Cycling & Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3397, 23 April 1919, Page 44

Cycling & Motor Notes

BY DEMON

Accessibility in a motor does not mean merely that the various parts of the car shall be easy to take down and reassemble. It implies that all of the operations which are regularly necessary should be of easy performance. Of paramount importance to the private car-owner is the question of accessibility. It not only saves him an infinity of time in doing- the necessary, work to keep his machine in good order, but when he must take it to the repair shop the cost of the -work to be done is reduced in direct proportion to the allround accessibility of the design. For instance, it often happens in regard to -the prices of motor car repairs that the greater part of the time occupied, and, consequently, of expenses, is due to the fact that some really simple job necessitates a great deal of_ dismantling and consequent reassembling. before the nation, transportation development, particularly as it pertains to public highways, must shortly occupy a most important place; and there is no class of citizen to whom the value of good roads is better known than the motorist. Having that special knowledge from what might be termed personal contact, and having £1 his travels witnessed the deplorable results following on almost impassable roadways, it should be the recognised duty of motorists to not merely agitate for better highways, but to give publicity to the fact that the country is the greatest loser through poor roads. Notwithstanding the years of effort and the thousands of miles of highways improved in the United States, the American Good Roads Associations feel that to carry the work nearer to a satisfactory issue it is necessary that the automobile clubs and kindred associations should assist by contributory effort, ad also by the influence they can bring to bear upon the authorities, local, State, and Federal. If, then, there is such a need in the States, it is patent that it also exists here, and prabably in an accentuated form. Thirty bicycles and one motor cycle were reported stolen in Christchurch last week (states the Lyttelton Times). The police find little abatement of bicycle stealing, and unfortunately they are almost powerless to detect it. Ample stocks of petrol are now in New Zealand and to arrive, pointing to an early reduction of the official maximum price (states the Wellington Post). BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY, The report of, the Motor Trades' Branch Committee of the Committee of Reconstruction has been issued, and its conclusions are interesting. It recommends the assistance of an import duty on foreign motor vehicles to assist the British manufacturer to reestablish his post-war position. A limit of three years is put on the duty, probably as an inducement to its acceptance and to anticipate those who would suggest that the duty would put the British publio In the hands of the British motor manufacturer. . The reasons given for advocating this sort of assistance are that the seclusion from their markets by the action of

the Ministry of Munitions while importers of .foreign vehicles were enabled to monopolise the home and colonial markets, established these latter in such a manner as requires a counterbalancing seclusion of foreign manufacturers to insure re-establish-ment of the British industry. It also recommends a scheme for the handling of the surplus of war-worn and discarded motor vehicles. It urges the development of motor fuel supplies inside the Empire; the investigation of alcohol, r«pd the distillation to its limit of benzol; and finally a review and reformation of repressive legislation bearing on motoring and motor vehicles, including taxation. The Branch Committee on agricultural machinery reports that the result of the importations by the Government and private firms of American tractors on an immense scale is watched with some anxiety. Many firms are preparing to manufacture them, and they will be produced in this country in large quantities as soon as the necessary raw materials and labour are available. In view, however, of the advantageous start given to the imported article, due largely to Government action, the committee considers it is very important that every facility and encouragement should be given to British makers at the earliest possible moment. The Branch Committee on Aircraft Machinery consider that, owing to the enormous expansion of the industry during the war, its output capacity will be greater than the demand for years to come, and advise that immediate steps should be taken by the Government to avoid the extinction of so essential an industry. GIANT AEROPLANE'S FLIGHT. The giant mail and passenger-carrying aeroplane which arrived at Sheffield a few days ago from Belfast has now completed its journey to its destination on the East Coast of England (says the Field). The machine, which is fitted with four RollsRoyce engine developing a total of 1600 h.p., is a Handley-Page biplane, built by Messrs Harland aiid Wolff (Ltd.), of Belfast. The machine is now to be used on "The Britain to India Aerial Service," but was one of a squadron originally intended for an attack on Berlin —the armistice being signed three days before the date fixed for the raid to take place. The pilot, Mr Prodger, recently made a sensational flight over London in a similar machine, creating a record by carrying 40 passengers, and it will be with a machine designed on similar lines that he will attempt to make the flight across the Atlantic in the spring. The machine can provide comfortable accommodation for 40 passengers including crew. With full load up it weighs over 14 tons, and can carry sufficient fuel for a distance of 1500 miles. On the flight in question the machine started in bitterly cold weather, with a following wind, from the aerodrome at Belfast, with a crew of seven and half a ton of luggage, a few minutes after noon on Saturday, January--18, with the intention of flying to the East Coast of England in a single flight. The pilot's log of the flight makes very interesting reading. The coast of Ireland was left at Strangford, and during the crossing of the Irish Sea the travellers lunched on board in oomfort. The Isle of Man was passed at a height of something over 10,000 ft at 1.40 p.m., and the English coast was orossed at Blackpool at 2.20 p.m. From this point heavy banks of fog were encountered, which became worse as the Midlands w.ere approached. Mr Prodger found it very dim-

