The Up-Keep of a Motor.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 5, 1 March 1906, Page 117

The Up-Keep of a Motor.

The opinions expressed by various people on the subject of the cost of running a motor car are as diverse as are those given utterance to on many other questions about which there is public controversy. Time, no doubt, will dispel many impressions that now exist, but in the interval those who know little or nothing about motors will continue to proclaim their views, right or wrong. It has been said the Victorian Government's motor car cannot be run at a less cost than per week, and that two years of work will reduce its value by fourfifths of the original cost. Thess statements have been made on what is regarded by some as good authority, and the result of an idea becoming current to this effect has been to deter some people from buying for the present — that is, until they could learn more about it. A Melbourne motorist who was spoken to lately on the specific point whether cars do or do not cost per week for up-keep, says that the answer depends largely upon circumstances. The size and make of the motor, as well as the nature of the work, must, he said, all be taken into consideration ; but under ordinary conditions no car should take per week for its support. Many of the up-to-date cars will run 20 miles with the consumption of one gallon of petrol, while some require two or three times as much. " The Government car which is of modern build and possesses the latest improvements, will consume about one gallon of petrol on a twenty-mile run. If it is going to cost £5 a week for running expenses it will have to travel 2000 miles during that period, and I do not think Mr. Bent has in contemplation such a liberal use of the motor he has bought for Government

requirements. Some of the large cars do, I know, cost even more than per week for driving power, but the one I refer to is not of that class." Touching upon another subject the speaker said that the life of a car is necessarily a matter that depends on how it is made and of what class of material its parts are composed. "If a car is cheap it must, to an extent, be nasty ; therefore, the question of up-keep and wear and tear largely depends upon this point also. Again," he continues, " much of the durability of a car is a matter of treatment, and so also is the running cost. If the parts are

kept well oiled and clean it wears less quickly, and it runs more smoothly. Smooth running means less driving power required, and that, of course, means less cost.

In the course of an interesting article on the openings of trade m Japan, now that the war has

come to an end, the " World's Carriers " says :—: — "It is more in the capacity of agents and middlemen that European (or American) capitalists may ]ook for benefit from the increased prosperity of the country. For some time to come their position in this respect will be unassailable. The lax business morals of the Japanese trader have put him more or less at the mercy of the foreign middleman. Practically, all the Japanese trade passes through the hands of foreigners. There are hardly half-a-dozen firms m the Empire — and those are almost without exception the nominees of the Japanese Government — that are able to give orders or make contracts with the great European and Americans firms. So bad a reputation has the ordinary Japanese trader that no English house will take notice of his communications, if he tries to 1 deal with it directly. He is always referred to the Yokohama or Tokio agent of the house. However high Japan's prestige may be raised as a great power, there is no prospect of her business good name being accepted at a much higher valuation for a long time to come, and thus the prospects for reliable and capable foreigners are distinctly good."

Wireless photographs are the latest discovery in the electrical world, and, according to Nicola Tesla, the day is not far distant when one may sit in one of New Zealand's cities and have his photograph immediately transmitted by a wireless system to London, or any other place m the world. Tesla and his assistants are carrying on experiments now at Wardencliffe, L.1., and everyone down that way is consumed with curiosity over the strange flashes that have gone forth in the night from the laboratory.