CYCLING & MOTOR NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 3499, 5 April 1921, Page 42

CYCLING & MOTOR NOTES

By

DEMON.

The first bicycle introduced into Australia was a “bone-shaker” imported about the year 1868 by Professor Ivernot, of Melbourne. The machine had a solid steel backbone, hickory wheels, and iron tyres. The Minister of .Public Works has notified the Wellington Automobile Club that the Main Roads Bill is at present in the hands of the Crown Law Drafting Office, and as soon as it is possible to circulate the same he would be only too pleased to forward a copy for consideration of the committee. , For surreptitiously taking his employer’s car and driving to the next town to see bis sweetheart, a Masterton chauffeur was fined £lO and costs. Tho Australasian Amateur Cycle Championship meeting provided some interesting (contests. Victoria secured the Half-mile Championship event through the agency of A. J. M'Donahl, with A. E. Hannon (New South Wales) second, and L. Vowlos (Queensland) third. The Ten-mile Championship was won by A. E. Hannon (New South Wales), with A. ,T. M’Donald (Victoria) second, and J. King (Queensland) third. Of the four beautiful Australasian championship medals presented by tho Dunlop Rubber Company, three remain in Victoria. and one goes to New South Wales. The Victorian crack A. J, M’Donald won

the Challenge Cup presented to the rider scoring the best aggregate points in the championship events. Owing- to the slump that has occurred in tho United States in the Motor tyre trade the English Dunlop Rubber Company, whioh is erecting one of tho finest lyre plants in America, has decided for the time being to cea6e operations until matters straighten themselves out a bit. It- is said that the English Company has in the past 18 months spent some £7,000,000 in erecting its American plant. Motorists who buy second-hand Ford cars can determine tho date the car left the factory up to July, 1919, by the number on the dashboard. Following is a list that gives the index numbers for their respective year of manufacture:—ln the year 1908 cars numbered from 1 to 309 were issued; in 1909, 310 to 14.161; in 1910, 14,162 to 34,900; in 1911, 34,901 to 88,900; in 912. 88.901 to 171,300; in 1913, 171,301 to 370,400; in 1914, 370,401 to 611,100; in 1915, 611.101 to 1,029,200; in 1916, 1,029,201 to 1.614,600; in 1917, 1,614,601 to 2.449,100; in 1918, 2,449,101 to 2,831,400. 1919: January 2,831,401; February, 2,933,000; March, 2,997,100; April, 3,067,700; May, 3,140,000; June, 3,210,800; July 3,277,851.

——While it is necessary to chain the wheel when a cart is left standing in the street, it has not hitherto bee®. ' deemed necessary to take precautions against a motor car running away. An incident of an unusual nature occurred on Friday afternoon in Parnell, which shows what may happen even with a horseless vehicle (says the Auckland Star). The driver of a ear alighted at the top of St. Stephen’s avenue to use the slot ’phone. Upon coming out of the box, he was astonished by the. fact that his car was missing. Examination showed the car further down the road. It had travelled down the slope, which ia smooth concrete, for several hundred yards, and crashed into tho verandah posts of a dressmaking establishment. The radiator and front portions of the car were damaged and the verandah was brought down. Flooded creeks at the foot of the hill below Orawia were giving motorists a good deal of trouble on March 28, and ,n the evening the road would doubtless be impassable to motor traffic (states the Southland News). One car owner who tried to get through on his own power found

tho water muoh deeper than it appeared. His engine stopped and the water entered the ear and had the mats floating. He had to procure a horse to pull him through two of the streams. Under

such conditions the humble “one-horse-power’ ’engine is not to be despised. ANTI-THEFT DEVICE. The latest invention for the prevention of car thieving is something entirely new and rather ingenious. It consists of a very powerful long-range hooter with a peculiar note. This hooter is secreted in the car, and put in or out of action by means of lock. It is claimed that the slightest vibration, movement, or shaking of the car —even the removal of a rug —will set the horn in action calling attention “to the public that something is wrong. Scotland Yard have expressed approval of the device. ASSISTANCE TO THE GOVERNMENT. The New Zealand Automobile Union has > offered its assistance to the Government in ! drafting or arranging proposed motor legislation so far as it relates to purely technical matters. In this respect it was following ; a well-established English precedent, where : experts on technical ouestions have been consulted before legislative matters have been submitted to Parliament. The advantage of this, of course, is obvious, and members of the union feel that it is much to be regretted that the Under-Secretary of Internal Affairs finds himself directed ; by the Minister to snv that such a proposal is “impossible” in New Zealand. i CHASSIS CONTRACT LOST TO BRITAIN. There is a general disappointment in the British motor trade, which is suffering from a “slump,” because a large order for motor car chassis required by the Government of India has gone to Italy. The order amounts to between 400 and 500 chassis, valued at approximately £IOO,OOO. They are ready for delivery, and "will be transported from Italy ; by the India Office in London. “The i chassis,” a Daily Mail reporter was in- i formed at the India Office, “are not new, j but reconditioned, being part of Italy’s sur- i plus war stores. They are of a type specially built for service in mountainous country during the war, and are particu- | larly suitable for the purpose for which they will be required in India.” The feature of the chassis, it is understood, is high toad clearance, and British manufacturers claim that they could have easily supplied chassis of this type had they been asked. One reason for placing the order with Italy was the favourable rate of exchange.

