TRAMS OR MOTORBUSES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143784, 7 May 1912, Page 2

TRAMS OR MOTORBUSES.

Like Mr. Bewley, wo, too, are seekers after truth—-have, in fact, been reading up the subject of tramways and motorbuses for the last two years. But we do not expect to find the weaknesses of the raotorbus exposed in a motor journal, not vet the points of advantage possessed by electric tramways set forth therein. In a further communication to-day Mr. Bewley raises other points to which a reply is necessary, but first of all wo would like to reply to his last paragraph. He says we failed to refer to the financial position of Wanganui, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. That was because on Saturday wo had no authentic information before us. Today wo have such information from Wellington and Dunedin, and we shall look out for the others. The Wcfihjgton trams in 1910-11 yielded a working profit of £41,631, and after payment of £18,748 for interest, £4468 for sinking fund, and £12,818 for depreciation there was a net surplus of £5646. Last year the results were affected by the strike, but the working profit _was £38,800, and after paying £18,935 interest, £4704 sinking fund, and £13,829 depreciation there was a net surplus of £1241. The Dunedin trains for 1011-12 gave a net'surplus of £3120 after payment of interest, depreciation, and renewals (14.6 per cent, of revenue for the latter alone). Now, with regard to Mornington, it will be noted that the Borough Council has decided to insta! a motorbiis, because “the many grades and angles on the proposed route, together with the scanty population of the area to bo served, placed electric tramways out of court.” Surely that is not strong evidence for ns to bo guided by here. The example of Perth (W.A.) might bo better worth copying did wo know how it resulted, but at present the ’buses arc only ordered. The Black Country services mentioned arc not quite comparable with New Plymouth, for the traffic must he small to ho worked by two ’buses. With regard to Napier, wo quoted it because the question has twice been threshed out there, once so lately as last month, and the ratepayers turned down the? rnotorbus after its merits had been fully and ably put before them. Now a few words with respect to London. The mot-orb us is admittedly proving a success there, but up to the present it has been in competition only with horse omnibuses, which it has practically driven from the streets. It has not closed down a single mile of electric tramline, though we do not say that it may not do so when the two come into competition, because the London General Omnibus Company, certain underground electric railways, and the London United Tramways, now united in one concern, are an enormouslv powerful and wealthy combination and able to stand a figbt hotter than tlie London County Council, whose ratepavers would soon complain if heavy losses were made. Mr. Bewley seems, however, to overlook the* fact that the motorbusos of London are chiefly serving streets into which tramways cannot possibly enter. They will succeed in such places and also in localities where the traffic warrants only occasional trips, but we believe that where a halfhourly service, or a twenty-minute service, can be nui between two termini like- Fitzroy and the breakwater, with population practically all along the route, the electric tramway has an unquestionable advantage over the motorbus.

Tho chairman of tho Pukekura Park Board begs to acknowledge from Mr. C. W. Oovctt a donation of £lO to tho board’s funds.

Mrs. Hawlcr; So your daughter is in Paris having her voice cultivated. Does she intend to enter professional life?— Mrs. lllundorby: Oh, yes, indeed. _ She is studying to ho a helhi-donna. At the meeting of the Carnegie Institute Committee last evening Mr. I’. White was elected chairman. It was resolved that each subscriber should in future he allowed to take out two books iasicad oi one, hut not more than one

.Sardines, it is now suggested, are much more numerous in tins than cnywheie else. In the course ol a prosecution in London ,1m other day it was mentioned that only one sardine had !. - n Iniiiiil in ilm lush Sea in eight years, and it had boon placed in a museum.

