BEST TYPE OF ROAD FOR N.Z.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18861, 8 November 1924, Page 10 (Supplement)

BEST TYPE OF ROAD FOR N.Z.

With a view to discovering the least costly-type of road that will meet New Zealand requirements, the Wellington Automobile Club have decided to ask the Highways Board to maintain an experimental stretch of road to test out, under typical New Zealand main road conditions, the types of construction and methods of maintenance considered most suitable

for, the conditions of this country. The club suggested test stretches of hot mix of different thicknesses, penetration, a tar-sealed stretch, and also a test of the improved gravel and macadam maintenance as described by Mr. A. Tyndall, of the Public Works Department.

It was also decided to ask that full explanatory notice boards be erected beside the various test stretches.

SPEED OUT HUTT BO AD. On tho motion of Mr. F. Goldberg, it was decided at the last meeting of the "Wellington Automobile Association to ask the Hutt Road Board to raise the speed' limit through Ngahauranga and Kaiwarra from 12 miles per hour to 15. It was pointed out that 15 miles per hour ruled in the city of Wellington, and it wa3 also stated that the slowing down of a car to 12 milus per hour was xnoro dangerous than the slowing down to 15. In fact some members pointed out that they had a difficulty in doing it at all. HOTEL SCHEME WELL SUPPORTED. The hotel concession scheme which is now being perfected by the council of tho A.A.A. is meeting with very vrido support. An official list of the houses which have elected to como under the scheme is now in course of preparation and will shortly bei printed and furnished to members of the association and other associations connected with the North Island Motor Union. The scheme is one of the many useful and valuable services the A.A.A. is performing for its members. 4300 BUSSES IN LONDON. Forty-three hundred motor busses are used in London for carrying passengers over 150 different routes. There are 26,000 men employed, and to operate the busses 18,500,000 gallons of petrol are consumed annually.

annually. BRAZE ADJUSTMENT. Brakes that aren't adjusted and equalised rattle, clatter, and squeak. The tread of one or more of your tyres is soon worn down; •the frame of the car is distorted With strain 5 the wheels lose their perfect alignment. Brakes should be adjusted «very thirty days.

NOTES. A motor-car is as fast as the people in it. / 350,000,000 gallons of petrol were consumed in Great Britain during 1923. The latest novelty i 3 a motor-car controlled by wireless. This is an improvement on the control we sometimes meet. United States national parks are becom ing more and more of an attraction to motorists. There was a 125 per cent, increase of sightseers at Yellowstone during June above the number of the June previous.

The Automobile Association of South Australia has decided to give a few months' trial to a scheme to provide free technical advice for members. The appointed experts will attend at the office one day each week.

The total number of motor-cars and motor-trucks registered . with the traffic department of the Auckland City Council last week, was 77, as against 69 during the previous week. Motor-cycles numbered 7, compared with 15 for the proceeding period.

A lady who has just purchased her first car, in England, finds that as it is rated at eight horse-power, the hardhearted. authorities demand a tax of £8 per annum. With true feminine optimism, the lady asks: " Can I get an abatement off my income-tax for this?"

A special American-mad© passenger automobile has been designed for the King of Bulgaria, with the longest wheel base of any car on the market. It is equipped with an airplane motor. The interior of the car is finished in mahogany, with solid ivory and gold fittings.

Easy gear shifting is a matter of "feel." A skilled motorist has an uncanny sense of tcuoh enabling him to change quickly and silently. A good plan is to depress clutch, shift from low to neutral, then from neutral to second, and release. This double manoeuvre almost Invariably assures a silent shift.

An ingenious motorist has shown me a neat waterproof case for cvrying maps or touring guides. It was _ made out of an old celluloid side curtain. The material is cut to the desired size and stitched around the celluloid thus forming an open bag into which the maps can be slipped. They are plainly visible through the transparent covering, and are protected from wear, dust and weather.

Never before has such an array of cars been seen locally as were parked in and around the Gisborne showgrounds last week. The cars were scattered in various places, so it would be exceedingly difficult to estimate the exact number. Itis safe to say, however, that at least 1000 cars were in and around the grounds, Ihe members' paddock was well filled with cars, while many who preferred to watch the jumping events from the vantage point of their car, took them across the course to a point opposite the grand-stand.

Samples of advertising road signs were placed before the Waiotara County Council this week for approval, but the council decided to cancel tfs previous permission to erect signs bearing advertisements. Discussing road signs' generally, some members said that many of the settlers did not know the meaning of the triangular signs at dangerous corners, and considered that they were not regarded by motorists, and that more striking signs should be erected. The council decided to refer the matter to the Automobile Association.

The Wairarapa Automobile Association has decided i to fence that portion of the Rimutaka Hill, known as Drake's Elbow, and comprising about half a mile in distance, in accordance with the arrangements made with the Publio Works Department that they should supply the labour if the association found the material. It was further resolved to communicate with the department in reference to the mile still unfenced on the Wellington side of the Rimutaka Hill, and if the Department would provide the labour the association would find the material.

Should cars parked in the streets be head on to the kerb or tail on ? The question came before the New Plymouth Borough Council recently in a letter from the Taranaki Automobile Association, which expressed itself as being of the opinion that it was less dangerous to drive into the kerb and back out than to back in and drive out. The borough inspector Mr. R. Day, said that to him it did not appear to make any difference whether the cars were parked head on or tail on, so long as they were parallel. He intended to make a trial at one of the bowling greens, and the council accordingly postponed making a decision until Mr. Day had made a report. -