12
TYRE MAKERS
HOME WRITER'S ABLE DEFENCE
HINTS TO OWNERS
SOLE COMPLAINT
TOLL-GATE TAXES ON ROAD USERS
AN IRRITATING SURVIVAL
amounting in the
When he reached Margate he was asked what he thought of the
MOTORS IN INDIA
SUBSIDY FOR HEAVY VEHICLES
THE CHINA MAIL,
GREAT BRITAIN'S SHARE
(From A Times" Correspondent.)
The position and outlook in the Indian market afford striking tes timony to the value of education- al and propaganda effort by motor interests in countries only partially equipped for modern road traffic. The Indian Roads and Transport Development Asso- ciation, Limited, comprising motor, oil, tyre, and transport interests and the principal users of roads, did much to create the public opinion which led to the overthrow of the theory that motor-cars are "luxuries" and therefore must pay double the 15 per cent. standard rate of im port duty. Still more, the asso- ciation helped to secure the ap- pointment of the Indian Road De- cidate the facts on which the re- port is based. At the annual meeting of the association held in Bumbag in December the ducu- ment was described as satisfac tory in large measure, though the council was not in full agreement with some of the recommenda. tions.
Ever since motoring began, "it An American who had been told Britain has been the custom of tyre com-that the best way to see panies to deflect the complaints was from a motor-car, a few days of tyre buyers by accusations of age ordered one by wireless while under-inflation. Many ordinarily travelling across the Atlantic.. meck men have been stirred to On arrival at Plymouth he start genuinely apoplectic rage by ed off in the car in blithe mood for these "put-offs," as such denials Margate, and took the coast road. of liability are vulgarly named in On the journey he was called upon offices. When a tyre has collapsed to pay seventeen toll-gate and beyond repair after about a quar-road fees. ter of the mileage which it was aggregate to about £1. expected to survive, it is very irritating to be told that it is all
countryside. It is your own fault; and doubly so if British you are under the illusion that beautiful," he admitted, "but so it He drew from his you have fostered the tyre in ought to be." question like a lapdog. It would pocket a number of coloured toll "Look at niy admission seem that some disgruntled passes. motorists have been so rude to the tickets," he said.
An oficial of the Automobile tyre companies that the tyre com- panies are beginning to hit back; Association stated: "It will survelopment Committee and to elu- or perhaps one should say "the pray, the public to know that there tyre company," for Dunlops sup-are eighty-eight toll bridges asui ply the bulk of the tyres used on fifty-five toll roads in the country At The charges vary very tensiler- private vehicles in Britain. any rate, Mr. W. H. Paull, who lably. but it is possible to spend a directs the technical activities of considerable sum in the course or short journey, Fort Dunlop, put the case for the comparatively tyre manufacturer most cogently and there are all sorts of curious when he was invited to address charges.
For--instance, the Institute of Automobile En- gineers. He asked us to imagine Bridge, owned by the Bournemouth (writes R. E. Davidson in "The Corporation, there is a charge of New Statesman") what would one penny to take across a baby's
at
Tuckton
The market is growing rapidly, In the last pre-War year the num ber of motor vehicles of all kinds absorbed was 4,419, while in 1927-
happen if motor cars were sold pram, twopenece for a motor-cat. 28 it was 25,350. The average
half-penny for
several cases
without springs, and each indi- and one
mileage of each vehicle has great- vidual user were left to fit a pedestrian. spring of any particular strength workpeople are obliged to pay onely increased, for the consumption which appealed to his fancy? The penny or a halfpenny when going reliability and the comfort of the to and from work.
