CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES.
It is held by close observers of traffic in the large cities of Europe and America that motor cars have reduced the number of accidents from bolting horses materially. The reduction is not brought about by the supplanting of the horse, but as a result of the reduction of equine nervousness, the animals becoming readily accustomed to automobile traffic. After learning to regard calmly the swift passage of a snorting, smoke-emitting, and gearclattering machine of all sizes and types, no trivial adventures, such as a loose sheet of paper, the raising of an umbrella, a hydrant at play, are sufficient to make an experienced horse unmanageable. The first taximeter cab service in the Commonwealth will be placed in commission this month in Melbourne, when twelve 8-9 h.p. Renault cabs will be allotted to the principal ranks. Drivers have already been secured, and have been put through a course of training to fit them for the proper handling of the new vehicles. The amount of fare, which will always be indicated automatically on the taximeter, will range from Is for the first mile or portion of it and 3d for every additional quarter-mile. These natty little vehicles are very popular in London and Continental cities, and it is anticipated that they will prove successful here. « • « • “ L’Auto,” the Parisian newspaper which started the Pekin-Paris and New York-Paris motor races, is again to the fore, with a proposition to next ' ear award a prize of 12,000 francs (£480) to the first aeropianist who accomplishes a fight from Bordeaux to ris, a distance of 370 miles. The route will be divided into five sections. In anouncing the prize, “ L’Auto” remarks that many people will say that such a flight is impossible, but if the science of aeronautism continues to progress, as it has done during the past year, it is more than possible the flight will be undertaken with a good ’ ance of success next June or July. * • • • The annual Australasian Amateur Champ-'onship Carnival will be run this year on February 17 or 24. The exact date will not be fixed until a reply has been received by the Union from His Excellency the Governor, who has been invited to attend. Sir Harry Rawson has been patron of the Cyclists’ Union since his arrival in New South Wales. Cycle track racing appears to be on the decline in most countries, the exception being Germany and France. In the first-named country the large sum of £51,500 was given away as prize money in 1908, spread over 1494 races. 38 per cent, of which were paced events. Our old friend Robl again scored top place in the Kaiser’s country, his winnings totalling £2850, irrespective of percentages from machine or tyre firms. Even when cycle racing was at its zenith in Australia the total prize-money never totalled £15,000 in any given year, so a fair idea can be gathered of the tremendous racing boom now existent in the Fatherland.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 985, 21 January 1909, Page 12
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496CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES. New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 985, 21 January 1909, Page 12
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