MOTORING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15646, 27 June 1914, Page 6

MOTORING.

A suggestion was made at the- annual meeting of tho Auckland Automobile Association that the monthly runs bo discontinued. The proposal did not meet with unanimous support, and the matter was therefore dropped. Messrs. J. Shaw and J. Teddy, both of Hamilton, havo each accept "d delivery of a 25-h.p. Buick touring err. Mr.' D. W. Casay, lecturing to members of the Persia Society recently on "A Motor Tour Through IVsia," said he spent some time at Bagdad, and he was certain that at least half the- population followed his car, and even kept vigil when he wont to bed. A great difficulty ho had to encounter was the inclination of the natives to mistake the car for the devil. They drew their revolvers at first, but retired when the occupants of the car alighted. Ho had found that there was no occasion to fear violence, and that a little tact and good humour were much moro useful than revolvers.

At tho annual mooting of the R.A.C. and Associated Clubs held recently, tho chairman stated that there had been an increase during the year of over 7500 in the membership. Tho text of a Bill dealing with tho endorsement of drivi-v: license., and presented to the Br'. I'arliair.ent by Mr. Arthur Stanley, en • fed by Mr. JoynsonRicks and Mr. Cat j- 1 Wason, ha? been issued. It seeks to enact that the record of any conviction for any offonrc under the Motor-car Act, 1903, endorsed on a driving license, shall not be entered on any subsequent license if two years have elapsed sinco the original endorsement. Another clause sets forth that any person holding an endorsed lirenso shall after two years be entitled to obtain a new license without payment. During tho month of January, February, and March, 1914, tho English Road Board raado advances to highway authorities amounting in tho aggregate to £684,940, of which £448.005 was by way of grant, and £236,935 by way of loan. Tho total advances made and indicated !up to March 31. 1914. amount to £5.213,812— by way of grant, and £1,384,707 by way of loan. Tho formal advances by way of grant made, with tho approval of tho Treasury, during the last quarter, amounting to £500,499, were applied as follows:To road crust improvements, £461,520; to road widenings and improvement of curves and corners, £20,173; to road diversions, £12,620; to reconstruction and improvement of bridges, £6186. During the same period advances bv way of loan amounting to the sum of £101.166 have been arranged. Included in the foregoing totals are advances (£56,321 by way of grant and £31,450 by way of loan) to a scheme submitted by the Oxfordshire County Council for improving 63 miles of main roads in the county at an estimated cost of £95,455. The work will take three years to complete. " Back to tho Road " is the title given to a summary of his motoring travels by Mr. Leycester Bar well, an Ascot ownerdriver, who has aggregated 140.000 miles during tho past nine years entirely independent of the railway. Since last entering a train in December, 1&34, he has owned and driven five cars, and kepi a complete record of his mileages for each car, and for every month and year up to j the end of 1913. The statistics are presented in this booklet. Considerably more j than half of this total mileage is to the I credit, of al2 h.p. machine, which he has had in constant service since August. 1903. One of the latest uses to which the modern invention for quick transit, the I motor-car is being put, is the conveyance of rabbits from tho' trappers' camps in Southland to the railway depot, and Mr. Silas Hore, of Waipiata, one of the agents, says that as many as 1300 in a day and 15,400 in a fortnight have been sent away by him.

A discussion is in progress in the motor press on tho subject of car springs, in which a demand is made for adjustability to load, just as though this were a now idea offered the car designer by his critics. Tho most prefunctory consideration of tho commonest system of suspension applied to motor-cars will provo that such is the underlying principle and aim of every car or carriage spring now made. It always has been tho chassis-maker's aim to dosign and arrange his springs so that they shall bo progressive in actionwhich is a form of automaticity in adopting spring resistance to load. His comparative, it is true—arises out of an impossibility to give such a range of progressive resistance with the means at his disposal as will meet all the varying conditions we have set out. Therefore he errs on the right side for his own reputation. He provides for maximum loads, and leaves tho owner to minimise the harshness involved by adopting large tires and the auxiliary springs generally called shock absorbers. Undoubtedly tho most important reform to he advocated where comfort is a chief requisite is the use of largo tires.

One objection many motorists have to using wire wheels is the difficulty of properly cleaning and keeping clean this type of wheel. An English firm has now marketed celluloid discs which can easily be attached to wheels, the inside of tho disc being permanently fitted, while the outside can readily bo detached for tire replacements by 'unscrewing one nut. As the celluloid disc can be made in any colonr and can take a brilliant polish, the addition of this attachment rather adds to the appearance of a car. Apart from this the fitting of these discs is said to save considerable time in washing a car, experiments having proved that a wire wheel takes 10m, an artillery wheel 7m, and a wire wheel with celluloid discs fitted, 2m.