NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20956, 20 August 1931, Page 14

NOTES.

Motorists , crossing the Westfield overhead bridge should observe strictly the speed limit, as the surface is rough and makes fast travelling dangerous. The danger of stock wandering on the road by night was emphasised at a recent meeting oi the council of the A.A.A. Drivers in country districts should keep a sharp watch for straying animals. The practice of cyclists in riding unlighted machines was pointed out by • members at the last meeting of tho A.A.A. council. It was stated that cyclists sometimes rode two or even three abreast, and motorists were advised to take care on tho concrete highways between Henderson and Papakura When Princess Elizabeth, with her mother, H.R.H. the Duchess of York, attended the Royal tournament at the British Olympia, she quite disorganised the arrangements of tho Royal party by declining to leave the performance until she had seen the motor-cycle trick riders in action. As long ago as 1897 a German engraver named Diesel designed an engine which, it was claimed, would run on oil. gas or coal dust. The Diesel engine is now considered by many to be the in-ternal-combustion engine of the future; it is firmly established in marine practico and is coming into use on motor-lorries. ROAD SENSE. INSTRUCTION FOR DRIVERS. Road sense, of which the average person knows little, consists of knowing what to do and when to do it without having to reason why. For instance, when the car in front stops dead the driver following should seldom be taken unawares—that is, if ho possesses any degree of road sense. Something should tell him that the car is going to pull up. Tho driver of the rear car may just have got a glimpse of something in front of the preceding car. He may have acted independently of the driver in that car, but still ho did it instinctively. That can be called road sense. The motor driver of to-day, although he may be fully licensed as far as the motor regulation tests are concerned, may yet be almost incompetent in the handling of his vehicle. Such incompetence is a menace to other road users who, possessing the greater experience, too often expect every other road user to display the same road sense. Advanced Instruction. The Auckland Automobile Association has long appreciated the. need of simple tuition of a more advanced type than is usually extended to the novice taking his firs,t lessons in the control of a car. For the past two years post licence tuition has been available to members of the association on the payment of a small fee, but now the A.A.A. has appointed a highly-qualified instructor whose services are available free of cost to financial members. In order that country motorists may also secure this privilege, arrangements have been made for the uniformed patrols who are stationed in the country districts to carry out the work on application. The A.A.A. instructor in the city is being kept fully occupied, and many motorists who may bo regarded as highly-competent drivers have not been above taking advantage of the instructor's experience, and without exception, warm appreciation of the value oT the post licence tuition has been expressed by all who have received lessons. PETROL TAX IN FRANCE. Motorists in France have been aroused by the introduction of a bill which proposes to replace the existing tax on motorcars by a super-tax on benzine amounting to 2s*lod per gallon. Those in favour of the bill say that the present system of taxing the car itself is unfair to the ordinary 'user, who is called on to pay as much in taxation as owners who average double and even 10 times the mileage. The bill is based on the principle that the tax on motoring should be in direct ratio to the use made of the roads. It is further stated that, under the present system, the owner of a 10 horse-power car pays a direct tax of £6 10s a year. Such a rate of taxation, if the impost were based on benzine consumption at the rate of 2s lOd a gallon, and assuming that the car used 11 litres for every 100 kilometres, would give an ordinarv 10 horse-power car a mileage of 14,375 a year, or approximately a little over 275 miles a week. This is far above the average motor-car owner's record. Critics who are adversely inclined to the proposal insist that, although the average automobile owner would apparently benefit from the change, the proposal would prove unworkable in practice and would result in serious hardships to owners of commercial vehicles. In 1929 these comprised nearly one-third of the total motor vehicles registered in France, while over 70 per cent, of the so-called touring care are used primarily for business purposes by traders, commercial travellers, agriculturists and others. FORDS IN ENGLAND. ft is reported that Mr. Henry Ford, in order to ensure a, supply of raw materials for his motor factories in England, intends to acquire iron and steel works in South Wales, a district severely affected by the industrial depression. It is understood that he has already agreed to purchase a galvanised sheet works at Briton Ferry one of tin* many industrial villages between Cardiff and Swansea, and is negotiating for the acquisition of an iron and steel works in the same neighbourhood. The concern in which Mr. Ford proposes to interest himself will employ several hundred men and there is immediately available an ample supply of skilled men waiting and anxious to work.