1934-12-18 — Page 2

Page

INSURANCE TRAPS

Foolish Economies Which May Result In Financial

From time

to time

Loss

warnings

have been issued against the folly

of attempting motor car

ini

to economise

'A insurance.

main form of economy is that which achleves a low premium rate by limitations оп the b: means polley, and the most frequently Incorporated clause of this type is that which restricts the ap- the plication of the policy to owner alone in other words, the" "owner only driving" clause. The result of this is that that car may no be lent to anyone unless the owner satisfies himself that the person to whom he proposes to lend the car has a policy that will apply to the machine. This Is not always possible. Supposing, instance, the car is being for tested by a mechanie after re- pairs and an accident occurs: it may be that the firm employing the man has no polley covering this contingency, and difficulties would then certainly arise.

owner was

fifus- Of vital importance, as trating to those whose policies Incorporate an "owner only driv- ing" clause the danger they run in careless lending of their care, is a recent decision of the Court of Appeal when an held responsible for personal in- juries to a third party caused when his car was being driven by a friend of the person to whom he had lent it. This owner had a Lloyd's policy of the "owner only driving" type, and consequently had to foot the bill himself. The car was lent to a man whose friend when the accident was driving

The borrowers were occurred.

be liable admitted to

in negli- gence, but were unable to satisfy

judgment the

signed against 'them. Neither of the borrowers was an agent or servant of the the owner was held owner, but responsible for damages by Mr. Justice Charles, and this decision was upheld by the Appeal Court. Section 35 of the Road Traffic Act of 1930 provides that it shall not be lawful for any person to use. or cause or permit any other per- son to use. a motor car on a road unless a polley of such insurance as is required by the Act is in force. The owner, by limiting his

policy. had rot provided for the parting of control of his car to uninsured friends.

it is Another point on which advisable to warn motorists when they are contemplating cut-rate Insurance is the seldom-realised ane that what is known as the strict "Road Traffic Act covar." which is the bare minimum of In- surance necessary to comply with of the Act, does not the terms apply to passengers, unless such passengers are being carried by rea. son of or in pursuance of a contract of employment. The terms of the policies issued by the better com- pantes, of course, cover claims made by passengers against the driver. The results of a claim made by passengers against the driver may be serious if. for in- stance, he Joses amb and is thereby deprived of his yell hood; again, an actress, or some- one dependent on personal ap- might receive facial pearances, injuries that would mar a career. Admittedly, claims by passengers are difficult to sustain, and it is unlikely in ordinary circumstan- ces that a friend would bring an action, but it is a possibility against which it is unwise not to be 10- sured

Motorists are not always well acquainted with everyone to

whom they offer lifts."

Consider all the Circumstances Before any limitation ofthe full cover as offered by the best com pantes is accepted. Owners should most closely consider all the circumstances that may con- ceivably arise. The effect of a heavy claim, against which one is not insured, on people of ordinary financial means should not need to be pointed out

In the choice of companies with, which to insure, again, care-must be exercised. The better-class offices have reputations for gene- of rous and speedy settlemen: claims, for a gratia payments. and so forth, Others. lesa, hap- plly

placed financially, cannot afford to be other than niggardly and to comply only strictly with their bargains. It is well to close with the opening sentence on the folly of attempting, to economise in insurance.

Deadly Crossings

The Dazzle Nuisance

Dazzle is again becoming a nuis- ance. Two winters ago we could say with truth that the problem was solving itself, because all new cars were being fitted with head lamps which either dipped their beams or both dipped and turned them left. On the strength of that development two successive Ministers of Transport were per- suaded that there was no need for regulations (except possibly to limit the power of sidelights), which would only embarrass manufacturers and inventors.

Unhappily there has been back- sliding. The few weeks of winter time have already proved that there is more dazzle to be encoun tered than a year ago, and this in spite of the fact that 90 per cent. of cars are now estimated to be fitted with anti-dazzle devices and that nine drivers in ten use them with courteous efficiency.

user.

