as the concrete, and both test sections are so little changed that it is too early to form any opinion regarding relative merits.

The liewa route between Taihape aud I’eilding is not recommended for unskilled drivers owing to the incomplete state of a bridge which is being reconstructed over the Kangitaiki River (states an exchange). There is a steep approach To the structure and th € absence of railings recently' hardly gave a sense of security when one looked into the gap below. A detour to avoid this route can be made over an all-metal surface branching an Mangawcka and passing through Kimbolton. The fact that traffic officials have been insructed to pay particular attention to noisy exhausts should induce those cyclists who persist in annoying the public to fit effective silencing arrangements. A good rider is not judged by' noise. The youth. who starts away from a stand .with a roar of the exhaust, rapid acceleration, and a spinning back wheel is not only lacking in common sense, but is also entirely devoid of consideration for his machine or for his fellow citizens. Motorcyclists would do well to correct such riders for they are responsible for the eye of the law being focussed on all riders of the two-wheeler. More tluui 2000 persons were killed in the United States in 1927 because of contusion among motorists and pedestrians resulting from a lack of uniformity in traffic regulations, according to the American Hoad, Builders' Association. If this estimate is even approximately crorect, it should be more than enough to convince State and municipal legislatures of tlie vital importance of making the regulation of traffic uniform. There oan be no sound arguments against it (says “Motor”).