RELIABLE AEROPLANE ENGINES.

It is well known that “engine trouble” has been the most frequent source, of accidents and delays in aeroplane services, and that designers in all countries have vied with one another to make the aeroplane engine more and more reliable. Exhaustive tests made recently on a British aeroplane engine show how far at least one British firm has succeeded in this quest. This engine, which is of 450 brake horse power, was run continuously for 50 hours, and was subject to a further five hours’ trial for speed and power. During one hour it was run at a speed of 2300 revolutions per minute ; and for the remaining four hours it developed a considerably higher horse-power than the figure for which it was designed. For one hour its output was 532 horse-power at 2225 revolutions per minute. At the conclusion of these strenuous trials the engine was in perfect condition and ready for further service. RUSSIAN ORDERS FOR BRITAIN. In anticipation of the trade agreement between Great Britain and Russia many important contracts were signed for goods to the value of hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling. Among these contracts was one. for the repair of Russian railway rolling stock. TRADE ASSISTED RIDERS. How far are motor cycle traders justified in assisting contestants in the leading long distance road competitions? When one hears of firms spending the best part of £IOOO with a view of securing a win in an important event it takes one back nearly 20 years ago, when the same thing was done in cy.lce racing, and it was the root of the trouble that killed the game from a sporting point of view. As regards motor cycle competitions, in the opinion of the writer over support will as surely have a detrimental effect on that branch of sport as it had on bicycle racing. When the starters in a. big event comprise nearly half trade-assisted men who have their machines either loaned, tuned-up, get free tyres, free petrol, etc., it needs little imagination to realise what a handicap the genuine amateur contestant is up against. The value of such a policy is questionable, for riders are fully aware that certain firms spend lavishly to secure a win, thus discounting the value of their success, and at the same time giving rise to discontent in the mind of the genuine sport who owns his machine and pays all his own expenses of racing.

THE NECESSARY MAGNETO. Some interesting facts are coming to light in connection with the supply of magnetos prior to and in the early stages of the war. Three' months before the outbreak of hostilities Germany, which practically controlled, tho magneto trade of the world, stopped shipping supplies of magnetos to England, and shortly after the wav started held up deliveries by the Bosch Company in America, which firm drew up a legal document binding the purchaser under pain of enormous penalties not to transfer any magnetos to any of the Allies. Despite this embargo six other American firms supplied England with 147,000 magnetos. But for these England’s efforts wherever the automobile or aeroplane was in evidence would have been seriously hampered. So little wa3 the position appreciated in the beginning- that when Bord Kitchener was told by a member of his staff that the magneto was a really important thing, lie was both surprised and annoyed. He is reported to have replied, “Tell Rolls-Royce to make 10,000.” That was typical of the state of affairs in 1914. Eventually English manufacturers surmounted all difficulties, and were able to supply the most efficient magnetos in the world before the war was half through. This trade Is now doomed unless the British Government comes to its rescue with gome form of protection, as German magnetos are flooding tlie English market at £5 each wholesale, while the actual cost of production in England is about £l2 10s.

VANCOUVER MAIL SERVICE AUCKLAND, April 1. In a letter to the Chamber of Commerce replying to a suggestion that in the new contract for the mail service with Canada Auckland should be the terminal port instead of Sydney, the Prime Minister said that, although Australia did not contribute toward the subsidy, the passenger traffio between Vancouver and Sydney always exceeded that between Vancouver and Auckland. The cargo carried between Vancouver and Sydney was also considerable, and the value of the Australian business had been one factor weighing heavily with the company carrying the mail service. It was to be anticipated that if Auckland were made the terminal port many advantages would accrue to New Zealand merchants, who would be able to eater for the trade with Western Canada and Hawaii without competition by Australian shippers on the same vessels. Under such an arrangement it might be expedient to send the vessels south as far as Lyttelton, enabling cargo from that port, Wellington, and Auckland to be shipped at a flat rate for freight. Other contingencies that required consideration, Mr Massey said, would be dock accommodation and fuel oil for steamers of the Niagara class or of larger tonnage. Was Auckland equipped with tho necessary accommodation in these respects? He would be glad if the chamber would go into the whole matter and give him its opinion whether sufficient cargo could now be obtained from New Zealand and Vancouver to fill these vessels; also whether the transhipping of passengers at Auckland for Australia would have a detrimental effect on the passenger traffic now carried by these steamers. Tire letter was referred to the Shipping Committee of the Chamber of Commerce