1935-10-29 — Page 2

Page

FROM HERE AND THREE

In Doncaster twenty additional pedes.rian crossings are. to be fald down

The Ratio

Twelve per 10,000 of the popu lation is the London standard for pedestrian crossings,

This ratio will not apply to the provinces. where the test of adequacy must have relevance to local conditions

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Service Abroad Yet another club for motorists £5 said to have been formed,

which intends to appoint throughout France a chain of British car service stations.

For the Nation

Biggin Dale, comprising 52 acres of land in Dove Valley. Derby- shire, has been presented to the National Trust by Mr. Rober Mc- Dougall of Manchester.

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Over the Rals According to the Ministry or Transport's annual report railway accidents in 1934, one per- son was either killed or injured per 150 public level crossines

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'Planes Startle Drivers When travelling at 130 m.p.h. on the Brooklands, banking it is disconcerting for an aeroplane suddenly to swoop low over one's... head to land at the aerodrome. The Air Ministry, in view of the danger, has banned pilots from landing or dying low at Brook- lands unless, they obtain written permission

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Road Canals

A suggestion; which Sir Henry Segrave put forward years ago in his book "The Lure of Speed" was raised in the House of Com- nions recently when the Minister of Transport was asked if unused canals could be converted into roads for heavy goods trafie

น Good Leps That a driver's legs should be taken into account when selete- ing the most suitable

tended as the "Indianapolis of midget car racing," and over £1,000 is offered in prize-monez.

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Car to River Seen quite frequently on the river now are canoes and other amall craft driven by outboard engines. In the case of canoes an engine can be, braced on to the sides to drive the propeller amidships over ane side: Collap- sible canoes of this type can be carried in the car.

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Not Shock Proof

After considerable experience on the Bench, a Liverpool ma- gistrate jusly thoughout himself" proof against shock, but he de- cided otherwise recently when, a motorist said he had never heard of the Highway Code, much less read it!

Before and After

The Minister of Transport is satisfied, after a local enquiry, that the speed limit need not apply on elev in Edinburgh roads. but he states that he would be glad if the Council would observe the Queensferry road for a year, when it is decontrolled, and com-" pare the accidents with the period when it was limited.

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Speed qua Speed

No endorsements or convictions in three years and 10,000 miles driving are the principal quali- fications for membership of The Order of the Road, yet this or- ganisation, believing that speed quo speed is not a danger, do not count convictions of exceeding the 30 m.p.h, speed limit.

Auto-Camps

A new idea comes from Ger- many, where pícnic grounds ar: to be laid down when the dis-

tance between towns is long.

cost

Handicap

The crease in the duty on' Dieser oils for road transport will the London Passenger Transport type of

Board sum: £55,- 000 for the next year. This sum is estimated on the basis of the present number of oil-engined vehicles used and fallowing for the reduction in duty.

driver is suggested in an Ameri- can paper. Surprisingly „enough it was not a chauffeuse who was under discussion, but truck dri- vers. That good leg formation gives brazing efficiency was the implication.

Midget Marathon Midget car racing has been steadily gaining popularity in. the U.S.A. The culmination of this season's racing will be a 100- mlies race, to be run on Septem- ber 2nd. a Detroit. This is in

MOTOR RACING AS NEWS

Rather better than usual were the new films of the Brooklands August Bank Holiday" raclog, Considering the excellence of the photograpy it is a pity that these flims have to be cut down until they are mere scraps. Perhaps improvement where motor racing is the subject may be expected in: the future, Since Bir Malcolr. Campbell has become à news film - editor."

There is one thing he ought to stop, and that is the indiscriminate use of sound. Last year's She Isley sound strip-the revving of engines waiting for the start-has been known to be added to "shot" of cars racing round the outer circuit at Brooklands!

SPORTING APPEARANCE

2

An argument the other night with a young sporting friend left me feeling a little uncertain

whether one is entitled to use à 11 ik car 摄 sporting perform-

a sporting-lesking has not

ance, writes a correspondent. I happened to say I would like a car that 'looked Nke Mrs. Stewart's Derby Special, that won- derful little razor-back she brought over from Paris for the August Bank Holiday meeting at Brocklands, which on the follow- day secured the women's ap. re- cord" at over 185 m.p.h...