It a constant source of dazzle to every approaching vehicle or road Its owner, who thinks he is always the Uttle gentleman about dazzle, may not realise that he is being heartily cursed by those he passes;

A popular alternative device is the separate' lamp, usually of the flat-top beam pattern, which is awitched on when the head-lamps are switched off. Here, again, the intention is good, but the execu- tion faulty. If that lamp is not -properly adjusted and kept so it

is blinding to meet,

Inventors are at making ex- periments but so far the only en- tirely reliable and foolproof anti- dazzle device ta that which dips both bead-lamps

Hall Accidents at. Cross Roads A striking fact emerges from the plans of the main roads-Chiswick High-road, Fulham Palace-road, Commercial-road, E, and Lewis- ham High-road-labelled by the Minister last week as four of the wolst for acciderita in London. On the plans were plotted the sites- of all reported accidents in which death or injury was caused. There were in all 671 accidents. Of that total no fewer than 387, consider- ably more than half, occurred at crossings or road junctions.

Yet those drivers must share the blame with the manufacturers for a state of anairs which has caused Whitehall once more to produce its twice-discarded ré- gulations. Many of the new cars are being fitted, presumably for the sake of economy, with so-call- ed dipping devices which do nos thing more than switch off the off-side head-lamp. That is not nearly so good as the former dip- and-swivel arrangement, but It". might pass as an anti-dazzle.de-ents of last year 1,493 out of 6,942. vice if the near-side lamp, al- though rigid, were accurately ad justed and aligned.

Lamp Must be Adjusted Possibly (but by no means cer- tainly) that lamp was focussed when the car was delivered so as to point well to the felt and not foo high, but there is no guarantee that it will remain, so. The chan ces are that the settling of the springs, or a bump or two on the Toad or a garage hand pushing against the lamps, will soon make

In the report on the fatal accid-

were found to have occurred at crossings or road junctions, or considerably less than a quarter.

HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18,

MOTOR JOTTINGS

SCOTTISH MOTOR A SUPERLATIVE

SHOW

Commercial Exhibits

The Commercial Motor Transport Exhibition is only held in London every two years, and, therefore, the Scottish Motor Show, which is, an annual event and includes com- mercial vehicle exhibita, is of par- ticular importance as showing the trend of design and development in the interval. This year's show at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, is the largest ever held in Scotland and reflects the increase registered in the last few years in the use of motor vehicles in that country..

Statistics show, that in 1933 there was an increase of 11 per cent over the number of goods vehicles re- gistered the previous year, and an increase of 22.4 per cent over the amber recorded for 1931. The 11 months' total for the current year has already shown remarkable pro- gress amounting to 42.5 per cent over the totals for 1933.

Loudon's Choice

ex-

Turning now to the actual

in the commercial vehicle hibits section, particular interest is arous-, ed by the "A.E.C. "Q"-type single- deck luxury coach, in view of the large order placed recently by the London Transport for 100 "Q"-type

buses,

an Powered by A.E.C. Ricardo 6-cylinder pil engine developing 115 hp, and fitted with luid transmission, this model is outstanding by reason of the fact that the power unit is mounted outside the chassis frame behind the offside front wheel. The effect of the is to leave the whole of the chassis space available for passen- ger accommodation. The driving i placed right forward which, in ad dition to giving the driver an un- interrupted view of the road enables him to watch the entry and exit cf passengers, thus relieving the conductor of this work.

יד

Steering On Four Front Wheels Another interesting exhibit is the AEC. Mammoth Major 8 wheel chassis for 14/15 ton pay loads. The design includes a steering gear in- terconnected through a swing link,

so that all four front wheels steer

Great care

together and give an exceptionally good steering circle. has been taken in designing the steering mechanism, with the re- sult that the steering effort is no greater than that required for normal vehicle.

a

Very Modern Design Among the Thornycroft exhibits the new lightweight 7-8 ton oll- engined chassis is prominent and is shown for the first time. The generous use of Elektron and other lightweight metals has kept the unladen weight low, while giving a large pay load capacity. The new model is known as the Trusty and can be atted with either a petrol or all power unit.

The frame is notable for the depth of the longitudinals." the maximum being 104 Ins, while amidships there is a substantial crticiform bracing.

