A MOTORING CAUSERIE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18996, 18 April 1925, Page 12 (Supplement)

A MOTORING CAUSERIE.

[I!Y OUR BRITISH CORRESPONDENT. ] War on Scenery Vandals. ' Those whose practice it is to hang their advertisements around the pleasant s spots in Old England—and hang tho cona sequences—are feeling uneasy. Highways authorities are now taking action to suppress this public nuisance and, as au example, I may cite tho fact that" at Brighs ton, recently, heavy fines were exacted for this offence. In the past the authorities have been lax in this matter and tho be's lief has gained ground that they were - r powerless. In fact it is an offence to "disfigure the natural beauty of the landscape." and motorists have been fore--0 most in tho recent campaign to purge the '* countryside of unsightly hoardings. ■ Public opinion is solidly behind this effort and it is to bo hoped that wayside advertising will soon become more expensive than profitable —if indeed it is 11 profitable. For one, 1 carefully eschew 11 the goods of those who advertise them c in this manner. y A Musical Car. s From time to time from the s car-park outside- my office thero e arises the musical notes of an s organ—of the pipe, not tho barrel, g variety. At first I was puzzled to locate tho source of this voluntary, but I have now traced it to the mechanism of a rer markable car which jiossesscs not merely V the ability to progress, but also a melo:i clious organism. On the dash there is a r keyboard connecting to a cluster, scale, c herd—l know not the proper technical . name—of pipes through which, at command, the exhaust gases can be directed. As tho "organ" can be played as the ; car proceeds, the driver, or preferably 3 his passenger, can sound the appropriate 3 air. To the lone pedestrian tramping the 3 country road he can render "Felix Keep 5 on Walking." In the crowded thorough- } fare, the "Charge of the Light Brigade" would be suitable, while, to the pointduty officer, he could sympathetically 1 vamp the policeman's song from the tlil- . Bert and Sullivan opera. f The application of this idea has infinite 3 possibilities, but one fervently hopes that 2 the practice of it will not become gen- . eral! Femina at the Wheel. The records of the Automobile Association establish the fact that in 1924 there was remarkable growth in the number of women drivers. In the search for a reason this one recollects that circumstances favour this development. Tho cost of motoring having fallen, cars are now being bought in large numbers by city and professional men of the type who inhabit the suburbs and travel to town by rail daily. For them, motoring is a week-end recreation. For their w.ves, then, the car is available for tho otrer five days. ■ Again, it is apparent that many of the. moro comfortably circumstanced families are giving up the luxury of mainta'-'iug ! a chauffeur. His services arc not so essen- ; tial now that cars are more reliable and garages more plentiful, and paterfamilias ■ is content, if not himself driving, to leave the wheel to Diana—his daughter. i The French Octroi. It is not generally known that any village, town or city in France can establish Octroi, or taxing guards, at the points of entrance into their territory. There would appear to be no restriction as to the articles upon which a town taxcan be levied, but in tho majority of cases, comestibles—game, poultry, and vegetables—are the main objects of duty. The petrol tax is fast dying out., and, whereas at one time tho motorist was liable to pay duty on many occasions when passing through France, there are now very few posts where ihe tourist is called upon to stop.,.; - One gathers that the establishment of Octroi is losing favour alike with the authorities and the French public and several large cities are in fact abolishing them. Lyons may be cited as an example of this tendency. No official lists of Octroi-girt- towns are available,, the whole matter being one of local option in every case. Entering Paris, the motorist is mulct in tax on his petrol—wherefore it behoves the tourist leaving the city for a day's run to pause at the barrier to register the contents of his tank. Otherwise he will be called, upon to pay the residue on re-entering.