MOTORDOM

Southland Times, Issue 20201, 11 June 1927, Page 16 (Supplement)

MOTORDOM

NOTES AND NEWS

LIFE OF TYRES. INVENTION THAT MAY PROLONG IT. London, April 20. Prolongation of the life of rubber products may be made possible through a discovery by Dr. Charles Moureu, Professor of the College of France. Through a chemical product, which he calls “anti-oxygene,” Professor Moureu claims he can neutralise the destructive effects of oxygen on rubber. He admits he has not. yet solved the problem of commercial application of the discovery. When the latter problem is solved, it is possible that balloon tyres of the future, treated with the application, will stand many times as much wear as they do •at present, thus reducing the demand for crude LEAKS IN FUEL TANKS. It is most annoying when on a long trip to have a leak in the petrol tank suddenly sprung upon one, and miles from a garage or repair shop. The best temporary plug is one of common yellow soap, and as this serves also for the purpose of cleaning, a small piece should always be carried in the tool box. If on a very long expedition, an air-tight tin canister should be carried containing a putty composed of 95 per cent, clay, 3 per cent, lime, 0.60 per cent, magnesia, and 1.40 per cent, sulphuric acid. This would be more reliable, as the repair so effected is good for months. This was the material used by the French forces in the Great War for closing rents in fuel tanks on all their motor vehicles. TELLING TALES. PERFORMANCE RECORDED. Sydney, May 2d. Every day sees the advent of some accessory designed to make motoring more pleasant for the driver. The number of accessories obtainable is legion and all of them perform some valuable service. A new accessory that is interesting is an instrument that automatically records the performances of the car. It shows the pulling power of the car, the pull exerted being expressed either by the grade that the car can climb steadily or by the actual pull in pounds which is being exerted. In this instrument the indications of the pull exerted by the car are correct under all conditions. When the car is in good order and travelling at any speed the pull reading of that speed will show what the performance of the car is. If at some future date the reading secured at that

speed is lower it indicates that the performance of the car is lower, and it is time for the driver to have a look over the car to see what is the cause of the lowered performance. MOTOR MASCOTS. FREAK DOLLS REMAIN SUPREME. Melbourne, May 21. From a woman’s viewpoint, the dominant feature of motor cars this year is that the closed ones are not complete unless they have a doll swinging, in careless fashion, against the back w’indows. Al kinds of queer, freak dolls have made their debut, bobbing up and down grotesquely, as if in derision at the cars following behind. They are confined strictly to the back window. One smart young Melbourne matron snaps her fingers at superstition and has actually installed a bunch of peacock’s feathers in the place of honour. Most popular among the mascots are Lenci doUs. Their aim is to be smart and not necessarily to be beautiful. Their links are loosely-jointed, and their faces made of painted cloth. These bibelots, imported from Europe, are apt to be expensive. A young salesman at the Motor Show has made a hobby of fashioning these dolls. In a limousine on his stand there is a Lenci doll dressed in rose pink taffeta, which he has made with infinite care. The little pink and white face is handpainted and correct in every detail. Her smart, shingled hair is of yellow floss silk. Tiny feet in smart little shoes peep out from the modified mid-Victorian crinoline skirt. The young man has even trimmed her dress with tiny roses made of ribbon. He gained most of his ideas for this unusual hobby while on a recent visit to an arts exhibition in Paris. Another very beautiful mascot on the same car is a nickel model of a swallow in headlong flight, perched on the radiator. It w r as cast by the famous Frenchman, Bazin, and was brought from the Automobile Salon in Paris specially for the Melbourne Motor Show.