SETTING

Morris House

At a cost of £600,000 what are claimed to be the inest motor show-rooms in London, if not in the world. have just been opened in Berkeley Square by Stewart and Ardern, Ltd, the Morris distributors. The show- rooms comprise four floors with

1.

famous

total floor space of 40,000 square feet. the equipment being the last word in up-to-date off- clency. To give some indication of the magnitude of this enter- prise it may be mentioned that

million bricks, 2,500 tons of steel, and 25 miles of piping have been used in the construction of the building., which provides a magnificent setting for the com- plete range of Morris cars that will be displayed there. dition to the new vehicles there will be used cars of all makes on show in a space specially allotted to them, while the firm's insur- ance. hire-purchase,

In ad-

technical

and driving instruction, spare parts and week-end spare parts service departments will find home in the new building.

At an Inaugural luncheon Lord Nutheld formally declared Morris House open, but there was little else of formality in the proceed-

ings. Mr. Gordon Stewart, head of Stewart and Ardern. Ltd., re- called the early days of the firm and paid a warm tribute to Lord Numeld's courage and foresight in launching out, when "full-blood- ed" vehicles were the vogue, on the production of light which were to be within reach of the man in the street.

1934.

MOTOR - BOAT RECORDS

ORANGE LANTERN FESTIVAL

London

The Festival of the Orange Lanterns struck the eyes of the Chinese misdon which has just come to London to study com municatons, writes cent,

So Much to Learn

Our poor country is underdeve- loped." is was explained." "We have so much to learn about rail-

and ways; a correspon.

post:

telegraphs. roads."*

When I asked about road deaths in China, the Vice-Minis- ter moved his hands in' depreca-. tion. In that, also, poor China was so backward.

One member seemed to think :

Gold Medal Awarded that the Belisha beacons were a

To Mr. Scott-Paine

Mr. Hubert Scott-Paine, who won all the chief prizes at the international motor-buat race meeting at Venice this year, has been awarded the gold medal of the international Motor Yachting Union for the best performance of the year. The award Was made at the annual meeting of the union in Brussels and the medal has been presented to Mr. Scott-Paine. His success at Venice was obtained with a boat of his own design and construe- tion, fitted with a single Napler (1,375 h.p.) engine.

subtle compliment to his country- men.

He was a little man in morning dress.

street, We met in the bowed three times and raised our hats...

2000 Welcomes

Pointing out one of the yellow bowls. I explained, "Honourable visitor, two thousand welcomes to You. our most miserable city. to-day, do our despicable Mini- ster of Transport the honour of calling at his lowly shack In Whitehall

"Behold his latest device, the beacon, not to be compared with your own beautiful and honour- able lanterns". «

We bowed again głowed.

4

His face

Mr. Scott-Paine bas announced his intention to give up motor- boat racing. and the award of the medal marks the climax of a racing career which began 25 years ago, and has brought him 102 first prizes in national and pinky-pan-tink-tinkle-tong," which

In the International events.

being roughly translated, meant,

I explained the scheme to him at length Then he said: “Inky-"

wolf

I suppose, "The prowling of the streets yelps impotently at

course of that long racing life, he has never had a mechanical

the yellow moon, and, lo! a failure in a race, In 1916 he bullt the first flying-boat which reach-

sheep pass over in safety." ed a speed of 100 miles an hour, and in 1922 he built and entered for the race the British dying- boat which took the Schneider Trophy from the Italians.

Latterly, he has given up the construction of seaplanes

the

Welter of Bowing W

.That ended the conversation, so I called on the head of the mis- sion, the Vice-minister of Com- munications. Mr. Yu Fei Peng. in

oficials Many Chinese rounded his flat, and there was a welter of bowing before the Hon- ourable Minister himself gave the most graceful series of bows of the lot, his hands elegantly fold- ed

favour of motor-boats. The boat which won the world's cham- pionship in 1929, with a speed of 92.6 miles an hour, was built by His him for Sir Henry Segrave. cars

recently designed and constructed high speed motor-boats for the Navy and the RAF

STZ-

Paris, Berlin, Rome had been so kind as to let the members inves- tigate communications there,

N

Mr. Yu arrived only last night and he had not seen a Bellsha beacon, so I led him to the win- dow, rapidly explaining the plan. and describing the bowls as ripe. pomegranates.

I looked at the street. Mr. Yu. and the interpreter looked, and sit we could see were two black and white sticks. The glory of the yellow globes was gone. My curses on the rapscallions who :

took them away.