"At Shoreham there is a charge suspension would depend entirely of 4. for a hearse and twopence upon the user's common sense. for the body, and at Swinford Precisely the same reasoning ap- Bridge, on the Oxford-road, there plies to tyres. The Dunlop people a charge of one farthing for never supply a complete pneuma- tie tyre. They sell Jones a cover every calf, sheep, or lamb.
and a tube. Jones has to pro-
"Some of the charges are very
In
vide a column of air at a certain high, such as at Denham Bridge, on the main Lincoln-road, where pressure. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred Jones has only the charge per vehicle is 2s.
the ease of tradesman who Cross -and re-cro38
the vaguest idea of the correct desires to pressure for his tyres, and less several times a day, this is very idea of the actual pressure on
expensive. which they are running at any given moment.. This is not the fault of the tyre company. With his new car Jones receives
a
"All our routes are made out to
avoid these charges, as far as pos
ible, because in many cases they are exorbitant. We look forward
miniature library including a to the day when they will all so volume which tells him all about one away with." tyre pressures. Jones is further equipped with a pressure gauge and a pump. But he continues to display an egregious recklessness
There is only one toll levied in Sectiund, at Connel -Bridge, on Lock Etive, where the L.M. and S. Railway make a charge of 108. per
сак.
in the matter of inflation. Should a long-suffering cover fail to cover the 10,000 miles which he
AN ACHIEVEMENT regards as his due (no matter how fiercely he brakes and acceler Mas de Havilland who arrived in ates), he writes a furious letter to Calenta on March 16 on board the Fort Dunlop. Fort Dunlop reply ship "Mandaia" has covered 8,000 politely, suggesting they would be miks in a Baby Austin, having left interested to see the faulty cover. Lendon in October for America, When they see it they almost New Zealand, Australia and now always blame under-inflation, and India. She is the sister of Geoffrey Jones never believes them. He de Havilland, aircraft manufactar imagines the phrase is
a coner. Her companion was Aiiss Mona venient evasion, planned to save Ele but the latter went no further
of petrol-4,500,000 gallons be- fore the War is now 50,000,000 gallons, and it is increasing every year at the rate of about 80 per cent. compound interest. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year the importation of
motor vehicles has been far in ex. cess of all previous figures. But the trade is capable of enormous further expansion. With a popu. lation of 247,000,000 British India had fewer than 145,000 motor yehicles on the register on March 31, 1928.
In
of
Import of Cars the last pro-War year the United Kingdom sup-
1,669
the 2,880 plied motor-cars imported, but after the War the United States and Canada made rapid advance. In 1926-27 they supplied 3,506 of the 13,197 cars shipped to India, while the British share was 2,516.
In 1927-28, on a total import of 15,122, England, with 2,600 cars, pade a substantial advance, the supply representing 23 per cent. of the number and 29 per cent. of the value of the imports. Mr. Meek states in his "Review of the Trace of India in 1927-28" tha! owing to temporary suspension of manufacture the Ford car rocoded into the back-ground, and the gap in supply was filled by increased of competing imports of cars grades from the United States The Fort Dunlop the cost of present-than Hollywood and Miza de Haviland of British light cars. ing him with a new cover.
average declared value of curs shipped from England dropped in the year from Rs. 3,159 to Rs. 2,849 (£216 135. 6d.).
Land went on alone.
Throughout the War she drove ambalances in "Fort Dunlop is Honest" France. She expects to be back
I should like to assure Jones home this month via Bonbay. that Fort Dunlop always knows
the cause of any premature
who pay some regard to finish,
Marketing
*
THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1929.
THE LOWEST PRICED SIX
Whippet Six Touring
WITH FINGER TIP CONTROL"
"Finger-Tip Control" -pall bucien ap to stari moter, grua down to sound kerr sarm to right to upor
THE Superior Whippet Six is the world's low- est priced six equipped with the remarkable new "Finger-Tip Control”......the greatest advance in driving convenience since the self starter..
A single button, located in the centre of the steering wheel,“ controls all functions of start- ing the motor, operating the lights and sounding the horn. Aside from its convenience this
fundamental improvement is also an important safety factor as you can keep your eyes always on the road, and you can keep your foot on the brake when starting or re-starting on a hill.
Tourer
Roadster Coach
Coupe
$2,140 ....$2,640 $2,390 $2,399
Sedan
$2,640
Allerica and abeelkrationa nables to change žičkout notice)
See the new Superior Whippet Six at your nearest Willys Overland dealer's. He will gladly arrange a demonstra. tion at any time suitable your convenience.
The new superíor
WHIPPET SIX
LOWER
Agenta:
COST
Messrs. Gilman & Co., Ltd.
Telephone C. 290.
