The Motor World

NZ Truth, Issue 602, 30 December 1916, Page 12

The Motor World

(By "Crank.") "When Kaiser Bill started his Jamboree of destruction, one of the ilrat victims was the Berlin General Omnibus Co. m 1913 this concern had an incocne of £665,000 per annum. In 1914 it dropped to £684,000. In 1915 it plunged down to £312,000. Most of Its vehicles were commandeered for war purposes and had to bo replaced > with horse-drawn vehicles. Of the 21 lines running during IS 13. the end of 1914 saw 17 withdraw, and at the end of 1915 there was only one line left. In all Berlin — motor 'buses, that is. There were only 1!) lines of antiquated horse 'buses left, with 254 'busses m oil. And all the income ihad disappeared and left a deficit of £39,000. • • « A New York correspondent writes: "American manufacturers are still worried by the shortness of stocks of raw materials. Rubber, metals of all sorts, and everything: Incidental to the making of an automobile is dearer than It was even six months ago. For Instance, the hlgn cost of solvent naphtha Is worrying tho tyre manufacturers into early graves and public asylums. Wherever rubber goods have got to be Joined together, naphtha is one of the chief requisites. It Is the basis of rubber cement, and a rubber factory without it is as mobile as a fish m a stubble paddock. The trade In U.S. reuuires. m round figures, 8.000.000 gallons for the current year, and, according to present appearances a little moro than half that quantity is In view. And we thought we were a self-sufficient community. Unless tho supply can bo Increased or the chemists persuaded to nnd v substitute the possibilities ahead of the rubber trado are too hideous to bo even thought of." •'• ■ • • Some Interesting tacts are contained m tho recently -Issued report of the Chief Oflleer of tho London Iflro Britirade. In spite of the. wur there has been comparatively little interruption of the process of eliminating horse traction determined upon some months ago. This decision has involved an expenditure of no less than £160.000. and Its results will be appreciated by the fact that the number of horses now employed for ail purposes m tlie. brlgude is <jnly 4C, and that motor-driven number at tlu> present time something In the neighborhood of if>o. Of tht-se 74 are motor-pump fir© ■ engines ami 73 motor escapes. There are also nino electrically-driven and operated "long-ludders," which numbet corresponds with that of tho old horse, driven steam engines now remaining In service. Tho remainder, however, have mno w.iso been scrapped. To ■ gmher with some' older type motor engines they have boon di&uosed of to vllhu!<» and ttmull town brigades m the country, while, some have found their way over to France to assist In extinguishing conflagration* m and behind the Orlng line. • • • Tho motor "scooter" has. It Is report, cd. become popular m U.S.A. It la a sort of giorttUjd motor f^kute with v half horse- power, air-cooled engine. In eotno townn tho latest means of rapid locomotion has become tho terror of tho pavement, and eollUiomt between humltng city men "scooUhk" down to business and tho leisurely pedestrians

are frequent. In some of these .Incidents the riderless "scooter" continues its wild career, and police on point duty hurl their truncheons at it, but with little or no result Several "Scooters" have finished up by charging a plate-glass window! What la really required there is a "Don't" Committee with an anti-scooter poster * scheme. • • c The trend m the U.S.A. is towards what is known as "stoved finish" instead of paintwork on a car. The surface obtained Is much harder and moro durable.' Tho difficulty, however, la that the process does not lend itself to obtaining a variety of colors, as does painting, but for the cheaper, all-black typo of cajgi It Is well suited. ■• *' ■"■■>»..". v Tho largest car engine, the dimensions of which are known, Is Hornstead's racing Benz, which has a bora of 185 mm. and a stroke of 200 mm.; cubic capacity, 21.504. • • • Tho development of the motor transport orgnnisatlondfattached to tho army and navy will make an lutorostlng story wh&n it comes to be written. For obvious reasons, llttio can bo done m that direction now, but mention may bo made, of the increasing extent to which tho lighter types of vehicles, notably three- wheeled carriers, and oven side-cars, are being utilised. A number of motor cycles and torpadofronted box-carriers, are being used by tho A.S.C., M.T., to carry small package^ despatches, etc., whilst tho navy has three-wheelers for the saxno purpose. Tho lutter, painted dark-bluo, with tho letters R.N., and the wellknown Admiralty anchor device, prosent a smartness of appearance that is m accord with tho beat traditions of tho service. • • • Tho Taxi Drivers' Union In Sydney is at present urging that the difficulty bo overcome by adopting a standardised light that will clearly show tho numbers under tho most mOverse conditions, as well a 1 ? resist to tho "utmost tho tondenoy to "ca" cnn'ny" when an exitm bumpy bit of country Is encountered, and to that worthy end seek the co-operation of all interested.