“ TRAVEL AT HOME.” DEMAND BY AMERICANS. The American Travel Development Association is calling upon Congress to create a five million dollar advertising and publicity fund for the purpose of what is termed “selling America to Americans.” Congress, it is maintained, should be as much concerned in Americans making use of their own national parks, forests, and other playgrounds, as it is in the “welfare of travel abroad.” The advantages of travel abroad cannot be too strongly stressed, but the Development Association has right on its side nevertheless. America is just as selfcentred and narrow in its outlook as are England or New Zealand, but the people of a country should know the beauty and enjoy the privileges within their own bounds, the more cheaply the better, if they can. Few people are able to go abroad oftener than once in a lifetime, and most people not at all. For the outside world they are dependent on books and other indirect means of enlightenment, but their own country should be readily accessible to them. There is a very real claim on any Government to cater to the utmost for its own citizens in this matter of “travel at home.”

Says an English motoring journal: “Under the Motor Car Act of 1903, where the magistrates find a motor driver guilty of an offence under that Act they may disqualify him from holding a license, according to the words of the Act, for such a time as the Court thinks fit. There have been one or two cases lately in which the offender has been disqualified from holding a license for the remainder of his life. Was such a period of disqualification contemplated when the Act came into force? The words of the Act would seem to indicate that a time certain is intended, and not an indefinite period such as the length of a human life. Fortunately, however, under the provisions of section 40 of the Criminal Justice Act of 1925 such a disqualification is now open to revision, so that it is unlikely that any serious miscarriage of justice will occur.”—Under the New Zealand law no revision of disqualification appears to be possible excepting on appeal to the Supreme Court, notice of which appeal must, be lodged within seven days of disqualification.

THE MOTOR CAR. ADVANCEMENT ON ORIGINAL DESIGN. For all practical purposes, so far as broad design and principles are concerned, the motor car has not advanced materially from the original design which the late M. Levassor gave us more than 30 years ago. We have the same broad design in all its salient features; the vertical engine in front, a reducing gear behind it and the power transferred through a differential to the rear wheels, which are driven, the steering being done by those in front. It is true that some important detail developments have taken place. The carden shaft has replaced the chains and the differential is in the back axle, whilst we now have a radiator in front of the engine and braking on all four wheels. But the broad principles of the car remain the same. Unmechanical, as engineershave always admitted it to be, it speaks much for the practicality of the design that it should have retained its popularity so long. Is this, however, to be the final design? It would at first sight almost appear to be so, and vested interests, conventional ideas and conservatism are important factors, so that new developments must and always will have an uphill fight to gain footing in public acceptation. VICTORIAN MOTOR SHOW. MANY NEW CARS EXHIBITED. Melbourne, May 14. The third International Motor Show held in Victoria opened its doors last Thursday at the Exhibition Building, Melbourne, and the great interest taken by the public in motor transport was evident by the crowd which attended the opening for the first glimpse of the newest creations in the automotive manufacturer’s art. A rich treat awaited them. More than 350 models of complete passenger cars are on display, over sixty models of commercial vehicles, motor cycles, etc., representing the leading manufacturers of the world. The accessory section of the show is presenting its usual array of new or improved devices designed to make the car more efficient or more comfortable. Passenger car models are again the chief centre of interest, however, as in the past. An unusual number of new designs are making their first appearance. Completely new chassis already have been announced by several exhibitors, while some considerable revision of current models has been made by almost every producer. The motor show is really a great institution. Show influence goes far beyond the results immediately obtained, and the time is long past when the exhibitors depended in any way upon actual show orders to put them on their feet. Attendance, popular judgment on new offerings, public utterances during the week of the show, however, as well as newspaper comment and advertising, taken all together, go to form a weight of public opinion about the automobile industry that is not to be taken lightly. KEEP THE WINDSHIELD CLEAR.