I visualised a Derby Special kind of body, with a hood and mudguards, but with a touring car's speed and docility. My think young. friend seemed to that I would be a fraud to have :- a tourer disguised as speedster. Was he right? I am getting too old for the really high speeds cars are capable of to-day, yet I.. would like a body something like Please, can't the Derby Speciaj.

I look sporting without proving

4.

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Poor Thing

A lorry driver signalled to an- other, by switching on his head lights and pointing downwards

HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1935.

MOTOR JOTTINGS

NEW BRITISH CARS

Greater Engine Power

zonden, Oct. 1

your new British cars were on- nounced yesterday. Three of the four are examples of the new tendency towards greater engine power.

Humber have entirely redesign- ed their six-cyl.nder models-new and larger engines new chassis – and new bodies. Perhaps the most striking feature common to both is the adoption of indepen dent front wheel suspension by means of a massive transverse leaf spring and a divided track rod,"

The conventional front axle is discarded, and each front wheel, controlled by the transverse spring and by shock absorbers can rise and fall independently of the other

This system, which is known as "Evenkeel" is claimed to give not only greater comfort, especially for the

rear passengers. but greater safety, lighter yet steadier steering, and greater stability on corners: It has been rigorously tested over the worst roads in Britain and on Continental navė and cobblestones.

There are two new engines. basically the same in design They are the "Eighteen" of 17.97 h.p. R.A.C. rating to replace the former 16/60, and a new "Sulpe" of 20.88 h.p.. R.A.C.. rating, but actually developing 100 h.p. at 3,400 r.p.m. The latter is the power unit also of new "Pullman,” The tax payable is £13 10s, and £20 5s. respectively.

TOWARDS THE FLOWING LINE

Outwardly the new cars are a radical departure from their pre- decessors. The radiator" is more sharply raked; the windscreen 13 V-shaped with a thin central pillar. and the lines of the bodies and wings are more flowing. Prices remain practically una ter- ed."

A new Alvis with 3-tre engine appears to-day. It is a develop-

with his thumb, that a police carment of the famous "Speed was following behind. The re- sult was a fine of, ten shillings for "obstructing a constable 1 the execution of his duty."

ACTION NEEDED -

An unusual position is reported from Yorkshire. The West Rid- ing county highways authority have, so it appears, been unable to affix to the lamp standards · the requisite de-restriction signs on the Doncaster to Hull road at Edenthorpe, owing to the insis- tence on certain terms of the concern (not a publie authority) owning the standards. Although the road was de-restricted in

March this is not generally known, especially as the tem- porary "30"

signs are still in

place.

IDENTIFICATION

In case there should be any trouble with parked cars on ac- count of obstruction, one re- in Blackpool provides staurant its customers with cards to slip Into the corner of the windscreen, stating at which table in the restaurant the owner is dining. The police or the commissionaire may then quickly discover driver, to have the car moved, Instead of "taking a number.”

the

TROLLEY BUSES MAKE

TRADE

In converting many of its tram- ways to trolley buses the London Passenger Transport Board has given the largest order that has ever placed for trolley buses. Three hundred with all metal bodies are to be acquired, each to carry seventy people.

my right to a car with such an appearance?

Twenty" and its six-cylinder en- gine, rated at 25.83 hp.., is claimed to exceed all previous Alvis stan-· dards in acceleration and speed, while being completely silent in operation.

Alvis were the first British cam- pany to develop and employ in- dependent suspension of the front wheels, and their wellproved sys- tem is retained in the new car, as also is the Aly's Your-speed all-synchromesh gear-box. The chassis, the price of which is £775. will be exhibited at Olym- pla..

The rest of the Alvis range, in- cluding the "Spred Twenty." "Crested Eagle" and "Firebird," is being continued unchanged,

The new big M.G. car was on view yesterday at University Motors' showroom in Picadily It has a two-tre engine-15,96 h.p. R.A.C. rating and £12 tax--- with 10ft 3in wheelbase and aft Sin track. The price is £375.

