STOPPING DISTANCES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19953, 10 November 1934, Page 10

STOPPING DISTANCES

In a recent issue of “The Motor” the statement was made that 30.2 feet from 30 m.p.h. was commonly regarded as a minimum stopping distance. This brought several objections, among them one in which the writer submitted that he knew a mechanic who had adjusted the brakes of a car so as to enable him to bring to a dead stop from a little over 30m.p.h. in 12-i feet. The editor attaches a note, simply remarking: “Our correspondent’s difficulty is understandable and is representative of a number of letters which we have received on this subject. Unfortunately, reconciliation between

facts and fancies is impossible. Figures such as those quoted are often given in all good faith, the fault lying in the method of testing employed.” Miss Doris Duke, said by some to be the world’s richest girl, no longer has a guardian. Her mother, Mrs Nanaline Duke, has been discharged from duty by the Orphans Court since Miss Duke reached her 21st birthday. It is revealed in Mrs Duke’s final account of her guardianship that her daughter’s estate had grown by £42,000 in recent years. Mr James B. Duke, the tobacco king, who died in 1925, left estate originally valued at £17,940,000, the net value of which is now approximately £15,200,000. Miss Duke will shortly inherit about £3,200,000 from the residuary estate, and two-thirds of the income from the £2,500,000 trust fund her father established.