GENERAL ITEMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 March 1924, Page 14

GENERAL ITEMS.

For every mile of public road in the United States there are 4.61 automobiles.

May: How did you chance to meet your second husband ?

Mary.: Oh, just by accident. He ran over my first husband with his car.

The road from the Keys to Lake Te Anau, in the South Island, which has been a terror to tourists, is to have £3OOO spent on it by the local authority.

Of motoring accidents, says an evening journal. 35 per cent, are' caused by mechanical defects, and 70 per cent, by careless driving. And not a few, apparently, by inaccurate mathematicians!

King George’s chauffeur never knows where he is to drive until His Majesty is actually seated in the car. This is a continuance of the rule which cam e into force when Queen Victoria ascended the throne.

The latest Ford joke relates to Mr. Henry Ford’s indifference towards his suggested candidature for the U.S.A. Presidency, and is to the effect that his resolve for the New Year is to have an ‘•unpresidented” output.

In 1923 Great Britain had at least 1.000,000 motors running and registered on her roads for the first time in history. Actually at August 81, 1»28, there

was a total of 1,131,565 motor vehicles licensed. These contributed £12,195,167 to the Treasury, as against a total of 975,973 vehicles registered on August 31, 1912, which paid £10,389,638.

The popular belief to the effect that bull-fighting is the sport followed in Spain from sunrise to sunset is gradually being destroyed by news that is reaching the outside world in regard to Spain’s keen interest in automobile racing. A group of Spanish sportsmen recently built a modern speedway at Sitges about 50 kilometres from Barcelona. On October 28 the track was officially opened amid great enthusiasm and interest.

The number of forms of vibration on a motor car are legion. Some of them can be eliminated; others can only be lessened; most of them are unpleasant, and some are destructive. If vibration could be eliminated entirely, th e car’s life would be considerably lengthened. To dream of such a thing, however, would be like chasing rainbows —interesting, perhaps, but with no chance of success. The object, then, of both the designer and the user, is to keep unnecessary vibrations on the black list.

“What river is that?” P a question which comes to the mind of the motor tourist frequently on his journeys, but rarely does he find an answer without making a special stop to inquire. It is the aim of the League of American Pen Women to make the nation’s rivers better known to the public. Mrs. Grace Goldert. president of this association, is requesting the various State highway commissions to place markers at roadsides which cross famous streams informing the public as to the name of the body of water at hand.

'Further information is to hand regarding the terrific speeds said to have been established by Wolverton, riding a four-cylinder Ace motor-cycle at Philadelphia, U.S.A., on November 20. According. to an American contemporary, Wolverton’s speeds over a measured course of a tenth of a mile (not .30 miles, as previously stated) were 128.65 m.p.h. with side-car. It w r as with difficulty that the passenger kept his seat, and had to cling to a rope to keep from being blown out backwards. Wolverton himself did not apparently have a very happy time, for, as our contemporary picturesquely puts it, “The wind pressure tore the air from his lungs and choked him. But that slim lad from Illinois was game.” The balance-sheets published by 27 of the principal British motor-vehicle manufacturing firms disclose that the total profits amount to £98,230, and the total losses to £334,■352. But as the trading periods do not exactly represent the year 1923 it is difficult to state whether the total profits are less or greater than the total losses. One bad sign, however, can be recognised in that a large number of English motormechanics have during the past year entered French automobile works. At the Peugeot works alone there ar e 300 of these British craftsmen, and at the end of the year this firm were offering to accept as many more. The .Schneider firm had 150 English mechanics early in the year, and are now asking for a further 150, while other French and Belgian firms are similarly seeking to persuade British workmen to serve in their factories.