"1 am not ox)KX'ting any packages,” said the lady oi the house. “This is the number)” persisted tho driver of the delivery van, looking at his book again. “Name’s Kohineon, isn’t itr ’ “Yes.” No. 7IP” “That’s our number.” “Then it’s for yon.” “It must he a. case of mistaken identity.” “No, muni ; it’s a case of beer.” A few days ago a Hawke’s Bay motor cyclist met a motor car, the driver of winch drew to his wrong side of tho road. Tho cyclist, who was on his right side, had either to face a collision or go over an embankment. He chose tlie latter and lauded at tho foot of the bank with his motor cycle on top of him. The driver of the ear did not wait to lend any assistance. Another motorist who ramo along eomo time after found the cyclist very severely knocked about

Quito an extraordinary demand for coal Is reported from Grey month, which the AVest Coast mines are quite unable to supply. So keen Ls tho demand that it is authoritatively stated chat the wholo of tho output of certain mines for tho next five wcelis has boon purchased in advance. The jKisition is so acute that coal companies and contractors are at their wits’ end to arrange for supplies. Tho Blackball, State, 'and Brunner mines aro working at high pressure, but unfortunately the Paparon, mine is lying idle, waiting for some reconstruction movement.

A fatal accident was averted by presence of mind at tho Ravonsbourno railway station on Friday morning. As tho 7.15 train from Dunedin dashed up to the platform, people waiting at tho station to board tho train were horrified to see a young porter lose his footing as ho jumped from a carriage platform. The young follow foil backwards to what seemed instant death beneath the revolving wheels. As he foil, however, ho managed to swing his arm round one of the iron stancions of the carriage platform, and to hold on to it. The moving train swept his protruding logs clear of the station platform, and when it seemed as though ho was to bo drawn under tho wheels, another young porter, who had come in the same carriage from Dunedin, and who was standing on tho carriage platform, bent down, caught hold of his prostrate mate, and hold him up until tho train came ,to a standstill. Tho spectators heaved a sigh of relief, and the young porter who had so narrowly escaped wont away without a scratch.

White and Sons’ nrn'.o of women’s winter coats is ono of outstanding excellence this season—excellence of quality, excellence of style, excellence of fit, and you pay no more for those good points than if purchasing much inferior kinds. Among new arrivals arc a number of stylos in the famous “Galmae” weather-proof coats. Theao combine rainproof and cold proof essentials in a remarkable degree.*

The Valuation Department is now, engaged revaluing the Moa and Okato Hidings of the Taranaki County Council- Should a sitting of the Assessment Court to hear objections bo necessary, the chairman, Mr. J. Brown, will sit as the council’s representative. It is understood (says the "Wairarapa Ago) that Mr. E. G. Jellicoe is being instructed to initiate proceedings for the recovery from Chancery of a sura of about a quarter of a million of money, in which a Wairarapa family is interested.

A Russian lady, Mmo. Kaissavow, who died ton years ago in St. Petersburg, would not allow any book written by a man to enter her housed She was, however a voracious reader and wcaltlty enough to satisfy her cravings in this direction. On her death her library was found to contain nearly 18,000 volumes—all written by women. In tho village of Utznach, near St. Gall, a woman lias been “sold,” with her consent, to another man by her husband. Tho buyer, an Italian and friend of tho Swiss couple, thought he was “legalising” the sale by procuring two witnesses and having the contract written on stamped Government paper. The Italian told his Swiss friend that he wanted a wife, and the Swiss promptly offered to sell him his own at a bargain price, which was then discussed and fixed at 16s. All the persons connected with this curious sale belong to tho working class.

Parisians are preoccupied not so much with tljo political situation as with the questioh what- to call their 881 b. baby (says tho Chronicle’s correspondent). This new denizen of the city is a plump male hippopotamus, born at the Jardin des Plantes, or Zoological Gardens. Experience has show r n that the hippopotamus’s parents may kill their own offspring, so tho baby has been placed in a special compartment close to the giraffe. Its diet at present is five gallons of milk daily, which it absorbs through a rubber tube from a large metal feeding-bottle.