NEW PUMP INVENTION

A young Cardiff engineer claims to have built in his own garage a pump which "will raise "water from 1,000 feet below ground with power appled from the surface."

A search among 50 years' re- cords has failed to reveal any ' similar pump and the invention has been patented.

It is believed that it will help solve the problem of rural-area water supply and also simplify colliery drainage now burdening the industry in South Wales with heavy charges.

A local engineering firm is negotiating for rights to market the invention, but it is possible that a company will be formed to handle the product.

H

The Inventor, Mr. C. S. le Clair, started work in a London electri- ca; works at 14 years of age. He spent several years in mining engineering in Japan..

He states that the pump can be marketed at prices 25 per cent. lower than existing designs of similar capacity.

A GALLON IN A PIPKIN

"Not many weeks ago I wrote an article entitled: "Where the Money Goes," and I gratefully acknowledged the help I had re- ceived from the Statistical De- partment of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. It termed at the time that I must have drained it dry of informa-" tion-so thirsty was I for facts rather and figures and I felt apologetic. That there was no need to do so and that I had - merely collected a few drops of

water from an ocean of wisdom is proved by the appearance of "The Motor Industry of Great Britain, 1935," which has been compiled by the said Statistical Department.

I believe there is a very small liquid receptacle or measure call- ed a pipki. Well, Mr. Duval, the head of the Statistical Depart ment, and his merry men have succeeded in cramming⚫ not a quart into a pint pot, but a gal. lon into a pipkin-which is some. achievement, In attempting to review this little book (and it is little only 158 pages), I really don't know where to start. Per- haps the beginning would be good place, especially as it deals with the roads, which interest all of us.

WHY ROADS ARE CONGESTED

As I told you in my previous article, there are 1,412 indepen- dent migaway authorities (where- sa ther: ought to be one), and last year there was a total road mileage in Grea; Britain of 177,- 822, made up of 26,663 miles of Class A, 18,774 of

Class -B, and

134,385 of unclassified highways. In 1909 there was only 0.8 of a vehicle to every mile of road; in 1914 he figure had risen to 2,3 vehicles per mile, and last year it was 13.5 which accounts for the conges LTU There is a big time-lag in the publication of official figures dealing with ex- penditure on the roads: the last relate to 1932-33, when the total spent on roads and bridges was £53,818,000, of which only, 11- 184.000 came from the Road Fund. while £39,017,000 was raised, irom the rates. This shows a most un- satisfactory state of affairs, for the revenue in 1933 from motor vehicle taxation alone was over £32.500,000, and much less than half of it went to the roads.

Another disappointing fact is that the amount spent per mile of Class A read in 1930-31-£468--- had dropped to £386 in 1932-33,

W

Part II of the book deals with motor taxation, and starts with a useful summary of the laws on ̧ this subject from 1708, when the Turnpike Acts commenced, until 1. makes one the present time.

think sad to

of the good old days from 1897 to 1900-when the total annual taxation on even a big car was £4 48.

AVERAGE TAXATION

From a most claborate table we find that in 1954 the receipts from motor taxation, including the petrol-tax, amounted to £74,869,- 928, and that "the" average per vehicle worked out a £31,28. Apart from the petrol duty the receip were £32,569,928, £13.61 per vehicle, and. £42,300,- 000 came from the petrol tax.

or

In a chapter devoted to motor legislation we are reminded that. the Ministry' of Transport waa born in 1919, and that the Roads Act, which imposed the 1 per h.p. tax on private cars reduced on January 1st this year to 158 per h.p.) was passed in 1920. So we are piloted onward, via the Road Truffle Act of 1930, to the

MOASUTO identically named

01 1934 Page 35 contains a table, which makes one giddy, setting out the legal requirements in connection with various classes of vehicles. After studying it one marvels at the survival of auto. mobilism amid

this veritable 'muelstrom of legislation.

".

