MOTORS AND MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2204, 17 July 1914, Page 11

MOTORS AND MOTORING

[Br Clutch.]

lira Tax Proposal. , As a 'country 'resident, writes "Talbot/' I must object to tile latest nroposal to put «a tax % iii>on tires. This must or jjeeessity !hib us countrj' residents, unhurjy as the mileage- we net otjt of our tires is not to bo compared wtih that enjoyed by city motorists, who have cood streets and roads, and reauiro loss horse-power. benzine, and general wear and tear. Besides.'a tax on tires woiild be a direct incentive toraahy .local authorities to put broken rocks on their roads, for tho more tires destroyed tho greater would bo their revenue. There are some local authorities who would like to: prohibit-all motor traffic, and want, a tax levied by way of a penalty to discourage • motoring,'and who wish to use the revenue from tho motor tax for any purpose whatever at their discretion. You will see that in Mr. Fletcher's amendment, carried at the Local Bodies' Conference, as reported in Friday's Dominion. The local bodies apparently. do not wish to spend the money for the upkeep and improvement of main ■ roads. A most serious objection to the scheme is thatin this case the taxpayer is to have no say in the levying or expenditure of the money. Since Great- Britain lost the United States this principle has been looked.upbn as unfair and undemocratic by Britishers,'.and yet-wo find the local bodies in conference "aflirm the principle." ' ■ ~ . It would indeed be hard to find a scheme of taxation by which nobody would be unfairly liit, but if tho'money is for main roads only, why tax the taxi-cab, which plies in the city only—or the motor lorry, which seldom comes in the country!' We are undoubtedly-entering upon a motoring age,' and a care, should be taken not to cheek it. Time is more valuable, life is more strenuous, labour costs m'oro than anything, else, and is 'hard to obtain; and many who can illafford it have motors so that they iliay get. to. town' sometimes, between, cowtime- and cow-time. Otherwise' they would liavo to. wait till winter. And as it is witli dairying, so it'is with any other farming nowadays. , . -' ' The writer-cannot otter a satisfactory scheme of taxation;' but submits , that, whatever is imposed', must bo fair in its incidence, and must be .spoilt for tub benefit of the taxpayer, and must not be. a penalty tax—like the English petrol tax,.which.is being hoarded by tho Limehouse Chancellor for purposes ot reliefworks during/ future. periods of unemployment. J. suggest that the hat be passed round, and the motorists be asked to subscribe for, say, two .dozen twenty-ton steam road rollers to be presented to, the local bodies who feel inclined to use them. We can never have good' roads until ,a solid foundation is built, and'this will take many years of rolling, and in the meantime the big boulders would be pressed in and the surface' kept: tolerably ley,el- - ee ' sure motorists would subscribe, for we all want better roads, and are prepared to pay to get them. . Road 1 Improvement -Work. Road-making experiments are in ' the air. "'Headers'"of this column will have noticed that scarcely a week goes by but that new lhcthods are either dis- : cussed or decided on by county councils iiv .the'., three provinces. ' _ The Horowhenua Council at its meeting last Saturday ■ discussed a proposal to purchase a road roller as recommended by the engineer'(Mr. J. Malcolm), but decided to hold it over for tho new council to deal with! In his recommendation, Mr. Malcolm urged'the purchase of a ten-ton roller, convertible into a traction engine, and the latest and best type of. scarifier, v Hawkc's Bay councillors have ap-pointed-themselves en bloc as a ,committee to' consider the advisability'of . declaring ' the Napier-Hastiiigs-Fornhill- ■ Napier: road >' main road, and treating that portion between'the cityboundary and' Awatoto and Taradale >with. tarred macadam; Some councillors expressed the opinion that the old methods were quite satisfactory, but the general view 6eemed to be that the cost of maintenance was" getting too high and , permanent work was needed. '''.-. The Waimato West Council has purchased a 17J-ton road roller to be delivered at Msinaia under steam trial at .£BOO.. The overseer, Mr. Lopdell, who is leaving to .take up a new post, with Stratford County, reported that tho new stone-crusher was at work, and was giving a splendid sample, equal to handcrushed, at. a. saying in cost per day of £ti 15s. . Mr. Lopdell stated, that _ the tarring work done had. fully justified its cost , in plant, otc. . At the; Oroua County meeting tho: chairman (Mr.'Hugh Burrell) said ho proposed to ask the council to set iip n committee to consider the question of the' purchase of a ' stone-crusher. A good, foundation of the roads was neces-. siiry 'before 'the council commenced to tar,tho' surface's. A committee was set up accordingly. , '•,' . An experiment in treating 30 chains of road formation at Otano with con; crete .'s proposed by the Patangata County Council, which has asked Hawke's Bay County to assist. < Tlie chairman of, the. latter bodv, (Mr. P. XGordon) said that to do'what was asked would be catering for - one class of traffic, and ho still favoured- the small farmer. Councillor: Crosse said it wafc proposed to construct a : track only. A road specially constructed, for motor traffic would be v broken -tlio first time a; traction engine passed. over it. It was decided to suggest a conference between the two bodies.,, Eltham County has 'purchased a motor-lorry for carting metal , at a cost of £1000.'. It was stated that a motor lorry would carry four yards of metal, and would make four trips in the time ft - metal-wagon with four horses would take li yards of metal in one trip. One metataart trip would cost 355., so that the advantago ras obvious'. The motorlorry would do. the work at a quarter of the cost the .horses would do it 'at, and it did not damage tho roads. Tho' comity is also about to take a poll on a proposal to raise a lopii.of £30,000 for road-iraprovemcnt, work. Last Year's Registrations. The motor import returns for last year were published in this column some weeks'ago, and yesterday an interesting set of registration figures, collated by the Eritish Trade Commissioner for the year ending ill April, came to hand. These give the total number and nationality of cars and cycles registered during the twelve months as follow:— Cars. Cycles. • 1914 1013 191-1 1013 British ...":1,052 GM 3,530.2,778 Other ... 2,697 1,945 3(52 303 Unknown... 90 123 225 153 3,809 2,708 4,117 3,231 ■ Dnring the last year the motor-car imports totalled 2913. and the niotorcyelo 2G91, go it would appear that tlie registrations do not represent machines brought into the Dominion during tho twelve months. The difference is probably accounted for by the wider enforcement .of the Motor Regulation 'Act. Tho registration in the various districts during- the period were as under: Cars. Cycles. Auckland and Poverty Bay, 748 -107 Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Tarnnaki 1,814 1,904 Westtond and Nelson J 53 , ICQ Canterbury 751 1,123 Otago and Southland 403,' 517 3,809 4,117' Main Roads control. State control of main roads is a frequent topic of discussion at'county council meetings. At the Horowhenua meeting on Saturday the subject crop-