The German paper Vorwaerts reports a remarkable case before a Berlin court, in which an hotel keeper was sentenced to a year’s hard labour for bribing a workman to take his place in prison. The hotelkeeper had been sentenced to three week’s imprisonment for a small offence, and, as is usual, was allowed time to arrange his affairs before going to prison. lie used the interval to persuade a workman to servo his sentence for him. The trick was successfully carried out. and was only discovered aftonvards by the garrulity of the pretended convict. The workman received the same punishment as the employer. The Archbishop of Canterbury raised tho question of the bishop’s gaiters during a diocesan visitation last month. “j.)q you suppose,” ho asked, * 4 that gaiters, a hat with string?, and the rest are worn as something peculiarly comforting or beautiful? I believe it to lx* n symbol and outward sign of contimiou&ness with the past, clinging though it does about ecclesiastics in a somewhat inconvenient, not to say strangly uncongenial form. I imagine that a hundred years ago plenty of people—the ordinary doctor or solicitor — wore tho sumo garb.’’ 'Hie Archbishop mentioned that an American reporter once described him as being “in Highland dress”! According to Professor Allen, of Manitoba University, the discovery of radium has upset all Lord Kelvin’s theories as to tho ago of tho earth. Lord Kelvin, who computed that the earth was 20 million years old. declared that unless some now way of producing heat in tho earth’s surface could be found, his calculations \v(|re correct. Such a new way has actually been discovered in radium, which has the power of giving out heat without diminishing in weight. One pound of radium would keep a house warm for *2OOO years. Radium is scattered throughout the earth’s surface, and therefore radium gives off helium, and helium is scattered throughout tho earth’s crust. By comparing the amount of radium ami of helium in a piece of rock it ’would be possible to form an estimate of the earth’s ago, which he asserted was over 1500 million years.

A surfeit of harjoot beans and dried peas lias driven the pupils of the State school of .commercial studies in Paris to come out on strike. They wore packed off homo. As the fees amount to nearly £IOO a year, or more than any other State school in Paris, the pupils decided that they had a right to bettor food. An incident was provoked by a pupil taking his plate to the headmaster in order to show against what they were protesting. 170 was punished, and his comrades became mutinous. Their working blouses were heaped in a courtyard and set on fire, whilst most of the windows wore broken. The school authorities say the allegations of bad food and negligent treatment are ridiculous, but the scholars aro united in their protest. They are content to lose their diplomas at the end of the year rather than surrender the vital principles for which they ore standing. No reason is assigned for the suicide of Airs. Decckman Lorillard, tho young wife of tho multi-millionaire grandson of tho founder of the Lorillard fortune, who hanged herself with a trunk strap from a bracket near the coiling in hor apartments at Holland House, one of New York’s fashionable hotels. Airs, Lorillard had recently suffered from neurasthenia Tho tragedy was discovered by her husband, who had just returned item a tour round the world, which ho made without his wife. Doctors wore called, and they tried for an hour to restore life, but in vain. Airs. Lorillarfl, who was 28, eloped with Air. Lorillard in 1903, when ho was a Harvard student. The couple wore socially prominent in tho younger set of New York, Newport, and Washington society. l\lrs. Pierre Lorillard, jmi., whoso husband was Airs. Beeckman Lorillard’s cousin, committed suicide at Washington in 1909 by inhaling gas in her bathroom after returning home with hor husband from a dinner party. Lecturing on bird photography at tho Camera Club, Air. AV. Bickerton, F.Z.S., said that at least one bird was able to count two. Ho determined to photograph the wary atone curlew nesting on the Cumberland fells. A hiding-plaoo near the nest was fixed up for him, and in this he was wholly concealed. Ho approached tho scene of operations with a couple of friends, who saw him safely into his hiding-place, and ostentatiously departed. The bird, which had been watching from a safe distance, returned, but, startled by the noise of his shutter, soon wont away. On tho following day he took only one friend with him, and the same process was repeated. The bird returned, hut was evidently doubtful and nervous, and on the third day ho waited concealed for hours after his friend had departed. The bird, fully alive to what was going on, never came near the nest. It had learned, in the course of three da3'e that one from two left one.

