THE MOTOR WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 20000, 16 July 1920, Page 3

THE MOTOR WORLD.

❖ NEWS AND NOTES. (By “ RADIATOR.") COMING EVENTS. July 22—Annual meeting o£ New Zealand Automobile Union. July Sports ChibVsmoke cou-,-crt and presentation of prizes. _ August lli-Mceluig Council of Souin Island Motor Union, at Timaru, The seventh annual general meeting of the New Zealand Motor liiiion will bo held at Wellington next Thursday. The annual report of the executive committee strongly criticises the ‘‘want of energy and want ol unity ” shown by motorists in loosing after their rights. The reportxsays : —The average motorist who does not belong to any of the existing associations takes far too much for granted; he assumes that, without personal effort on his own part, associations will bo formed and maintained without money! (or very' little) to look after his interests, that he need neither advise nor subscribe to the associations' in any way, that roads'will be improved, made or maintained because lie believes them to be a national necessity, that the petrol difficulty will straighten itself out, and that; local bodies will make fair and reasonable by-laws just to suit him, without his asking for them.,.. . . It is no wondor that the, huge, wealthy but unorganised \movement that automobilism is at present is made the victim of every local authority anxious by any means to increase its income and influence; that taxes are proposed and urged upon the Government which are inequitable in their incidence and not to be applied either bo the benefit or subject to the vote of those who find the money. It is vital to the interests of every individual who owns or uses.a motor thai he actively associates himself with an association organised for the protection of his interests, and that his activities take the line of seeing'that his association lacks not the means to carry on its work, and, having the means, does that work well. The meeting will he particularly interesting to Canterbury motorists, as it is the first annual meeting since the withdrawal of various southern associations from the New Zealand union, and the matter is bound to be distussdM, Commenting on that absorbing question, the control and regulation of v da7,eling headlights, the report says: “-Ibis matter was referred, to by the Minister of Internal Affairs on the occasion of the deputation by this union on June I last. The Minister in discussing the matter said that he recognised that the question was a highly technical one, and he suggested that the union might- ' propriety and cons'./, .> a physics professor upon the issues invoiced. It will be retuombe,.;»d Hint this was the course taken last year lithe executive, at a cost of some U-8, which, moreover, was not productive of the desired results, and,-moreover, the rost has on more than one occasion been taken exception to by some of the associations,'which hold that wo should incur no expense in this matter, but should await developments in other countries and then act upon the results »f their experience. While the executive committee might he willing to give a general expression of agreement with this view, it' is not one at all characteristic of the independent spirit of the Dominion, nor is it one that will enable the union to reply adequately to the requests of -the Government for technical advice upon such a subject. The committee thinks .that the associations comprising the union should recognise their responsibilities to the full, and. if asked for expert evidence or advice upon any subject relating to motoring, should he prepared, to give it, othonyise it. will not only fail iu its functions, hot cannot be expected to exercise '(he influence which it should do.” Dealing with the petrol shortage, the report advocates that all associations should act in unison. "The position, relating to petrol, henainc and other motor 1 viols is becoming very acute, and must shortly engage the serious attention of the associations and of the union. • At the time of writing there would seem to be a real danger that imports troni American sources will shortly ho reduced, or. discontinued altogether, and this will have a disastrous effect upon the motor industry in the Dominion. It, behoves associations, therefore, to act in unison with n'viotv to either making fresh arrangements with American exporters or to see what can be done to promote imports from other oilfields., or to develop such local industry as there mav he in the hope of producing adequate fuel locallv for their' needs, ami at a reasonable price.” The extraordinary -high price „f ,(p M ner yard is now the market, .price for high i grade motor tyre rluci - in (ho world s leading cotton centres. Ax’ it. us one of the. essentials in motor ■rover 1 " making, this Ipgh figure has already resulted .m, several tyres ‘on the Austrulnm market, being; again advanced in nnr-ft. I ben it is mentioned that