!.ped up. Councillor Venn said that if the Govornment kept the subsidies and taxed motor cars to raise funds for tho maintenance of the main roads it would bo bettor for the local bodies and owners of cars. Councillor Richards said the Wellington Local ■ Bodies' Conference was against the Government taking over the main roads as it would prove too costly; tho ratepayers would liavo to pay in some way. Councillor. Monk considered it would be better if tho Government took over the main roads. At present tho main roads cost four or. five times as much as they did ten years ago. This was not.due to local traffic, but to through traffic. The main'road in the southern portion of tho county at any rato .had got beyond the council, and was not being kept in tho order that it should. <• -' At the Oroua County Council's meeting Councillor M'Elroy said it was true motor traffic had effected a revolution in respect to tho methods for keeping roads in repair, and it appeared to him the time had arrived when the State should have tile care of tho main roads throughout the county, or at any rato give material assistance towards • the cost of repairing them. The chairman .(Mr. H. Burrell) said it would be much more economical for the Government to scbsidise the local bodies in respect to maintenance, as the latter would --get 20s. worth of work dono for 205., but not so the Government. Rotorua County Council has also been, discussing State maintenance of roads, not so much in ! its. general aspect, but in consequence of' the Public Works Department handing over a number of .what tho council declares to bo tourist roads to it'to maintain. Complaint was also made by tho chairman of the and uncompleted nature of formation work done by the Department. Lower Hutt Traffic Scandal. Apropos of the reference to unlighted vehicles in; Lower Hutt 'Borough, pub-, lished a 'fortnight ago in this column, a city motorist who has occasion,to, go through, the borough on one evening . each 'week, states his experience is that the lighted vehicle is the exception. The Lower Hutt Council keeps an alert eye On motorists running above the speed limit,. but it. seems to take little interest in making its roads safe at night time for travellers. The laxity of .a big suburban borough like this ill insisting on the. proper lighting of'vehicles is an-' other argument for putting tho whole regulation of vehiclo_ lighting throughout the Dominion directly under tho control of tho police. Wellington Automobile Club. This club was -represented at "the Automobile Union-Conference by three members, in addition to the secretary. It is- stated that the annual meeting is to take place shortly. ,It .is to bo hoped that the upshot of the nni nual meeting will be completely to diaI sipato any'Sdubt ns to the vitality of the club. In last week's reference to the club an injustico was inadvertently done to Mr. W.' Beanchamp-Platts,. secretary of tho New- Zealand Automobile Union.' Mr. Platts was not ignorant as to the continued existence of the. club, as might bo inferred from one sentence, but was unaware who wero to bo the' club' delegates to tho conferenco Eltham Again. ' ' Much has 1 been • heard of Eltham's good roads, and among the latest enoh ; tho subject aro the mem-' hers of tlio Machinery Committee of the Wanganui County Council, who recently paid a . visit of inspection to Eltham.' County. Mr. W. J. Poison, Wanganui County chairman, eaid he allowed that the methods the council emplojed were a most expensive process. Mr. Poison said thero was no'doubt that once the road was laid, 'after given the treatment of top-dressing, the'council obtained something that was not only lasting, but something that ■ gave ah infinitely bettor road surface than the bulk of the counties possessed. Tho party were conveyed over a road of papa formation, Maugamingi' he thought was the name of it. In it there were_ steep 'gradient's, deep cuttings, and sidings. It must have, been a costly road to' make. One hill was over four and a half niiles long. Although it was raining ana wet at the time, the surface of the road was ; as smooth as the surfaco of tho table before thorn. Thero was nothing like it in tho Wanganui county. With.tho weather as'it then was, it would, have -taken a staunch horso to get through the . Wanganui county roads. It was a, revelation for him to discover that shell roclc roads could be maintained ill such perfect order. The Eltham Council laid roads down in broken metal, then rolled. it in, and then top-dressed it with .'tar preparation. The visitors saw roads that had been laid down two and a half years. Mr. Basham told them that to redress these roads would cost 30s. per chain. On some roads it would cost 15s. per chain. Tho sum of 15s. per, chain every three years was practically all the roads required to keep them in a great deal better order tlian any road in the Wanganui County. • Tho first dressing, Mr. Poison went <jn, made a good smooth road. It is expensive to put down the foundation. ,'lne dressing did not seem to be costly. Mr. Basham, he said, gave the committee some startling figures. ; Tho ' rate that .had been levied in the past was as high as'3d., and the roads were-villainous. Under, tho new system the rate was lid., .and the ratepayers.. had first-class roads. This was, no small achievement, Mr. Poison; said, .in . a country lying near Mount Egmont and subject to continual wet. The, machinery used was not over-' expensive. Tho committee estimated tho cost of plant at something like £2000, including a road-roller, motor-lorry, tarsprinkler, crusher, and everything necessary. Hints and Tips. When a car is now, the paintwork is a very delicato thing, and requires great care if it is desired to last. Plenty of cold water is good for it,' and a washing each day, whether tho car has been used or not, will help to harden the varnish. Precautions against damp should be taken, and it is a fatal thing to leavo a wet cloth or sponge on the paintwork for any length of time. A gentle rubbing with linseed oil on a soft rag tends to smooth tho varnish and give it a good finish. This is especially useful for removing scratches or the marks left by anything that- .chafes against the varnish, such as a fold of tho hood. In removing the cylinders to scrape out the carbon deposit, it is useful to romomVer that where the dimensions do not allow the hand to btf inserted into the cylinders, a piece of "card clothing" or '"filleting —similar to the wire brush of a tire repairing outfit —nailed on the ond of a piece ot wood will clean out crevices "that a screwdriver never touolies. 8 The only satisfactory way of repairing n really bad burst—that is, anything over 2 inches long—is, by fitting a sleeve, which means cutting out the damaged part and inserting a length of new tubing. On the way this is done depend, to a great extent, the lasting qualities of the repair. Dr.less the utmost care is taken a leak is certain. Instructions for effecting this repair are contained in the "Light*cnr and Cyclecar" of May 18. "The great majority of motorists are. so afflicted with tho idea that an excessively weak mixture means a cool engine j' whereas oxactly tho opposite is tho case, that this , popular fallacy cannot bo contradicted, too often." So

