TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 20523, 27 June 1928, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Paris will be a city of 8,000,000 people in less than half a century at the present rate of growth, according to a former prefect of police in an address delivered at the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. Already many individuals are clamouring for expansion beyond the old fortified walls, calling for a “Greater Paris.” London—speaking in terms of so many millions —advances from 4.5 to 7.7 when the area called Greater London is considered. There are advocates pressing to-day for New York to move from the figure of 5.6 to 10 by becoming “Greater New York” and encroaching on Westchester and New Jersey territory. Paris, therefore, is likely before long to follow suit and move from its 2.9 millions perhaps to 5. Disregarding the “greater” cities, the order now is New York first, followed by London, Berlin, Paris, Chicago, Tokio, Osaka (recently artifically promoted by the union of two cities), and Vienna.

M. and Mme. Pieton have arrived in Paris. There is not a shadow of a doubt but what they will figure before long in a novel or be drawn into a skit on the stage, for they are already famous. M. Pieton and Madame may be curiously enough at one moment short and at another tall. One day he may wear a moustache and the next day none, or vice versa. And she may have her hair bobbed one day and long the next. Extraordinary people, but very nice people. M. and Mme. Pieton are, in fact, always most courteous and obliging. Why their arrival is so conspicuous is that the traffic department of this great metropolis has seen fit to issue a whole new list of regulations simply for them. They have—that is the Pietons—very likely come from the country, and for their convenience the new traffic orders advise them the roads are for automobiles and the sidewalks for them. They are informed there are certain places only where they may cross the street, and they are cautioned never on any account to ask a policeman on point duty where even the opera or any other place is. Always remembering these new instructions were invented in the interest of M. and Mme. Pieton, they still seem so unusual as to have attracted no end of attention. But the game is up: “pieton” is the French for “pedestrian,” and these are the new “jaywalking” ordinances which have just gone into effect. They have attracted much comment and the “gentleman and lady pedestrian” are referred to as “Monsieur et Madame Pieton.”

In countries where the price of petrol stands at a high figure, the development of vehicles designed to run on alternative fuels offers a rich reward for enterprise, says Engineering. The potentialities of the situation have not been negelected on the Continent, where Germany and Italy are rapidly developing vehicles designed to run on heavy fuels, while in France and Belgium, the producer-gas vehicle is receiving very careful consideration. In France, in particular, there are not less than a dozen firms who can offer products that have long passed the experimental stage. To some extent, this is probably due to the fact that France possesses a home market for producer plants, due partly to the high price of the lighter fuels, and partly to the fact that producer-driven vehicles enjoy very substantial advantages in respect of taxation. In addition, a live interest is shown in the development of such vehicles by the Government, annual trials being held by the French military authorities. As regards Belgium, there are at least three firms who are producing regularly, and the products of one of these, at any rate, have proved successful in the Belgian Congo. At the present time British models are available to burn either coke or raw wood, and such tests as have been published on both types indicate that they are comparable in performance with the Continental producers. It appears to have been definitely established that fuel costs are markedly lower when running on producer gas than on petrol at less than 1/- a gallon, whether the fuel used in the producer be anthracite, coke or charcoal. Fuel costs, however, are by no means a predominant item .in the total running charges of a vehicle, and the inconveniences associated with producers must be counted against their economic advantages.