The obscuring ”f the windshield by drops water during a shower makes driving a dangerous pastime, and gives the driver a feeling of anxiety and almost helplessness. Of course, when an automatic windshield cleaner is a part of his equipment, a storm holds no terrors for him. The hand type cleaners are also effective, but due to the fact thajt tljey must be moved back and forth every few minutes, many motorists are inclined to take their chances with the storm rather than be inconvenienced by their use. Though there are a number of mixtures and cloths on the market which are very effective, many motorists prefer to make their own. These mixtures prevent the formation of water globules on the glass, the rain-drops tending to spread and run in a thin even layer over the glass surface. One of the easiest mixtures to make consists of equal parts of kerosene and glycerine, which is applied with a soft cloth to the windshield. Alcohol and glycerine mixed together, also in equal parts, will also be found to be very effective When such mixtures stand for any length of time, however, emulsions are liable to separate, but a thorough shaking will again produce a homogeneous mixture. A cleaner, which is very effective, and is often a part of the driver’s personal equipment, is ordinary plug tobacco. One side is sliced a trifle so that a fresh leaf is exposed. This should be rubbed up and down on the glass—and if the operation is repeated until the entire surface has been thoroughly gone over, the glass will be covered with a thin, and perfectly transparent, film of oil, allowing the water to run off like water on a duck’s back. A 1000 MILE SPEED TRIAL. In most European countries automobile racing from town to town is impossible, but in Italy it is still authorised, as is shown by the recent thousand miles speed trials, organised by the Automobile Club of Brescia, in which sixty-eight competitiors started and fifty-one finished. Starting from Brescia, the cars ran across the Appenine Mountains to Florence and Rome, back over the mountains and across the Venetian plains to Brescia. Six classes were provided for, starting from 1100 c.c., up to 8000 c.c. The fastest of the competitors was an O.M. in the 2000 c.c. class, which covered the thousand miles in 21h. 4m. 48s, an average of 47.9 miles per hour. In the highest car class an eight-cylinder Isotta Fraschini came home first at an average of 45.9 miles. A Fiat, won in the 5000 c.c. class, with an average of 40.6 miles. In the 3000 c.c. class a Lancia finished first at an average of 46A miles. In the. 1500 c.c. class a Bugatti was first at an average of 43.4 miles. In the 1100 c.c. class a Fiat won with an average of 41 j miles. NEVER OVERDRIVE SMALL CARS. Now that British makers of small cars have taken to quantity production 100 vehicles may vary little when they leave the factory. But after six months service what a difference in these 100 motor cars. The life of modern low-powered family cars differ to an extraordinary extent. Some are finished after 40.000 miles service, or less, others are still going strong after 70,000 miles. Neglect is often the cause of rapid decay, especially neglect of lubrication, but the most frequent cause of deterioration in the small car is over-driving. It is that constant driving at or near maximum speed that shortens the life of a small engine.

With a high-powered car it is impossible, except on rare occasions, to drive on full throttle; consequently the engine is rarely stressed. If small car owners were content to drive well within the maximum speed of their engines, 40 miles When the maximum is 50, and 35 miles when the maximum is 45, they would find that their cars would have very nearly as long a life as the more expensive big ones*

