Cycling & Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3383, 15 January 1919, Page 44

Cycling & Motor Notes

BY DEMON

The recent successful aeroplane flight on the Handley-Page machine by General Salmond and crew, from London to Oalentta, via Cairo, serves to bring home . the fact that the day is not very far distent when an aerial route will be . established between England and Australia. One stage of this great flight—Cairo to Oalentta, a distance of 2548 miles—was negotiated in 36 hours' flying time. The extension of this flight to Australia would probably be made via Singapore and Darwin, if an effort were made; but it is hardly likely that the flight to Australia will be attempted before complete arrangements are made as to landing stages, fuel depots, etc. In a. few years time there is little doubt but that a special, mail service will link up this country with England. The. following resolution . was carried at a meeting of the Canterbury Automobile Association, held last week:— i hat the Government be asked to bring down legislation embodying uniformity of motor regulations, including traffic, main roads, bylaws, and licensing of vehicles and drivers; and that kindred associations throughout New Zealand be asked to support this proposal. Further, that when the draft of the proposed Bill is prepared, it be submitted to the different associations affiliated with the New Association, and finally to the New Zealand associations in conference in Wellington, for approval." means of overcoming the gate nuisance on big estates or ranches is adopted. The nuisance of frequent stops to open and close gates, and the certainty that trouble would be caused by careless tourists who would not bother to close them are neatly avoided by borrowing the idea of the cattle guard from the railroad. A shallow pit is dug between two fence posts, and over this at right angles to the road are laid posts or plants close enough to accommodate the wheels of a car; but not the feet of wandering cattle. There is no gate; the road is always open for the motorist. But cattle drift up and sniff at this modern contrivance and turn away, too wary of the ditch beneath to venture oyer. It is a simple idea and apparently effective. •Sparking plugs require cleaning occasionally. The proper way is to take the plug apart and get all the black carbonised oil and dirt away from the junction of metal and porcelain. The porcelain must not be roughened with sandpaper or a hie, as this makes it more likely than before to accumulate carbon. The points should be brightened with emery cloth and the rest of the plug be treated with petrol and a brush.. . ■'.'■■'. Rubber of any sort—matting, for instance,— according to .an American exchange, may be secured to metal # surfaces by using a cement made by disolving flake shellac in alcohol to form a thick syrup. Several thin coats carefully applied should be given to each surface and the first should not be allowed to dry before another is applied. Press the rubber carefully upon the metal, and by use of a piece of board and heavy weights keen the two surfaces pressed together for at least 24 hours. Most car-owners know that the use of felt washers under the iron ' washers in certain instances is a useful idea. The felt washer gives an elastic # hold, allowing for expansion or contraction, and may keep the threads of an over-tight bolt from stripping which you cannot locate, remdVfi the petrol tank and shake it. In four out of five cars fitted with cheap tanks there always are a few pieces of solder in the inside of the tank. These pieces work their way to the place over the feed line and prevent the proper flow of fuel. There is only one way of getting the pieces out, and that is to shake them out.

FUTURE PRICE OF MOTOR CARS.

Many intending buyers of motor cars are hanging back waiting for a drop in prices. When is it going to come? Recent advices from England and America point to an upward trend in prices for new cars. In America reduced output, the scarcity of metals, and increased cost of production have already put the price up. Freights are certainly down, but not sufficient to cover the increased factory price. As regards European cars, huge engineering plants will be available later on in England, France, and Italy for automobile construction ; but you cannot convert or turn from munitions to motors at a few weeks' notice. In the meantime the greater portion of the world's supply of steel will be diverted for shipbuilding and restoring the war ravages in Belgium, Franco, Italy, and the Balkans, and it will take some time before steel supplies for automobilo construction will regain normal. Wages show an upward tendency tho world over; therefore, from all viewpoints, there is little justification for the prevailing idea that cars will bo cheaper m the near future. The reverse is more likely to happen—in fact higher prices are already quoted in America "for 1919 cars.

BRITISH MOTOR TRACTORS.

During the four weeks ending August 23 it is estimated that Government tractors. operating Government binders, harvested close on a million acres in the Southern and Midland counties of England, about 90 per cent, 'of which was wheat. That terse epitome, if nothing more remained to be said, would justify all that has been spent on the motor tractor by the Food Production Department, not a commercial speculation, but as an insurance against a harvest failure which, doubtless, the Hun had involved in his calculations when he made

his great drive for the Channel ports. He knew that we were husbanding our manpower as muolv to enable essential work of this character to be done as for any other reason, and probably he calculated

that the success ho counted on would, araonff other difficulties, compel us at a oritical time to draw from field and factory every man able to go Into the army, and so disorganise our whole plans to feed our-

eelves and supply our armies during the coming winter. Never was the English southern countryside so bare of men, yet the heaviest harvest of the past 15 years has been gathered in at a greater speed than any in our experience. Without motor traotors it could not have been done, and to have saved those million acres by horse and msn-power would have meant the

effectives of an English army corps and the horse 3 of a cavalry division withdrawn from the fighting line. Regarded in those terms, we are ready to forgive the Food Production Department many errors for this great success-, although we would not wish to be taken as meaning that the motor-tractor will enable f lie countryside to carry on after the war with fewer men than was the case in 1814. We (English Field) believe that the efficient use of the tractor will have the reverse effect —it will, we hope, lead to a better cultivation and a heavier production, which will entail a larger use of skilled labour. Those who have lived in the country during the past dozen years or so will bear us out when we state that never have farming operations been so forward in the south as they are this autumn—a fact entirely due to the relief afforded by the motor tractor; a relief which is as evident in the matter,of horse cultivation as in power cultivation, for the two react. Half the cause of much of the bad farming alleged against the Englishman has been due to an inability to get level with his calendar owing to inadequate labour or capital, or both. For the first

time in our generation he is now receiving suoh an adequate return for his labour and industry as invites the employment of capital without serious risk, and in the main he is taking full advantage of the opportunity. Ho is more abreast of his calendar, and that in itself can scarcely fail to result in better farming and larger yields. The speed at which motor power enables him to harvest permits him to plough the stubble before weeds can get started, and the great advantage of early seeding on much of these southern lands has to be experienced to be appreciated.