Mr. Yu smiled politely, folding his hands. He said something in a low voice.

The interpreter bowed and ex- plained. "The constructor of the but vanished bowls beautiful

at this moment. EX- awaits us cuse?"

Mortifed, I left, but I think the Idea has seeped through and that the poet of the mission will write:

Belisha The great

gardener,

Causes grey

pavements

To blossom Like the Lotus.

He hangs bright Oranges Everywhere

Only They are Inedible.

Catching Up

The tallor consulted his books. "Oh, yes, stir. Here we are. Four Eton Jackets with trousers, supplied in 1879."

An aged man went to visit his Lord Numeld told the large

Mr. Yu is tall, prefectly dressed, tallor. the party of guests present at

with short hair, and humorous, "I want a few more suits for the

·Mr. opening ceremony" "how

brown eyes. He does not speak winter," he said, but, in the mean- Stewart, by ordering 400 Mooris cars before even

had found how the sound which ul English, but through an inter- time, of course, I will pay some- one car

to timately invades the compartment. preter, he expressed his pleasure thing off the old account What's been bulit, had done much

at being able to bring his humble the next thing on the list unpaid?" make possible the start of the is caused, how it reaches the pas mission to this magnificent city. company which has its headquar- senger's ear, and how it is affect- ters in the vast factory at Cowed by the type of ballast used on the permanent way and by the ley. "There has beep," said Lord Numeld "a turnover of £1,000. type of wheel. 000 between Stewart and Ardern and ourselves since those pre- war days." His Lordship also mentioned that in 1914, just be- fore the outbreak of war, he had plans ready for the production of a fully fledged light car to sell at £125. Throughout the ups and downs the successes and dis- appointments which had occur red "since the Armistice, Mr. Stewart and his partner, Mr. G. EL Upjohn had done magnificent the Morris cause. He workin wished every possible good thing to them in this their latest and greatest enterprise.

TRAINS TO BE STREAMLINED

Research Work Under Way

(Special Air Mail Service)

London, Nov. 27. Tests with a view to the intro- duction ΟΙ streamlined railway care in emerging from side roads trains and high-speed "rallway Into or across main roads. In travel in Great Britain will be made towns, wherever the traffic is at a new research station which thick, there should be “stop” lines. the Department of Selentine and or signs; elsewhere the "Major Industrial Research is considering Road Ahead" sign, which settles setting up

In conjunction with

Bir

the question of priority besides the four railway companies. giving warring, is the one approv The experiments will be on the ed by the departmental committee same lines as those at the Aero- last year. The chairman,

nautical Department of the Henry Maybury, called it "the National Physical Laboratory, signal likely to be of the greatest service in minimising the risk of

dents":

view of all this the Road Fund report with its disclosure that outside Wales and the Home Counties less than 1,000 of these signs had been erected in the whole island is staggering. There ought to be 1,000 in every county,

That's Talent!

Two friends, one married and the The London Agures, and the clear other a bachelor were 10, the let of evidence of the black spots on play, admiring the performance of the plans, thick round every im- a famous actor.

It will also bring the railways into line with shipbuilding, which, -in tests, is able to tell how a ship: will behave in gales, high seas, or speed attempts.

· TRACING TRAIN DUST The rallways already have thelz individual research stations, where the comfort of passengers is. as it were, examined under the microscope.

An investigation just completed has discovered the origin and dis- tribution of dust in trains, and methods have been evolved to re- duce it. She arr

It has been found that about half the dust is blown up from the portant intersection and sparse Boy Jove," the married man ballast on the track, the other elsewhere, are making the experts marmured, "he's wonderful. The half coming from the chimney of entirely reconsider the place of way he displays affection toward the engine, the crossings in the causation of the leading lady, eh?"--

Certain positions in the train, accidents.

"Yes pretty good, the bachelor particularly the second and agreed, “but you know he's been coaches are ““more married to her for eighteen years" „cumulate dust than "What? Really married? Gost--- Research worker

been dealing tal

Major Road Signs

It is clear that drivers must be made or induced to exercise more

what an

an actor

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· Plozeer Manufacturers of Commercial Setor Vehlalan

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