TYRE SUPPLIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19762, 8 October 1927, Page 10 (Supplement)

TYRE SUPPLIES.

1 BRITISH NOW SECOND. ) About £1,000,000 is sent out of New Zealand annually for motor tyres. The actual outlay by motorists probably ex ceeds £1,400,000 after duties and profits have made up the retail value, l'yrt and tube imports during the first seven months of 1927 were valued at £579,551 as compared with £5£>2,693 in the corres ponding period of 1926. The decrease seems to be principally in American tyres although Canadian imports also shewed a slight falling off Canadian maKcs heac the .List, British imports iiave been ele vated to second place, French tyres arc third, and American products, which wen second last year, have dropped to fourti place. Following are details of the tyre an< tube imports in.to Now Zealand durinf the firist seven months of each year Jan.-July. 1927. Jan.-July. 192G £ £ Canada . 270,183 300/280 Great Britain 103,291 90.980 France . . 75,003 42,042 U.S.A. 45,152 123,119 Italy . . 23,5)4 13,031 Belgium . . I,SSO 2,374 Aust.ro Ha .. 458 988 Germany .. 48 973 Sweden .. 12 579,551 592,693 INSURANCE AGAINST FINES. For an annual premium of £1 5s ar Adelaide (South Australia) compam gives motorists immunity from appear ance at Court, fines and costs, in respeci ol summonses foi breaches of the rnoto; parking and police regulations. Through out the whole oi South Australia i covers the payment of fines and costs while in Adelaide and suburbs it include also a legal representative at Court. TEE MOTOR URGE. " The United States did not build it roads because ol wealth but it is wealth; because ol building roads," said Mr. Join JN. Willys, the American representative at the fourth meeting of the Internationa Chambei of Commerce in Stockholm o June 28. " The waste spaces of th world are being conquered by trans portation. Wo can locate our home further from our places of employmen and still be secure in the knowledge tha doctor or grocer, milkman or firemar can come to us on call because they to have motors. In a word, we can ap proach standards of living which sup rome sovereigns of a not-distant pas would have envied." A MOTORING MONARCH. The discovery of a murder plot agains King Alforyso of Spain has ils special in tercst for motorists. The King of Spaii is probably the only owner-driver mon arch in the world. His preference is : standard touring model of a high-clas Spanish car. After visits abroad, th king picks up his car on the coast ant drives himself to Madrid. Recently h covered the 250 miles in little more thai | six hours, an average of over 41 m.p.h j When touring in his country Kinj Alfonso takes a practical interest ii his car. and does not hesitate to mak adjustments. The royal car js alway preceded on rural roads by a pilot car which keeps about 20 miles ahead. Spaii has bad roads, but the influence of thi motoring monarch is being felt and : two-year programme of concrete and tai macadam roading to the value o £24,000,000 has just been launched. SIMPLIFIED MAINTENANCE. \ The modern trend of automobile desigi has been toward relieving the user of al work or adjustment v/hich could be doni automatically. The idea underlying motor car development is to mat* motoring easj and time-saving. The machine itself ha: been developed along the line of beinf self-lubricating and almost self-adjusting All unnecessary mechanism has been elim mated, and the vehicle has been made ai self-maintaining as possible. Probably th< extensive use of the motor vehicle bi womet and wide adaptation of it b} the owner-driver, who cannot afford i chauffeur and whose business leaves hin little time for giving attention to the car have been the causes which have led th< designers and manufacturers to devote s< much attention to details which, in earliei days were not considered important. Chassis lubrication has now been recog nised as being so important a matter thai it is receiving unusual i tention at th< hands of those who are interested in cater ing for the modern user of self-propellet vehicles. Tt is obvious that'the greasing of all the transmission and suspensior mechanisms of the car—often (generally! concealed behind and below valances anc running-boards—is not a job suitable foi the woman driver. Neither is it a jol which should be imposed upon the much occupied business or professional man whe wants his car ready and fully equipped for the road at all times. From the maker's point of view, again, the simplifying of this lubrication problem make; for longer life and wear, and better anxl more efficient operation, and must add to the reputation of the firm who completely provide for it. Various forms ol automatic chassis lubrication arc now on the market. They are also installed in i largo numbei of well-known cars, and, will be found in large numbers as the importance of the matter becomes more 3vident to motorists and to makers. All motorists will be glad to see the developTients in thi? direction and undoubtedly hey will have the effect of increasing the popularity of motoring by removing a rery real objection which many people lave to the time and expense attendant ipon the proper cure of the car in the •ital matter of lubrication, and in getting onger life and better service for the apital laid out upon the vehicle.