4A Des Voeux-Road. Central,
WILLYS - OVERLAND
OPERATION
Garage and Service Station:
Messrs. Duro Motor Co., Ltd.
Telephone K. 226.
123 Nathan Road, Kowloon
FINE
1
MOTOR
CARS
Mr. T. M. Ainscough, HM''s Senior Trade Commissioner in arterio-sclerosis or other senile power, than one which is blown India and Ceylon, wrote on these symptoms in a tyre. They have up harder. Under normal run-figures that he did not consider deliberately destroyed innumerning conditions the power lost the position entirely satisfactory able covers in their own research through the tyres amounts to in view of the great potentialitics work, and micro-photographed about a third of the total energy of the market. He will be con- such covers at every stage of dis- losses in the car. At thirty miles firmed in this view by the fact solution. I should further like to an hour any given part of a tyre that in the nine months to the end assure Jones that Fort Dunlop is is compressed and released about of 1928 Canada more than regain- honest. One does not build up 360 times a minute. The foured her old position, and the United such a gigantic business-ap-balloon tyres of a light car con- States made further great ad. proaching a monopoly, and a sume approximately 2 hp. at a vances, while the shipments from monopoly carned by quality legal limit speed; more if they are Britain remained at the level of without satisfying the bulk of under-indated. He also gives the previous year. Yet, as Mr. your customers. As a journalist, measured results with regard to Ainscough has shown, the leading I have repeatedly conveyed the racing tyres, which indicate the models of most of the cheaper complaints of private customers part played by them in the fantas- makes of British cars can now be to the Dunlop experts; and on one tic speed records of recent years, marketed in India at prices which or two occasions I have allowed For example, a 6-in. racing trre are within the purchasing power myself to imagine that the cus-only consumed about 5 h.p. at 140 of the large section of consumers tomers were right and the factory miles an hour, which was the
MOTOR-COACH BATHS wrong. But I have invariably had world's record speed not many durability, and low running cost. Ceylon, and Persia. The plant, their immediate environment. the period of enrolment, are of irrefragable evidence laid before years ago. But when a test of
ctilising a total capital outlay of Our manufacturers have now the following British makes:-
Guy, Karrier, A giant motor-coach, in which me at the finish. One of the these tyres was made on a special-
about £750.000, is to maintain 21 been given a notabic opportunity Thornycroft, most famous Continental manu-ly designed machine with a view The problems now to be over separate manufacturing depart by the decision of the Army De- Albion, Crossley, Scammel, Ley-passengers walk upstairs to bed, partment to subsidise certain Brtland, Vulcan, Halley, and Morris and fitted with a bathroom with hot facturers goes so far as to pub-to the Campbell and Segrave re-come, according to this careful ments.
To obtain the subsidy the and cold running water, left-London lish a series of photographs, de- cords, and a run was made at 260 and judicious observer, are large- A feature of Indian life in the tish makes and types of rigid, picting tyres destroyed by various miles an hour for two consecutively those of representation and last two or three years has been six-wheeled mechanical transport vehicle must be new and freshly on its maiden journey to Manches forms of misuse, so that his cus-minutes, the tyre absorbed 25 marketing. The majority of the the sudden and remarkable de vehicles fitted for freight-carry-imported, not having run more ter the other day. The coach can tomers can verify his verdicts. h.p. It was thus obvious that most influential local firnis and velopment of motor passenger ing bodies on pneumatic tyres. than 200 miles from the date of be converted for day or night tra- Mr. Faull prefers to carry con unless or until a better tyre could agents are committed to the sale services In the important trade It is significant, in connection original registration after im vel. By day the accommodation viction by reprinting the mileages be evolved for the purpose, the of competing foreign makes, and of motor-omnibuses, vans, and with Mr. Ainseough's advice, that portation, and it must have been is similar to that of a railway car- obtained with similar tyres over four tyres of the leviathan racing if to-day a motor manufacturer is lorries, the United States and when the decision was announced purchased within a year of manuriage, with seats on both sides of similar roads on similar buses cars would absorb 100 h.p.,, anot prepared to open his own sell-Canada have almost a monopoly. late in the autumn there seemed facture. When the vehicle is en- separate compartments connected by various public companies. He power allotment which could not ing organisation it is almost im Of a total of 8,682 such vehicles in the market meny prospective rolled Government will refund to by a corridor running the length of quotes the example of six fleets be spared for the purpose. Mr. possible to secure the right kind imported in the last fiscal year, buyers of this type of vehicle, but the owner the import duty, and the coach on both decks. of motor buses, where all the con- Paul is too canny to betray to of agent. Three leading British only 447 came from the United few salesmen, Army Headquar will also pay to him every six compartment has a table for read. 268 others else ters being besieged by applica months in advance, so long as the ing, cards, or refreshment, and the ditions were identical save two. rival manufacturers the figures firms have set up such organisa-Kingdom and The roads naturally varied a for the racing tyres with which tions, and a few others are ade-where than from North America tions for information concerning vehicle is enrolled, 5 per cent. coach is fitted with a gallery from little, but not enough to affect sundry Britons will this month quately represented by local British suppliers have experienced the conditions for subsidising pur- per annum for the first year and which meals can be served. Forty 7 per cent. for the second and passengers can be carried by day mileage seriously. The discipline essay new records. But he prints agents, but in respect to a num- great difficulty in pushing their chases.