SELLING A CAR. HOW IT IS DONE. ENTHUSIASM NEEDED. How easy it is to buy a car, or to feel like buying a car, most people in Christchurch know. Do they ever pause to think of the other side to the transaction the seller and his methods, asks the motor editor of the Lyttelton Times. The business of selling cars is a business for young men. Most of them honestly believe that the cars that they are selling are actually the best of the many that can be bought. They have been brought up in this faith. Being thoroughly convinced of the genuineness of their beliefs, they are able to give personal force to their selling arguments. SELLING TO WOMEN. In their spare time they study the foibles and fancies of man and womankind. For instance, if a married couple comes to inquire about a car, a good salesman immediately sees which of the pair will decide the purchase. If it is the woman, as it is said to be in quite a number of cases, the salesman points out the comforts, colour design, and various trifles which appeal to ladies. Mechanical details are mentioned only when questions are asked. All the average woman wants to know is whether the car is easy to drive, and that is a very simple question for any salesman to answer. Selling a car to a man is a very different proposition. If he is accompanied by his wife or a lady friend, the salesman knows that a long description of the most intricate parts of the mechanism will be welcomed. MEN’S SUPERIOR AIRS. Men relish the air of superiority which is given to them as they listen, while their lady friends stand by and marvel at their understanding of the inside doings of an engine. Salesmen are generally well read men, especially regarding their own particular goods. They know all the points which raise their car above its competitors, even to a 2000th part of an inch in some instances. Every little detail counts. The lamps, the wheel base, durability, mileage, power, braking and a host of other details are never omitted in the sales arguments used by them. Every inquiry means a sale eventually if the inquirer is handled rightly. DIFFERENT TYPES OF BUYERS. City people are quite easy for the average salesman. They make up their minds quickly, and no time is wasted. The visitor from the country is different. A huge congregation of cars, such as are seen at a motor show, and their accompanying virtues described by car salesmen usually leaves him bewildered. In many instances be does not make his purchase, but excuses himself from taking any definite step until he has been home and discussed it with the wife. His name and address are all the salesman wants. When he gets back home to the farm the horn of the local motor agent’s car will be heard, reminding him of his visit to this year’s show. What are the qualities which made for success ? Attempts have been made to discover the physical characteristics of the best types of salesmen. An American survey revealed that best results were got by men sft 9in. to sft lOin. high, 10 to 12 stone in weight, from 31 to 40 years of age, with three to six years’ experience. Notable exceptions to all these standards falsify them. But few have gained results without the three fundamentals of knowledge of the product, hard work and enthusiasm. TOURIST ROADS. A STRIKING LESSON. A short article some time ago gave particulars of the improved road access the Americans have given to Yosemite Valley, the great national “playground.” What this has meant is revealed in the traffic returns of the later portion of the winter season. In February 4340 cars, with 16,323 visitors, entered the park over the new “all the year” road, compared with six cars and 19 passengers in February last year. For five months commencing last October 12,870 motor vehicles entered Yosemite with 43,344 visitors, compared with 325 vehicles and 875 passengers in the corresponding period a year before. This is striking testimony to the value of good road communication as it affects tourist traffic, and provides a lesson that New Zealand should take to heart. Something might be done in the nature of providing roads by loans repayable from tourist traffic itself.

THAT KNOCKING. HOW FUEL AFFECTS IT. FEED THE ENGINE WISELY. Motorists are beginning to make headway in the quarter-century struggle against carbon and its particular knock. Better engines, and now better motor fuels, are lending support in the car-owners’ favour, but of outstanding importance is the growing determination to strip the carbon knock of its weapons of self-defence by turning on the searchlight of knowledge. To thousands of modern drivers the knock is no longer a puzzle, but rather a simple result of equally simple conditions. Incidentally, it is well to explain that carbon knocks do not develop in the way many motorists believe. To the inexperienced, carbon is pictured as a lot of black substance which chokes an engine to a point where its valves and pistons are thrown out of gear. A bad knock can arise from an engine having perfect operating valves and pistons, so long as there is just a little too much carbon deposited somewhere within the firing chamber. This carbon simply takes up space that should be occupied by compressed gas, which is the same as saying that the more carbon there is in the firing chamber, the higher the compression ratio. The principle of the typical “no-knock” fuel is that it permits quiet and easy operation of an engine whose firing chambers have been reduced in size through an accumulation of carbon. Gases tend to fire, or “go off,” of their own accord under compression, so it is readily appreciated that, if ordinary gas is compressed to a point higher than that originally intended for the engine, it is bound to offer what the engineers call “detonation,” which is the technical term to describe the “ping” of a burning gas in too rapid combustion. STUDYING CARBON ACTION. Motorists are reaching a better understanding of what happens in the engine cylinders, and, in America, the introduction of many new kinds of fuels and fuel dope is offering an excellent opportunity to study the subject of carbon in its relation to engine action. Many are discovering why it is that the same engine, operating with the same kind of fuel, will knock worse one time than another. They have found the answer as well to the apparent conundrum as to why a newer, better engine will often knock worse than an old one in which there is an even greater accumulation of carbon.

