MOTORING & CYCLING

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1486, 17 October 1918, Page 28

MOTORING & CYCLING

Photographs of private motorists In their cars, snapshots taken while on tour, or accounts of motoring trips and other i tpms of interest to carowners, will be inserted in these columns if posted to “New Zealand Sporting and Dramatic Review,” P.O. Box 52, Auckland.

The Wanganui Borough Council at a meeting last week decided to draw the attention of the police to the dazzling headlights to be seen on many cars, also to the nuisance caused citizens by the existence of smoky exhausts. The question of dazzling headlights is also receiving the attention of the authorities in the Wairarapa district. .** * * Mr. Geo. Nicholls, eldest son of the late Mr. J. R. Nicholls, of Gisborne, who proceeded to England to join the Royal Flying Corps, has obtained his commission, and has proceeded to France as a second-lieutenant. » » * * Flight-Lieutenant Cyril Young arrived in Wellington by the Moeraki from Sydney last week, en route for Auckland, to catch the Vancouver boat. Lieutenant Young, who has had three years’ service in the Royal Flying Corps, is returning to the front after a visit to his parents in Sydney. He is a son of Mr. J. H. Young, of that city, and a grandson of the late Mr. Andrew Young, who was wellknown in Wellington many years ago. * * ❖ ❖ An American airman who landed the other day at the small town of Saint Leon near Moulins, France, astonished the inhabitants by introducing himself as the grandson of a former member of Parliament for the district named Billard. He reminded them that his grandfather was arrested immediately after the coup d’etat in 1851, and was sentenced to be deported to Cayenne. Escaping on the way out, he reached the United States, where he settled. He never returned to Saint Leon, but his name was commemorated by a marble tablet on the wall of the Mairie, and a street, the Rue Billard-le-Proscrit, was named after him not long ago. The airman was enthusiastically welcomed. He flew away again next day, after buying up every picture postcard showing the Rue Billard-le-Proscrit. * * * * At the annual meeting of the Otago Motor Club the president gave a very interesting address on the subject of good roads, and related what had been done in Taranaki. They recognised their roads would not stand up to the work required of them, owing to faulty methods of construction. Roads deteriorated rapidly these days, not, as many people supposed, because a motor car did so much more damage to a road than did a horse vehicle, but because of the multiplication of traffic. The average road today was called upon to stand 20 times more work than it did 10 or 12 years ago. Modern traffic requirements must be met by modern road construction. Ten years ago Taranaki was the worst roaded district in New Zealand. To-day it possessed the best motoring roads in Australasia. Owing to poor foundations, scarcity of suitable metal, and an excessively wet climate, the Taranaki counties had in theii’ reading a problem requiring considerable engineering ability. It was soon apparent that old must give to up-to-date ideas of road construction. The first tarred roads laid down were not a success, neither were others that followed; but each failure taught a lesson, until to-day a first-class road was being laid down that was entirely satisfactory. A partially-distilled tar was now used, a tar from which the oil and volatile spirit had been extracted, and it was boiled down to such a density that it would not flow when cold. Taranaki had made a success of road-making. In comparison with Taranaki, their reading problem was simple. With few exceptions their main roads had well consolidated foundations, and - they had an abundance of first-class metal, so that there was no reason why they should not have roads equal to those in Taranaki and at a much smaller initial cost and subsequent upkeep. Taranaki was an important dairying district, and its roads carried very heavy motor traffic—lo-ton

motor lorries used the roads constantly without doing any damage to the roads. Taranaki experience regarding cost was that it cost no more to maintain a perfect road in perfect order than it did to maintain an ordinary rotten road in its ordinary rotten condition. A committee was set up to go into the question and ascertain if it is possible to get a stretch of road which may be laid off and treated on the lines which have proved so successful in Taranaki. * * * * With some modifications the scale of fares recently submitted by the taxi proprietors of Wellington to the By-Laws Committee of the City Council are likely to be adopted in the near future. The new scale, which increases the charges pretty well all round, is calculated to be such as will let the public know more precisely where they are in regard to taxi charges than has been possible for them to know in the past. The committee will probably bring down a recommendation as to the new charges at the next meeting of the council. * * * * Milk by motor car is the latest in Dannevirke. A milk run managed by a firm of enterprising girls is now conducted by motor, and the morning’s milk delivered in record time. Formerly it took two carts and two horses to do the trip.