The object of the scheme, of third years on the cost of the and 20 night. on the upkeep side varied enor- the basic principle, which is al ber of makes the local representá- sales owing to the very low and mously. As a result the six flesta ready common knowledge. The tion is quite inadequate to the attractive prices offered by course, is to provide mechanical vehicle. It is officially stated that obtained the following mileages power loss in a racing tyre is needs of the market.
trans-Atlantic competitors. Small transport to supplement existing prolonged experiments and tests from their tyres: 40,236; 87,774; almost proportional to the speed
Mr. Ainscough urges the need initial outlay app aals to the aver-military provision in a national have shown that the six-wheekr 29,786; 17,885; 12,488; and up to a point; and that point is for more direct factory represen-age Indian ommibus owner, as he emergency. Equitable conditions type of vehicle is capable of giv- 12,074. These figures account the moment at which the tyre be- tatives to supervise the appoint has no large capital to invest of purchase in such event are laiding remarkable performances off for the fact that whereas Jones gins to be overstressed, so that if ment and activities of local either in first cost or in the main down. The vehicles or chassis the road or on bad roads; that it must be capable of carrying a has a much lower tyre cost a gets 3,000 from a cover on his the run continues the tyre will agents and to give that personal tenance of a repair organisation. 1928 four-seater Morris-Cowley, rapidly fly into rags, as so many attention to the market which it British Six-Wheelers minimum net load of 30 cwt in mile than a similar capacity four- Brown is bragging of 20,000 miles of the early cord tyres did at receives from our leading foreign The shipments from Britain one category or 3 tons in another, wheeler; and that it gives safe. with a similar cover on a similar Brooklands. It may thus be competitors. In this connection, comprise the heavier vehicles such loads, to be independent at passage of fragile goods, intensi- guessed that the Dunlops now note may be taken of the enter which are largely standardised the weight of body and any fix fied braking power, the elimina- How Tyres Stand the Strain seeking fare overseas have been prise of General Motors, India, a by the tramway companies, which tures to chassis which they are tion of wheel spin, and great re With Incidentally Mr. Paul makes machine-tested at higher speeds subsidiary of the great Motors operate fleets of omnibuses in the normally designed to carry. The duction of road shocks. some very interesting remarks than any of the aspirants will Corporation, in establishing a large centres, and are also used scheduled list of eligible vehicles, this subsidy scheme in existence, about the power absorbed by reach and that at such excessive huge factory at Bombay to assem- by the transport companies in the which are to be equipped with there should be a marked de- tyres; and an under-inflated tyre speeds the tyres were well inside ble and manufacture motor cars ports. This type is seldom seen tyres of British manufacture and velopment of Indian absorption of naturally absorba more horse their safety limit.
and trucks for India, Burma, outside the few large towns and operated with such tyres during / Brilish heavy vehicles.
car.
Each
LOVELY
LINES!!
SURE
IT'S A
“VAUXHALL ”