If the spark is not set too far ahead, and acceleration is not too unreasonable, a cold engine may “ping” quite a bit when stepping on the gas, provided it has too much carbon in it. Another engine with more carbon may not “ping” at all under similar conditions. Why the knocking in one case and not in the other? The answer is simple enough when individual conditions are considered. One engine may be new and tight fitting, with the result that its normal compression is high, even when cold. The carbon within its firing chambers raises compression to a point where a large volume of gas, as in accelerating, will break into detonations, whether the engine be cold or not. In the other case there is considerable leakage of normal compression when the engine is cold, with the result that the carbon actually serves to make the engine operate better in starting by raising the compression to a good normal. This older, or perhaps inferior, engine will commence to knock as the parts warm up and compression is held against leakage. If the newer, better engine is properly adjusted it should not knock much more after being in operation a short time unless it commences to heat up on a hill. Then the carbon within its cylinders becomes incandescent, thereby acting as an advance spark plug to pre-ignite the incoming gases before they are fully compressed. This causes a back action on the piston, and the most familiar type of carbon knock. KNOCKING PECULIARITIES. Motorists are also finding that even the hot engine offers various avenues of possibility to the knock line. If exhaust valves happen to be provided with too little tappet clearance they may not shut fully when supposed to be closed, with the result that compression will be lost on a hill. An engine that is in otherwise good condition and that has been running cool may surprise its owner by knocking less under such conditions than when cool. Many old engines do not “ping” like newer ones because their pistons and rings leak badly and because there is sufficient oil pumping to keep carbon deposits softer, and, therefore, less prone to pre-ignite. Of course, this is more or less of a temporary condition and nothing to be desired, since the great loss of power through such inefficiency renders it necessary to have the engine overhauled. From such apparent inefficiency, however, engineers have developed a type of accessory that will keep carbon from being such an annoying imitator of the spark plugs. There are devices to permit the engine to suck in an oil or water vapour. These are designed to give that “rainy day” action of the engine and to keep carbon deposits soft. The best plan in fighting carbon is to use a no-knock fuel, such as a mixture of petrol and benzol. Carbon is the result of the carbonising of unburned and unexhausted hydro-carbons in petroleum fuel, plus dirt and the residue from burned engine oil that pumps past the pistons. The hydro-carbons that are not combustible present the big nuisance, and this condition is greatly increased when the gas preignites. Starting with an anti-knock fuel, therefore, postpones the time when there will be pre-ignition through excessive compression or the incandescent conditions of the carbon deposits and, in addition, continued use of an anti-knock fuel serves to provide a gas which will operate without detonating in cylinders choked with carbon. The anti-knock fuel simply changes the rate of combustion to meet the abnormal engine conditions.

FOOL-PROOF GEAR BOX. CHANGING AUTOMATIC. Interesting news comes from England to the effect that the Vauxhall Motor Co. is experimenting with a foolproof gearbox which is designed to make gear changing practically automatic, even in the hands of an unskilled driver. In a recent issue of the Autocar this new gearbox, which is now being tested on a number of experimental cars, is described as follows—- “ There is the usual clutch pedal Vauxhall control, but in place of the gear lever, a small lever, similar to that used for ignition and on the steering wheel, works over a miniature quadrant having notches corresponding to the four gears and to neutral. “All the driver has to do is to put the lever on the steering wheel in first speed, then take out and let in the clutch, accelerating the engine sufficiently to move the car from rest as usual. “The movement of the clutch pedal brings the gear into engagement. It follows from this that if a car is coming to a corner at top speed, or if it is known that a hill is being approached, all the driver has to do is to put the small lever in the third speed notch or the second speed notch, as the case may be, without touching the clutch pedal, when the car will continue to top speed until the exact moment when a change is required. At that point the act of declutching and letting the clutch in again brings the selected gear into use. “In the same way, when the car has moved off on its first speed, the gear lever may be placed in the second speed notch long before second is required.” In America they have had automatic speed changing devices designed along these general lines, but the complicated construction and other faults have prevented their adoption. It may be that the English device has avoided the troubles that have always been inherent in this type of unit, and it will be interesting to await J the result of the Vauxhall experiment*