Miss Cutten, who drives a motor car in London for the Department of Information, is a Dunedin girl. * * * * At the Auckland Police Court a youth was fined £5 for the theft of three gallons of benzine. * * * <■ The theft of bicycles is still rampant in Invercargill (says the “Southland Times”). A well-known builder had his motor bicycle stolen from his workshop behind his dwelling recently. * * ft ft The members of the Manawatu Golf Club welcomed back Mr. H. N. Watson, a former resident of Hokowhitu, who has returned to New Zealand with his family. Mr. Watson has been doing splendid work during the war, driving a motor ambulance behind the lines, and he gained the great honour of being decorated with the Croix de Guerre. * » * s The enormous demand for linen for covering aeroplane wings is rapidly absorbing the visible supplies of the world, and it may be years, says an exchange, before this material can be bought at a reasonable price.

Mrs. Hyde, of Tarras, Otago, has received a cable message stating that her son, Flight-Lieutenant H. E. Hyde, of the Royal Naval Air Service, has been reported missing while night flying. $ * * * Chief Motor-mechanic W. J. Sexton, of Auckland, joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as an engineer in November, 1916, and has been in one motor launch ever since the early part of 1917. Mr. Sexton is now in the Mediterranean, having made- the journey in his ship through France, via canals. * • • * The Otawhao (Hawke’s Bay) correspondent of the “Dannevirke News”, writes: “A very serious accident happened on the Gorge Hill by the Manawatu river. Mrs. Mathieson and two children were motoring to Norsewood when the brakes of the car failed. Mrs. Mathieson and daughter were badly bruised, and the latter was taken to the Waipukurau hospital with a very bad wound, the flesh being almost wholly removed from the leg. This particular part of the Hill has always been an extremely dangerous one, and the occupants had a narrow escape from a drop of several hundred feet into the river below. The car was badly damaged. It is time the Dannevirke County Council fenced this portion of the road, as many head of stock are lost here

annually, and a rail fence would have saved this accident. Had it not been that the car was a light one, one shudders to think of the result.” ♦ « M * Motor traffic between Gisborne and Tolaga Bay has been resumed, and already several cars have gone through (says the “Poverty Bay Herald”). The rocks at Tupuae are stated to be very rough, whilst the putting down of wooden approaches at several points across the heavy sand would be a great advantage to motorists. Meanwhile the district engineer considers it advisable for cars to take the Arakihi road. Referring to the new inland road, Mr. Armstrong expressed surprise that it has not been availed of for the coach traffic, and he was much surprised last week to find that the old method of packing the mails through to Tolaga Bay is still being resorted to. * * * * The following office-bearers were appointed at the annual meeting of the Otago Motor Club: —Patrons, Messrs. J .Roberts, C.M.G., G. B. Bullock, and J. R. McKenzie; president, Mr. A. -E. Ansell; vice-presidents, Messrs. M. Stevenson, H. W. Reid, R. Longton Jones, and A. L. Fogo;