Last year 258,886 private cars and taxis were produced in the United Kingdom. This is an in- crease from 220,779 in 1933, and 71,396 in 1923. Our production of private cars, taxis, and com- / mercial vehicles in 1934 was 342 - - 498. That of the USA in the same period was 2,778,7901 One ericouraging fact is that £109 worth of car. In 1924 could have been bought for £51.8 last year,

Then we come to some interest- ing estimates of the numbers

employed in the motor cycle and aircraft industries. Last year there were 242,711, or thereabout. directly employed, and about a million more indirectly. The average weekly wage in 1934 was”: 798, 47d. In 1914 16 was 40s, 10§d), and the highest point touched was 815, 6d, in March, 1929. Dur- ing the financial crisis the aver- age fell in October, 1931, to 68s 11d.

Wakefield

Castrol

Motor

Oil

Better

"The Lubricant ot

Motoring"

C. C. Wakefield & Co., Ltd,

THE BEST PLACE TO SELL CARS: THE TAIKOO DOCKYARD & ENGINEERING

By the way, there are in the United Kingdom 20,364 registered motor retailers, of whom - 13,558

The handle new cars. annual

average vehicle

number of new sales per retaller is 17. the ex- tremes being 7 in Rutland and 33.2 in Warwickshire. The latter would seem to be a good spot ini which to start a motor business!

Some idea of the size and im- Fortance of the industry is gain- ed from the fact that 650,000 tons of iron and steel, 40,000 tons of rubber, 52,000,000 "board feet" of hardwood, 1,157,000 square feet of leather, and 3,740,000 yards 'of cloth upholstery were used by it last year. Petrol consumption is estimated at the astronomical figure of 1,176,080,000 gallons, while 30,311,000 gallons of lub- ricating oil and 8,300,000 electric bulbs were used. (No wonder one

sees so

drums many empty oli knocking about!)

From all this-and the fact that motor and petrol taxation represents one-eleventh of the whole revenue of the country— the authors of the books are, I think, justined in saying that motor manufacturing and dis- tribution "must be the country's most important industry'"

There is, naturally, a mass of figures relating to imports and main exports, from which the points emerging are that both are rising, the former very rapidly. though they are considerably out- numbered by the latter.

Part VI deals with motor vebi- cle registrations.. In September last there were in use in the United Kingdom 1.333.590 private cars, 420,799 "commercials," and 533,458 me.or cycles, making, with hackneys and "oddments," a total of 2.407.471 vehicles. Of the private cars there were 1,153.- 784 in England, 101.312 in Scot- land. 53,329 in Wales, and 25.165 in Northern Ireland. The most popular size was 8 h.p. Next in order-all running into six figures were the 12 h.p. 10 bp., and 14 h.p. classes. After London," which had 110,078 private cars last September. came the Wars of the Roses. with Yorkshire win- ning by 102331 to Lancashire's 97.164.

|| AVERAGE LIFE OF A CAR In the United Kingdom thera were 19.39 people to every private car, goods vehicle and motor cycle. The average life of a pri vate car is estimated to be 7.9

'. years. "

We learn that the total number of private cars and taxis in use throughout the world, last year was 29 038,319, there being 23,094.- 837 in America, 4,521,702 Europe, €31.508 in Oceania, 411,013 in Asia, and 379,261 in Africa. In Europe. France led with 1,415,173," and the United Kingdom came next with 1,333,590,

One could go on almost for ever quoting from this amazing book, but I think I have written enough to show you the kind of encyclopaedia it really is." You can buy a copy for half-a-crown from the 8.MM.T.. at 83, Pail Mall, S.W.1. Giving it away, I call -H. C. L. in "The Autocar"

48,000 MOTORISTS ATTENDED

How many cars do you think went to the A'dershot Tattoo this year? 48,4861 This is 6,908 more cars than have ever gone before.. The previous record was in 1933, when 41,578 cars were parked. Last year both the attendance figures and the number of cars. were slightly lower than in 1933, although before, there had been: a steady increase. The total at- tendance year was a record (483,- 000) the previous bestngure (421,600) being In 1938. -

COMPANY OF HONGKONG, LIMITED.

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From Messrs. Sulzer Bros., Winterthur. Licensed To Manufacture Lanz Perlit Iron. Specially Suitable For Internal Combustion Engine Working Parts.

DOCK & SLIPWAYS.

FOR DOCKING VERY LARGE AS WELL AS SMALLER VESSELS,

ON ANY TIDE.

HE

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