I cult to pick up any definite landmarks I through the dense fog, and had to rely solely on his compass. After leaving- Black- • pool the machine crossed Preston and Manchester, and arrived over Sheffield at about 7000 ft, just after 3 p.m., having covered a distance of nearly 300 miles at a speed of oyer 100 miles per hour. The weather conditions were then so bad that it was decided to locate the aerodrome near Sheffield, which was found after a long search at a low altitude, and a landing was made there at 3.25 p.m. The weather reports from the outlying districts stated that the fog was very thick; and if it had lifted it was decided to continue the flight the same evening, as there was to be a full moon. The weather, however, continued very bad that night, and conditions did not show any until a few days ago, when the flight to the Bast Coast was completed. In order to avoid further delay Mr Prodger decided to make a start, although there was still a good deal of fog about, and the machine left Sheffield at 2.30 p.m. After climbing to 5000 ft the journey to the East Coast was commenced at 2.40 p.m. For the first 30 miles it was impossible to see the ground, so the pilot brought the machine down below the clouds. After leaving Lincoln the weather turned very gusty, and storms and thick low-lying mist were encountered, making it necessary to fly low—at an altitude of 200 ft to 300 ft. The East Coast was crossed just north of Skegness, and the*course was then changed to south. From Skegness the coast line was followed, flying very low, but at times the pilot was compelled to go either out to sea or turn inland to avoid passing storms, and the destination of the machine was reached at 4.10 p.m. The total distance flown was approximately 430 miles in the two flights. BOOM IN MOTORING EXPECTED. ONE RULE OF ROAD FOR EUROPE. A big boom in motoring_ during the coming spring and summer is expected both by ardent motorists and by the motor trade (says,the Daily News). In the course of inquiries a Daily News representative was informed that many firms are inundated with orders for ' which delivery can only be promised in rotation after the firms have completed the work transferring from war work to their old work. One authority declared that 50,000 new motor cars could easily be disposed of. and yet another said that 80,000 or 100,000 would not be too many for the demands in sight. "There are good little two-seater cars at £275 being put on the market," he said, " and these should find a ready sale. OWs for a time at least will be much dearer than they were before the war. The demand naturally is keenest for the cheaperpriced cars. These types of car ought to be forthcoming before long, and, just as the 10-gulnea bicycle took the market by Btorm, they would sell like hot _ cakes. < i Speaking of the boom that is coming, an officer of one of the motor trade organisations said: " "We never knew how much the motor car had become an essential part of our lives till we missed It. The vacuum will now be. filled again with a rush, and motoring will soon enjoy a boom." Among the many problems, big and little, which the Peace Conference Is to oonsider, Lord Montagu of Beaulleu hopes that It will find time to settle the ru!« of the road for Europe, and so mak« tni highways safer for democracy*.

Lord Montagu said to a Daily New* representaive recently that we have an international rule of the road for the «ea and another for the air, but every country is a law unto iteelf in regard to the rule of the road on land. " In Great Britain," he said, "traffic uses the left hand side of the road. In most Continental countries the traffic keeps to tho right-hand side. "It Is not a mere question of sentiment, but of utility, and it means a great deal to motor manufacturers. A car made for the English market has the driver's seat and the control mechanism on the right-hand side, but if it Is made for a foreign market they must be put on tho left." Lord Montagu further urged that the children of all classes in all our schools should be instructed in the necessity of observing the rule of the road as part of the duties of citizenship. "If the rule of the road were observed more loyally," he said, ty>y all the "vehicles in our streets many of the very costly street widenings might have been avoided.

"I am not urging all this in the interests of the joy-rider, but on behalf of the community. Delays to the working man s tramoar and motor bus, which suffer con- ' siderable delays from the ignorance or neglect of the rule of the road, would be avoided." •-.'.,