THE PETROL TRAIL

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 74, 31 July 1929, Page 3

THE PETROL TRAIL

By "SPARK PLUG."

There are approximately 140,000 cars on the register in New Zealand* As the retail prices are about double those in the country of manufacture, the Dominion is easily second on the list as regards, per capita investment. ' < -00O00— ft is estimated that during the next five years 99,000 cars will be absorb, nearly 20,000 per annum in families, ha've two cars. The same tendency is growing in jSlow Zealand, ' in the big towtts, and this will; .have, the effect of keeping r.p car sales. ... So far, the saturation ; point is not in sight, v ' • --00000 Gar selling has its distinct seasons. There is a decided depression in the winter and sales usually do not reach 1000" per . month. However, the (spring sees a steady improvement culminaiting in from 2,700 to 2,800 sales /iuring December. Onee the ChristTinas and New Year holidays are over . a< slackness is apparent and the January j total is in the vicinity of 1 1,100, but a temporary rise in sales . ofteni takes, place just before East- ! er.".' v ' --ooOoo— . , iHiring the first five months of 1929 a total of 11,923 cars, chassis and commercial motor vehicles were imported into New Zealand, more than double during the same period of last 'yean There is every prospect of 1929 being a record yean- 105 car and truck sales. --00O00— > Like every other district, there are some shocking drivers in Taranaki, in fac% ft is i wonder how some people obtained' their licenses. From observzUtifk around* Stratford, the worst faults seem to be lugging the crow* of ,ihe road and failure to signal whett stopping and turning. Some local drivers would be pulled up with a round turn if they drove in one of 'the, cities as negligently as they do around about Stratford. —ooOoo— was when' the "six'' was only to fee seen in the hands of the wealthy. At ; all events, it is only comparatively recently that this type has j got into the hands of ordinary every- ; dajy" motorists j who use their cars as

much for utility as for pleasure. Whilst acknowledging the excellent work which has been done by certain firms who have embraced the six"cyhnder principle and have persistently stuck to it, one has to admit that* its r pre*seirt popularity, and, what is ipernajis- of more moment still, its assured future, Is- principably due to 1 performance. —ooOoo- : Ijß ia immaterial whether it is bocaueje' of his words or his" temperament, but the fact remains that the American car owner—and the New Zeajander too —is emphatically against changing gears except under conditions of emergency. Whether this is a case of 'can't' or 'won't' is of no Ooftsequence. The American oar designer has not bothered his head 5 with- such concerns. Realising the state of the market he has, for years, "plumped" for the six, accepting the principle that for a car that is to do practically everything "on top" a smaller number of cylinders is scarcely feasible. v ~00000 Two sleeping coaches of an entirely new design have just been placed in commission for service between Londol* aid Manchester. The dbaehes are built practically to the regulation maximum dimensions, having a wheejbase of 19ft IJins, with in overall length of 30ft and width of 7ft 6ins. The overall height is 18ft 9ins, slightly less than the average doubledecker covered-top bus. The land liners 'leave London at 10 a.m. and 11 'p.mv, and Manchester at 10 a.m>. and 10.30 p.m., the fares for day journeys being 12s 6d single and for night travel 15s 6d single, breakfast being included' in the latter price. For use as sleeping coaches, the cars -lare divided into seven distinct compartments, providing four four-berth, two two-berth, and one single berth saloon), thus carrying 21 passengers. For use in the daytime the berths are so Arranged that 44 pasensgers can be carried. Hot and cold water are provided in the kitchen as well as the 'larvatory. Ventilation is secured in the upper deck; by • Airvac ventilators, and all side windows are of the sliding type. A SOLUTION TO THE USED CAR PROBLEM, The frltives of the south west coast of Borneo, living in kampoengs in the valley of the Barito River, which empties into the Java Sea, 30 kilometers south of the city of Bondjermasin, have discovered a profitable way of disposing of thier used-up cars, according to the fieldman of j General Motors, Java. j These people, who ship considerable ' quantities of jungle products, rubber, ftimber; and coal from the interior to ihe coast, value the motor car c-n----ly by the amount they can load into