For the showery winter weather, wo have at The Kasli a fine lot of boys’ oilskins, all sizes, at 8s lid. men’s oilskins 10s 9d, men’s tweed overcoats 23s 9d, men’s hydrotito overcoats 355, men’s special Prcstwoll shower-proof coats, in dark greys, at 35s 9d, men’s willow oalf, box calf boots, several shapes, at 16s Cd. Absolutely the best value m Taranaki, at The Kash.*

The Opunako Railway Commission will sit at Now Plymouth on the 21st. inst., and not the 15th as previously announced.

Messrs. Nison and Nixon have kindly offered the Agricultural Society the us© free of charge of a 5 h.p. electric motor for use at the Winter Show should it bo required. A train slowed up at a buoy country station, and a man was seen to put bis head excitedly out of tho window of a third-class carriage. “There’s a woman in hero fainted,” ho cried, “has anyone got any whisky? Quick!” Someone in the crowd on tho platform handed him a bottle. He uncorked it frantically, put it to his lips, and took a nohlo pull. “Ah,” he sighed, “that’s better. It always did upset mo to see a woman faint.” --

The following throws another sidelight on tho' shortage of motor spirit. A local merchant has received the following letter from the Vacuum Oil Co. in reply to the usual fortnightly order for supplies of benzine and motor sx>irit: —“Certain incorrect statements have been made through tho local press which lias caused a run on our stocks and brought about a famine in petrol. We are reluctantly compelled to advise you that we are not in a position to accept your order We regret this Vi*iy m* ch, but it. is vuo oniy option left us.”

An account of a fight between a fullgrown tiger and a bulldog, which resulted in tho death of tne tiger, is given in the Liteuhago (Capo Colony Times. A tiger had taken refuge in a cave on a. farm at tho foot of vVinterhoek Mountain, in Cape Colony. A bulldog was fetched, and it at once lushcci" into tho cave, A desperate struggle ensued. Tho dog was badly wounded by the tiger’s claw's, but it caught tho tiger by tho throat and did not lot go until both rolled over as if dead. In a few minutesthe dog came round, but the tiger, which measured 81ft., was found to be dead.

At Catalina Island, off Sau Francisco, glass-bottom boat© are in great demand, for they reveal to those who patronise them an unknown world and new beauties—tho bottom of tho soa. They are a distinct novelty, and ply a thriving trade upon the Bay of Avalon, which inshort is not deop, while the water is as clear as crystal. In tho bottom of the boat arc placed large sheets of transparent glass, and through this the passenger can see, as ho is propelled slowly along, dense clusters of seaweed assuming fantastic shapes, shells, fishes of infinite variety of nuo in their native element, as well as some of tho strangest creatures known to live in tho deep.

The amiability and intellect of Chicago, as Chicago see® itself, are, it appears, explained by the big feet of its women, which long have been famous throughout America for abnormal size. Dr. Helen 11. Kellogg, speaking before the Kilo Association of Chicago, advanced this view, which has been endorsed enthusiastically by Chicago women generally. “X have big feet myself, and 1 am proud of thorn/’ said the doctor. ‘T am happy to know that Chicago women have the reputation of having big feet. Wo must live' up to this reputation and cultivate our feet. Everybody ought to wear sandals in tho house; shiidicu should go barefoot as much as possible—it makes the feet grow. Never wear the same pair of shoos two days in succession. It retaids the growth of tho feet. Big feet are an indication of an amiable temperament. Big intellects do not go with small feet. Cultivate large feet, and the intellect will grow automatically. When men and women roach forty, it is common for them to grow fleshy. How much better, how much more* comfortable, if they have big feet to carry the added.weight.”

The Melbourne’s Is and Is 3d felt slippers for women are unmatchablo. Good variety of patterns to choose from. Men’s felt slippers Is 6d pair, women’s leather slippers, sewn soles, 3s lid; women’s famous 2-bar shoes, 3s lid ; chrome slippers, sown soles, 4s lid; children’s chrome school boots, 5s lid and 6s lid; incomparable values.*