FIRST AID IN ACCIDENTS. MOTORISTS SHOULD KNOW HOW TO HELP. In these days of highway accidents, avoidable and unavoidable, it is incumbent on every motorist (says a writer in the Motor) to have with him when travelling with his car or motor cycle some simple provision for carrying out efficient first aid and also learning how to apply the same adequately until skilled assistance can be secured, for one feels peculiarly helpless if stranded at the other end of nowhere with an injured person and nothing whatever but a handkerchief and some oily rags to apply as dressings. Boracic lint is easily procured, and makes a good dressing for cuts or abrasions. If tiny sort of dwelling is at hand where boiling water may be had, wash these injuries well with water which has been boiled (not boiling at the time it is used, of course, but just as hot as can be comfortably borne), then dab on tincture of iodine and apply a double thickness of the boracic lint, smooth side against the injured skin. Lint has a smooth surface and a fluffy surface, and if the latter is applied to a raw or bleeding wound it sticks most unpleasantly. On the top of the lint put a pad of surgeons’ white absorbent cottonwool and secure the whole comfortably with some form of bandage. The lint should be applied dry. Here there are four items for the first-aid box which will constantly be found useful, not only when you or somebody else is involved in a road accident, but if a finger is gashed or squeezed in some portion of the car’s works or one of the countless little every-day mishaps occur:— (1) Boracic lint, coloured pink. (2) Tincture of iodine (in ampules or other convenient system of putting up for travelling). (3) Surgeons’ absorbent white cottonwool. (4) Bandages in roller form —1-inch, 2-inch, and 3-inch wide. A couple of the handkerchief bandages of the St. John Ambulance type should also be included, and a pair of surgeons’ dressing scissors and some safety pins. A reel of adhesive strapping is sometimes very useful for fixing dressings of dry boracic lint on cuts, etc., on the face where a bandage is awkward to apply. It should be borne in mind by all who give first-aid in road accidents that one of the great dangers from injuries where road grit, mud, dust, etc., enter a wound, is that of infection by tetanus (lock-jaw) germs, which are often present in road debris. Hence thorough cleansing of such wounds by sterilised (boiled) water, to which some mild disinfectant, such as boracic powder, has been added, and the application of iodine as a temporary measure, may save the victim from very serious after-results from some apparently trifling scrape or superficial cut.

AVOID SPEED. SOME HINTS FOR SAFETY. As fearsome —and as fanciful as the “bogey man” of their childhood is the winter driving dread which obsesses many motorists (says an American journal). But operating an automobile on ice and snow can be made comparatively safe, if one is willing to observe a few rules. One of the first things to remember in winter driving is not to drive as fast as you are accustomed to drive in fair weather. With the ice and snow under the wheels, you cannot stop your car as quickly as on dry pavement or gravel, even though the wheels are fitted with chains and the brakes are in good working order. Fast driving is the cause of most winter accidents. The cause of many a mishap is the attempt to get the wheels out of an ice rut when the car is travelling at a fast pace. To do this is obviously dangerous. The safe way to get out of a rut is to stop the car first. Not only is this safe, but it saves your tyres from being cut and bruised by the sharp ice. Drivihg down a slippery grade is a problem that bothers many motorists. When doing this, do not disengage the clutch. Keep the brake on and shift into first or second speed. If you skid, turn the wheels in the same direction in which the skid occurs, but never under any circumstances turn the wheels clear over. If you do this you may check the force of the skid so suddenly that the car is thrown over. If you are unable to get traction, a few old burlap bags, or a box of sand and some rope may be useful in setting you going again. COMMERCIAL VEHICLES. As a result of the greatly increased taxation on almost every class of commercial vehicle, an additional and almost overwhelmingly heavy burden has been imposed upon all those concerned in road transport; consequently it is essential to study methods by which this can be reduced without impairing general efficiency. Much success will probably be attained, says The Commercial Motor, in connection with the lightening of vehicles, so that the factor of weight to useful load can be reduced sufficiently to bring the vehicles at present in certain categories into those immediately below them, but great caution must be exercised in designing to weight limitation, for there is always a danger that too long a step may be taken and the factor of safety reduced to an unsatisfactory degree.