NOTES AND COMMENTS

it or an it, and peculiar as it may seem, they prefer a touring car for this purpose rather than a truck. From Bondjermasin there is a moderately good road for about 150 miles north to Tandjong and from there on it is possible to drive northward jto Pceroektjahoe, where- tho coal mines are, or northwest to Balikpapan, both about 200 miles beyond. Tlieso latter roads are very poor, j the mileage increasing much faster j than it is possible for the road department to take caro of. j It is hinted that sedans are nofc in ■ native favour gecause it is not posI siblo to load nto them all tho i freight the average oner thinks he should be able to carry. Notorious overloading, lack of oil, grease and mechanical attention in conjunction with continuous operation over every kind of road or trail, soon deteriorates the car so that to dispose of it, when it will run no longer, the native owner selects a camping. ground by the roadside and parks his wornout oar there. A hut is then built close to the ca<r and sometimes the car is roofed over. Then the owner proceeds to sell it piecemeal, living on the spot until it is completely dismantled and sold-r-a carburettor here, a tyre there.

Strange as it may seem, these people often make as much money by this strange method as they paid for the car in the> first place. Time is nothing to them, they cam afford to wait patiently until it is sold, after which they probably get another car and proceed to drive it into the scrap-heap with the same pleasurable thrills that a small boy gets with his first bicycle. It, in. turn, will eventually furnish the price of its successor. DESERT MAIL SERVICE. In the days of the Persian and Greek empires the Syrian Desert was a highway linking the • Mesopotamian and Mediterranean civilizations. Through the desert ran the ancient trade routes over which the East and the West exchanged their goods. .With the advent of sailing ships and for more than 2,000 years, thereafter, this vast waste of sand went untouched by the foot of man until the recent war and the years immediately following its close, when in 0.913 Norman and Gerald Nairn, two British officers, started a mail ■service with Cadillac cars between Bagdad and Damascus. The Nairn brothers had served in the Near East campaigns. (Their Desert Mail Service was looked upon as a whimsical stunt at first. It was a nonnstop dash—with the exception of one reliable basis at Rutba Wells—across 600 miles of. sand. From the very outset the ventur has been a success and now the Desert Mail opprates on schedule, and large saloon passenger coaches have been put in the service pioneered by the Cadillacs. The crossing takes 26 hours, and the trip is made in comparative safety.

The desert trail is perfectly smooth and hard in some places, but it is very rough and rutted over most ot the route. In some parts the tracks are overgrown with camelthom. There are several wadis to be crossed on the trip. These are dried-up water courses which in winter are streams emptying into the Euphrates. West of Rutba, about half-way across the sand route, there is a splendid stretch of about 300 miles of smooth, hard track. The large coaches cover this stfetch ait an average speed of about 40 miles- am hour, Travelling westward they are met about 150 miles east of Damascus by an armed Cadillac car, which escorts them through the more dangerous part of the stronghold of unfriendly desert tribes.

Ihe present desert service brings Bagdad within nine days of London, and within 48 hours of Port Said. At (Bagdad connections are made with the railway to Basra, on the Persian Gulf, and also to the Persian border. Thus Persia and Northern India are brought to Europe and America.

The typical trans-desert list includes rug buyers for New York department stores, American and British tourists and wives of British army officers. '•> ' - .; : ~ ITALY'S MOTOR PRODUCTION INCREASES. Estimated output of motor cars in Italy last yeur'is 67,000 as against about 60,000 in 1927, but whereas more than !ha<lf (were exported! in 1927, the proportion was considerably less than, half in 1928, numbering 28,280 against 33,312 a decline of 15 per cent. Safes to Germany increased to 4,907 from 2,889, and to France 4,048 from 2,908 but those to Great j Britain fell to 1,639 from 5,312. j Last year produced no new mod'els, except the Fiat 525, priced at £4BO to £SOO, according to type of body but this model recently Jiasi been withdrawn. Generally speaking ) there were not price changes,