captain, Mr. W. B. Macalister; deputycaptain, Mr. W. Wright; hon. treasurer, Mr. H. Halliday; committee, Messrs. J. A. Roberts, C. F. Alexander, S. T, Champtaloup, J. L. Passmore, A. H. Crolly, W. G. Stenhouse, C. W. L. King, F. J. Lough; auditors, Messrs. A. C. McGeorge and W. A. Gibb; solicitor, Mr. G. Mondy. It was decided to place, on record appreciation of the services rendered to the club by the late Mr. W. T. McFarlane, and that a letter of condolence be sent to the relatives of the deceased. * » & Thus a correspondent in a letter to the Christchurch “Press” anent motor accidents: —“I maintain that the motor menace will never cease until some very drastic measures are adopted. 1 suggest that £2O be the minimum fine, and the maximum £lOO, for reckless driving, and that in cases where a car or other vehicle knocks down any citizen through negligent driving, the owner shall forthwith forfeit his machine. To confiscate a machine will have ten thousand times more effect than a farcical trial for manslaughter.” sK * * ♦ The best pilot for the fighting type of aeroplane, said Colonel Sleeman in Christchurch, was the quick, active man ,not the cool nerveless man; but rather th© temperamentally nervous man, who on the ground would be rather uncertain of himself in many s.-,- •■■'L-XW'vU / »■ ’

things. The flying temperament was born in a man, for one would see a pupil step into an aeroplane for the 'first time, and within ten minutes he would be quite at home because he had the flying temperament. Such a man was the late Captain Ball, a Nottingham boy. He was a thin, dark, wiry little chap, but from the moment he started flying he became a positive fiend for shooting down Germans, and at the age of 20 he had won the V.C., the D.S.O. with two clasps, the M.C., the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre. On his death he was succeeded by Lieutenant McCudden, who won practically the same decorations, but was also killed. Then came Captain Bishop, V.C., who was still alive. They all had the flying temperament, and knew what to do in an emergency, just as a good horseman or motor cyclist knew what to do at the right time. * * * 4 Princess Patricia, at the Army Service Corps sports, at Osterley Park, Isleworth, England, recently christened an aeroplane which has been provided by members of the Motor Transport Section of the A. S.C.

Charged with committing four offences under the Motor Car Act, namely, driving without lights, driving in a dangerous manner, not stopping when requested by the police, and driving an unregistered car, resulted in penalties amounting to £32 and costs being imposed on an R.A.F. officer at Shoreham, England. It was stated that the defendant had seen the police who attempted to stop him when driving 30 to 35 m.p.h. in a 10 miles limit, and even faster in a five-mile limit over Norfolk Bridge, but thought he would take a sporting chance, while as to his license he explained that he had lost one issued by the West Sussex County Council still in force, and when in London, where he obtained the car, thought he would get one there. The fines were made up in sums of £5 for driving without lights, £2O for driving dangerously, £5 for not stopping when requested, and £2 for driving an unregistered car. 4: * * * Many fine records, that of the late Captain Ball, the famous British airman, in particular, have been registered with regard to the number of enemy aeroplanes downed by individual Allied aviators during the present war. Many of these excellent achievements would undoubtedly have become even more remarkable still in point of the large number of enemy machines destroyed but for death intervening in the case of quite a number of our most brilliant airmen. The greatest record, and one that is unlikely to be eclipsed, is unquestionably that standing to the credit of the daring French airman, Lieutenant Fonck, who, according to a cable received from London on the Bth inst., succeeded in accomplishing an unparalleled feat, that of bringing down four German aeroplanes in twenty minutes. Additional merit is attached to the achievement in that Lieut. Fonck secured his four scalps in the course of a single flight. This brings his wonderful record up to 109 enemy machines, of which 70 of the number are officially recognised. * r » v In the course of his report to the Christchurch Fire Board the other evening, Superintendent C. C. Warner said that in accordance with instructions from the Board ,he had been in communication with several firms , regarding the probable purchase of a suitable second-hand chassis for a stand-by machine. The brigade at present was badly in need of such an appliance, as the mechanism of the No. 6 (Aster) motor was worn out, and to put the machine in anything like working order would probably cost £75, and he did not consider the small speed of the motor worth the expense that would be involved. He therefore suggested that the Board should secure one of the above vehicles at a cost of about £175. or a total expenditure of not more than £225, to place the motor in commission for brigade use. It was agreed to approve the superintendent’s suggestion, subject to the sale of the Board’s steam engine, Taniwha.