As a result of the increased taxation, there is a tendency towards using vehicles of moderate capacity and overloading them. We cannot say too much in depreciation of this practice. In such cases, the owner is liable to cancellation of the guarantee, and although most chassis are designed to bear an occasional overload, yet the margin cannot be great and, if exceeded, even on one occasion only, every part of the vehicle may be severely strained. What then can be done to lower the cost per ton-mile? Apparently the most satisfactory answer to this question is to employ trailers. By the use of the trailer, the load capacity of the complete outfit can be increased by from 50 to 75 per cent., and the additional cost due to increased consumption of fuel and oil, extra tyre wear and maintentnee charges do not rise to anything like the same degree. SUNBEAM-SEGRAVE FILM. The world’s speed record of 203 miles per hour, achieved by a twin-engined Sunbeam car driven by Major H. O. D. Segrave on Daytona Beach, and which was the sub-ject-matter of a carton in “Punch” concerning this British demonstration in the land of hustle, has been filmed by the Pathe firm under the title, “Speed: The Search for the Ultimate.” No doubt it will be released for New Zealand in due course. LEVEL CROSSINGS. An Adelaide jury lately awarded £1447 damages to the widow and children of a man who was killed at the Richmond railway crossing in February, 1925. It is considered that the verdict may have farreaching effects on the future policy of the South Australian Railway Department in regard to safety devices at level crossings, and the speed at which trains shall be driven at such crossings. The jury stated that there was negligence on the part of railway officials in failing to keep a look-out, in failing to give an effective whistle, and in not providing a warning device at the approach to the crossing, which, it was considered, was approached at excessive speed by the engine. The jury added a rider, that the Railway Commissioners should provide an up-to-date warning device at crossings. No such damages, presumably, could be secured in New Zealand as the onus is all on the motorist, and it is an offence for him to be on a crossing when an approaching train is within half an mile of it. That at many crossings there is no possibility whatsoever of discovering whether a train •is within half a mile or not makes no difference to the road user’s liability,

SAFETY FIRST. CARE IN DRIVING. CONTROL OF THE MACHINE. Keep your foot on the clutch despite what experts tell you to the contrary. If the traffic is great, keep your foot on the clutch. Don’t take unnecessary chances on the highway or in the street; glide over the bumps, thus saving your machinery’; and don’t forget your brake. Caution is the first law of good sense, when it has to do with forty horse-power. Approaching an intersection, remember clutch and brake. Youths make daring drivers. They go rapidly and easily, with fearless abandon and nonchalance. But they have an undue share of accidents, because they don’t think enough of clutch and brake. DON’T GO TOO FAST. Oh, yes! there are disasters through confusion and through timidity; but they are not the disasters of the young driver. Ninetenths of the wrecks come from going too fast. A good driver will keep control of his machine at all times. He can stop quickly but without a shock. He can go slow, as he must when others might be endangered by his fast driving, but can step on the gas and leap ahead when there is opportunity. The person who controls his [lower all the time is the one who has the opportunities, which in the heavy traffic of life are fleeting and momentary. THE WISE MAN KNOWS. The man who has learned is the one who knows, and the one who knows Is the one who has opportunities. When one is in no position to take advantage, it is not an opportunity for him. Therefore the disciplining of the mental powers is the putting of hand and foot on the various controls of life. Many lives are wrecked by even a momentary loss of control. It is quite the custom to blame some other driver. It is possible for an automobile to be wrecked by the carelessness of some other man than the one driving it, and for a life to be ruined by the fault of another; but it is exceedingly rare. When such a calamity occurs it is to one who has lost control of his machine, if but for a moment. Keep your foot on the clutch!