THE WHEEL AND THE ROAD.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13091, 3 June 1913, Page 2

THE WHEEL AND THE ROAD.

At the meeting of the tnstitoktiftr' bf 'ft Automobile Engineers, Colonel' CromjM ton, the engineer to the Road' Bbard, ,_read a , highly : instr.uc.tive; paper APJX& f ,the mutual relationship of the wheel" and the road. At~t he outset (says neering) he emphasised the. uhfairjaeßß;.; of the demand sometimes made to "theeffect that mechanically-propelled vehicles should be subjected to special ; . taxation. Such a tax •on transport '.' would, he , said, . retai'd ' .progress; and was unjustified in view of ' tne linerely temporary character of the'- existing drawbacks to motor traffic, In ■ the meantime, Coldnel Crompto^ reuggeste^-k! that much might be done to reduce .wear *"; by the' adoption of larger 'wheels,-. Mapy » commercial motor vehicles, he said,, had. ,\ steel wheels generally 40in to Alip-iiiVi diameter, and such wheels injure ;'tJ_B* f roads Very much more than. ..ruhher.. .' tyred wheels of the same size. In fact, to be equivalent, to a. rubbery red wheel Colonel Croniptbn said tliat a steeltyred wheel ,, be att-least three times as much in diameter. . The drawback to the use* "6'f lai'^e '..teel-tjwß'd wheels, lay, he proceeded,* in th^lr weight and in the difficulties tjiey (jcca*. sioned in loading and unloading a;> waggon, '?.'- Where, however, long -»joub- * neys were taken, lie thought that this latter inconvenience was ! pf, small' • importance compared with the reduction';"' the adoption of such -vyheels woidd make, in the wear and' tear of the roads.