writes "Jet" in the "Auto-car," in advising another correspondent troubled with boiling on hills, to use a larger jet. or cut clown his extra air—the former for preference. Ordinary gaslitters' white load is tho best material to smear on the threads of a leaky acetylene burner before screwing it into place. Great care should be taken to prevent any of the white lead stopping up the hole in the burner. A tail lamp often goes out from lack of air as well as lack of oil. Sometimes the air-holes around the bottom of the lamp become coated with mud, and great improvement can be effected by enlarging them with a 6iuall round file. Here and There. Legal litrhting-up time for motor-cars' and motor-cycles: To-day, '4.42 p.m.; next Friday, 4.49 p.m. Motors are increasing in Auckland at a rapid rato. The number of car licenses issued during tho first half of toe "'Fir was 273, as against 205. for the corresponding period of last year, TTio motor-cycle figures increased from 107 to 158. Dannevirko County Council is considering the 'question of getting its overseer a motor-car. ' Sir 'Donald' Munro Ferguson, P.C., Gorembr-General of the Commonwealth, has accepted - the office of patron to the Automobile Club of Australia, recently made vacant by the departure of Lord Penman. Mr. J. B. Richards, President of tho Stratford Mountain Club, writes stating that his club is not advocating the route to Mount fegmont, via Eltham. He points out that access from Stratford is shorter and better graded than by any other route from the railway. The distance from Stratford to the [ Mountain House is under nine miles, while tho distance from tho railway by the Eltham -route is nearly double.. Moreover the route of ascent of the summit is much easier and safer from the Stratford side, and all joints of interest aro within easy walking distance of tho Stratford Mountain House. 1 The ascent of the summit bo made quite conveniently from Stratford town in one day if visitors' so desire. A cycle-car which caught fire in a Wellington garage through a leakage of petrol, the other day was saved from, destruction by ' tho prompt application of a fire-extinguishing power now being put on the market by Messrs. Temple and Son, of C. M. Banks's Building- ■

MOTORISTS' DIRECTORY