King's Patronage Cheers Motorists.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue XXIII, 8 June 1901, Page 1094

King's Patronage Cheers Motorists.

King Edward's keen interest in automobiles is expected to give an extraordinary impulse to motoring this year, lint, if the fashionable imitate Koyalty in the possession of motors, it would lie equally advisable to follow the lioyai example in learning something aitout the practical mechanism of the motors. A story told of a trip made by the King, then the Prince of Wales, with Mr Frank Gardiner, through the Tyrol last year, illustrates this. Mr Gardiner was piloting the Serpoleut steam ear. When it became necessary to replenish the tanks, a roadside spring offered the needful supply of water. 1 he party drove on five miles further, when the motor came to a full stop. Owner and chauffeur alighted. They examined the machinery, but were unable to discover the cause of the breakdown. Every bolt and rivet in the gear appeared perfect, but yet the piston r<xl stuck tight and refused to budge. \\ lien the experts had about decided to give it up as a bad job the Prince suggested that the water taken at the roadside spring might have caused the trouble owing to its mineral properties. Investigation proved his surmise correct. A thick scum thrown off by the water in making steam had encrusted the piston rod, making it necessary to take the machine to pieces and tile away the almost petrified substance before the party could resume their journey. Since that journey the King has studied the mechanism of the principal automobiles, and can now handle a breakdown with the best experts on the road.

One result likely to accrue from the King's motoring is a cessation of what might aptly be described as the motorphobia epidemic among the local boards in England.

Despite demonstrations by the Automobile Club, the local magnates persist in enforcing absurd prohibitions with regard to speed, also the outward marks for identification, some even going so far as to declare that motorists should wear a big number, like racing cyclists. The narrow English country roads are not the best on earth for motoring, but the narrow-minded local authorities complicate matters vexatious] v.

When Royalty sets the pace —and it is well known that the King doesn't favour funeral paced driving — the local Dogberries will have no option but to doff their hats when the motor passes, swallowing their ruffled dignitv as best they can.