MOTORING & CYCLING

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1298, 11 March 1915, Page 31

MOTORING & CYCLING

The Hawke’s Bay Automobile Association closed the year with a credit balance of £l7B 7s. after all expenses were paid.

The affairs of the Continental Tyre Company are being wound up by the Public Trustee. The money will be held till the close of the war.

The Rover Company has had a model of their we l-known 12 h.p. car built by Bassett-Lowke, Limited, to one-eighth scale, that is to say l%ins. to a foot. This is the smallest motor car yet built in England.

It is stated definitely that neither the Minerva nor the S.A.V.A. motor 'factories at Antwerp, nor the Excelsior, Pipe, Miesse nor F.I.F. fac'or es at Brusesels have as yet been seriously interfered with by the Germans. The Metallurgique factory at Marchienne au-Pont or the F.N. at Liege do not appear to have been wrecked, but some considerable damage by bombs has been caused to the German factory at Monceau sur Sambre.

During the year the Hawke’s Bay Automobile Association raised £1298 11s. 6d. for patriotic purposes.

An appeal to the Hawke’s Bay motorists for funds to augment motor ambulances at the front brought in £842 16s. 6d.

There does not appear to be much prospect of a spring motor car show at Olympia, London, this year. The manufacturers are too busy turning out munitions of war.

It is stated that the French army, which materialised north of France in the latter days of August and suddenly compelled Von Kluck’s forces to turn eastward, was brought into position by the use of 5000 Parisian taxi-cabs.

The news is to hand that an American manufacturer has at last marketed a 30 h.p. five-seated car at £l6O.

Although there was a slight revival in September last, the importation of European cars into the United States shows a considerable falling off when compared with former years. Thus, during the nine months ending with September last only 186 cars, valued at £58,722, were imported, as contrasted with 388 and £181,759 respectively in the corresponding period of 1913. While the decrease extends to all the European motor car producing countries, the drop is most notable as regards France, and, of course, Germany.

It is announced from Switzerland that the Aviatik aeroplane factory, removed at the beginning of the war from Mulhausen to Freiburg, where it was attacked successfully by French aviators, has now been transferred to another place, the name of which is not given, but which is said to be situated far in the interior of the country, where the Germans hope it will be beyond the reach of the French and British aerial fleet.

Mr. G. W. Spragg, Auckland, has sold an Austin 9-15 motor car, 14.14 h.p., painted grey, with nickel finish taper bonnet and scuttle dash, to a client in the country, for private use in the district.

A representative of an Italian manufacturer, who recently arrived in New York stated that the Italian makers are building large numbers of motor vehicles of various types for the German Government, and a great many have already been delivered.

Flight Commander John Tremayne Babington, R.N.A.S., has been awarded the D. 5.0., with the Distinguished Service Cross, for his share in the successful aeroplane raid on the Zeppelin factory at Friedrichshafen on November 21, 1914. Flight-Lieut. Sidney Vincent Slppe, R.N.A.S., has also won similar honours for his share in the successful aeroplane raid on the same date.

Some of the armed motor cars carry three-inch field pieces, some are armed with Belgian machine guns, which are able to fire hundreds of shots a minute, the lead rushing out in a continuous stream like water from a garden hose. The accuracy of the artillery fire, particularly of the French, is reported to be extraordinary, and almost uncanny.

The various county authorities throughout Hawke’s Bay have agreed to have all approaches to bridges and culvert rails painted white.

All the motor vehicles in use by the Belgian Army in Flanders when requiring serious repairs are shipped back to London, where there are workshops wholly devoted to these.

The Wairarapa Automobile Association intends to write to all other clubs for their co operation in the matter of insurance of riders because in combination the insurance companies imght consider the matter favourably.

The total number of motor cars and motor cycles registered in Victoria is 19,847.

The proprietors of Pratt’s motor spirit have secured £200,000 of the recent British war loan.

There is every indication that Great Britain has earned the undying gratitude of the Belgian people. The manager of a Birmingham motor company received the following letter from M. Edward Vandersluys, showing how much the Belgians appreciate the efforts made in their interests:— “The object of this letter is to thank you very much, on behalf of my fel-low-citizens, for the handsome contribution which you have authorised me to hand over to the fund established for clothing our Army. The contribution will help considerably to relieve the sufferings of our heroic soldiers. What honour for Belgium, ravaged and murdered by savage and brutal hordes, to find a help so powerful and

efficacious, an Ally so loyal and gen'ous—England! Honour to the EngI’sh nation, that fights for a just cause; victory will assuredly be hers! Thanks to England for everything she has done for Belgium; she has gained our eternal appreciation, and we hope to prove after the war, not only by words, but by deeds, that this appreciation is not a vain word with the Belgians. The Germans are well aware that one day Belgian commerce and industry will avenge the blood of our valiant soldiers, and then perhaps Germany will comprehend—but too late —what she has lost by violating our neutrality.”

Captain Walter Lawerence, 7th Battalion Essex Regiment and Royal Flying Corps, whose death was announced on January 2 as the result of a flying accident at the front, was an Italian count in his own right (Count Falcioni), but adopted British nationality and entered the Essex Regiment, seeing some service in India. He took up aviation, and quickly securing his certificate, joined the Royal Flying Corps in December, 1912. When war was declared he was in one of the first flying squadrons to cross the Channel to France, and from that time until his death he was practically in commission every day, and had many and varied experiences, including a compulsory descent behind and escape from the enemy’s lines. He was only twentytwo years of age, but a daring, skilful, and resourceful aviator. For daring work he received the cross of the Legion of Honour.

As a proof of the Germans’ lack of mobility, there was the terrible dislocation which took place after the first check at Liege. The trains were packed and tl.ie roads were blocked. Ammunition grew scarce, and then the food failed. There was insufficient motors to come to the relief, and the German plan of using great masses of men to carry positions by brute force prevented supplies being brought up by road. The troops were starving, footsore, and short of ammunition. They could make only a very slow advance, and they literally stood in each other’s way, preventing the food and ammunition coming up from the rear. England, with it's roads and motor fleets, could with a relatively small force of troops starve out any enemy working on the German plan. The slow fighter is out of date. We now live in the motor age.

The rubber industry of the United States faces a grave situation as the result of the embargo placed by the British Government upon the exportation of crude rubber from Great Britain and her colonies, according to a statement issued at New York by the Rubber Club of America, which includes the leading manufacturers and importers of rubber in the country. An advance in prices is imminent, unless the embargo is soon removed, the statement says, and idleness faces many of the 125,000 persons employed in the rubber industry. The statement adds that a special committee of rubber manufacturers has been working with the State Department at Washington on the situation, but that owing to “the uncompromising attitude of the British Government nothing has been accomplished.” Prices of plantation rubber have already risen from 55 cents (2s. 3d.) to 90 cents (3s. 9d.), on account of the embargo.