Os 9d per yard was about 'the prc-wai price oiTiiotot cluck ■ it- .will be realised H’liafc. tyif.'' maker's have' at present to contend with, v 1 ■ .... Italy’s importance as &• motor rnann* lecturing nation is now freely admitted ny tne entire"'tenhnical press. One of too leading English; papers devoted to the/ motor-'.'industry hasissued the ; statement that Italy at the beginning el the war was the second most important motor exporting nation in the world, .. and has given proof of this by publishing "official statistics.: Now that the big nrhiy contracts have ceased, Italy is naturally interested in maintaining her position on the international motor-car market, and' the estimate. of an. English -authority That-sits- i ntil export at least one half of her . a Vt )ea,s to he quite reasonable. , During 'the "war. Italy not ‘ only met all her owii motor requirements, but contributed very largely 'towards the needs of her Allies, ft is interesting to note that war contracts liaviheoeaml not a single one. of the big Italian motor factories has been con--Ici ted to other uses. 11 hey have all been put on 11 -peace footing, hut they are all continuing the construction 0/ motor- vehicles. , Naturally the types hove, been changed, and among the new activities is the agricultural tractor and; motor cultivators which have been on the market now for a complete >'car and have met with hnnsual success uot only in the countries oj* Europe; but in different parts of America, and' Asia- due following figures, 'showing the ; motor exports-of the four leading nations of- the. world during the last, tour .years, arc not without ' interest ■..* ' United States-,1915; ■ 13,9-25,720; 19]fi 2D - 278190; 1917,. 16.553.D00f Votti. ikfiim •' Italy—l9ls, 2, '525,206; 1916, '3,361,230; 1917 1,603,1911; 1018, 1.51.3.880. • Ensland—l9,l3 1,316.640; 1316,' ' 3.361.‘Vi0-13J7',-1,..12t5;280: 13J7',-1,..12t5;280: .1918, 2,096,12 a. France—l9l6, 2.062.760: 1916, 800,100; JOlr, I 065,120;, 1918, 12T.C60. . : New world’s speed records were established oh April ‘2o at Dayton, b.S.A., when Tommy Milton became the .speed King' of Molurdom for. ail distances ■up to five miles.' The previous records were held- by Ralph de Palma with an aeroplane' engined Packard’, and were made over a. year ago. Up to the present no official dcUiils have been given out in' regard to the- 1 car. in which Milton set his records, bufc.it is probable that it is , (he same era' which he was to have, used in the trials when first proposed. A t that time, ..Fred Duescnberg, designer and of" the cars, slated that the racer--was a sixteencylinder .affair carrying ■ two of Iho eight cylinder engine? which won several races for the Duesenberg team last year. ; These engines", were placed suit by side, each driving one rear, wheel, thus eliminating the.' differential. ' The combined cubic inch pis ten I displacement of the two -engines is OPTS, slightly less than the Packard with which'l)e Raima-held the former marks. The steering pillar is mounted i", the centre of the ear, between the engines. Milt,">n set his first record when, ho went the mile, in. 23.6 and the two miles in ‘17.16. This gave him a. slighty lower, time for his second than for his first mile, but the slower time had to stand as official, for under A.A.A. rules only the .first milo of a trial canbo. counted' as official. His respectire iniles, pet hour for the two . distance; were 152.5 and 152.9 for the two distances. * l iironghout the first day’s trials, which were preliminary test trials.‘Milton complained of having a 'little with Ids engine, ’but when bo' whefclgd.dq the starting line next day, be ..declared that this had been eliminated. His first effort was for the halfmile niark. which he turned in J 1,8(5, a. \ o '' 1 ” ’’'-P-b. He then clipped n f 'bfj'boineler in 11.65, an average ot t0...J m.p.h.. and set a new mark lor jus nnsatisfactory mile in 25.56, * - lecord,, ot IOJ 1 m.p.h. His Iwo-mih was accomplished in 47.16. his Threel”op,M 2 ' lß .: '’is foar-mile in V< 1. ’ ync 'in hve miles in 2.00.04. At the conclusion of his five miles Riltoiy announced 'that he 'was through with Ins trials for the day, but that ho expected to resume later and g 0 after all; marks up to twenty 'miles. The marks between iiye ami twenty miles arc still held by De, Palma. Thus the new r/cords are now as fol-

According to the. report of tire con!merciai secretary to the. British Embassy at Washington, the United States (Government has been experimenting lor iomei months 'bn motor express routes tor the transportation of mails and foodstuffs,.and the results have been so beneficial and have, so convinced • the Post Office authorities of the possibilities ol lire motor vehicle as a 1 actor in transportation that Congress was asked to grant an additional appropriation for the extension of the routes to other parts of the country, further experiments mere authorised early in the year, when an appropriation ’oriJOO.OOO dollars (nominally C(jO.GOO) was granted, a. i iroviso being that the should be made-by the Post ’Office Uepartnient to determine the practicability of opef-,, ating-motor vehicles wiljj a view to promoting the conservation-of food by expediting its collection and delivery from producers to' consumers', and also with a view to facilitating the quick delivers' of fourth-class mail matter. Much interest was manifested in the experiments by the staff, and (he results throughout arc considered satisfactory in every respect. ‘ , According.to the report, the revenue on ,the' operations of live motor routes, from July 1 to September JO, was 81 cents per mile, while the cost ranged from Jo to 25 cents per mile. The five routes covered a,distance of 903.8 miles'' daily, at,an- estimated annual cost of 67.500d01, Tim total distance covered during the period Amounted to 03.710 miles, and a Ini.hi of .‘3o-l tpns of mail matter, approximating US tons pf month, was transported hy these motor vehicles.

SKW RECORD. Distance. ; Holder.' . Tinve. - m 'l e -Milion, Dusejihor? ]lSG- : M.P.H. ut.-.:-i m .i'® .. • ■ „. 15S.UI ?- m ! 05 , >■ ' ■„ -■ . 47.16 . isioa 3 miles , . t l .liJ.l.S' ■ iin.ii* 4 "“ijev •• •• U6:U ' U9.C. ; » miUs ■ 2.00.04 uo.i. i 1 kilomelei ,, • ,, ■ • H.B3 157.01: