MOTOR AND MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2306, 13 November 1914, Page 9

MOTOR AND MOTORING

[By OiiTJioH.]

A Good Roads Association. The good roads movement is again coming to the fore. A district in which particular interest has been aroused in the subject is Hamilton, and tho Chamber, of Commerce thorp at a meeting held this week has decided to communicate with other Chambers and local bodies with a view to forming a Good Roads Association. Hie movement is one that deserves encouragement, for such an association could undoubtedly do a great deal of good work by educating public opinion, arousing the interest of backward local bodies, and collecting data as to the results of the experimental work that has been tried in different parts of the country.

Some interesting remarks were made by Mr. Norman Gribble, secretary of the Farmers' Union, at the Hamilton meeting. Mr. Gribble said he believed it would be considerably to the advantage of New Zealand if the Government, instead of putting in light railways in certain places, put down good service roads, of proper grade and formation. They would then he creating a King's highway, which every subject of the King might use, and not bo creating a State monopoly. A good road down which a man would take his can of milk to the factory, which the capitalist could use in his car to see opportunities of investing his money, whioh .would_ reduce the wear and tear of every vehicle that passed along, and which would open up the country in a truly democratic sense was far better than, railways.. So far as farming industries were concerned bad roads crippled production, particularly in a country such as this, where they had to put into the soil before ■ they could take out of it. Manures and fencing wire were very heavy necessaries. The rate of increase in a farmer's duction would be out of all proportion to the increase of his.rates in connection with the making of good roads. A small farmer who lost ten minutes travelling to and from his creamery lost 46 hours in the year, and if ho required an extra horse it meant approximately £36 in the year. Motor Show Abandoned. The last English mail brought word that after all it has been decided to hold no motor show in London this year. The "Westminster Gazette," in dealing with the subject, says: "The< decision of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders against holding the show this year has caused considerable disappointment in the industry, as it was fully expected up to the' last moment that the society would face the situation with confidence by keeping alive an enterprise which has been of enormous benefit to the factories. We cannot pretend that the direct results of the show would in the circumstances justify the outlay—they seldom cb in the piping times of peace—but in a time of crisis like the present it was surely the obvious duty of the society to make some sacrifices in the national interests. ' And the more so because the society is wealthy, and also because the motor industry has only just passed through al long period of great prosperity." Motorists and Manners. ■The widespread movement in America to mako the highways safer is bearing fruit. ( Mr. Frederick H. Elliott, secretaryiof the Safety First Society of NewvYork, who has been making a tour of the Eastern and Middle Western

States with the society's "safety-first car," declares that motorists, as a class/ are becoming- more careful. "I am firmly convinced that since the safety-first propaganda was started in a number of caties recently, the campaign is accomplishing to a large degree that which it set out to do. In my trip-during the past two week's. I have noticed that many drivers on the road and open country of-the snburba as well as- in cities, as a class, are considerably: more careful in passing vehicles and slotting down for turns, etc., than was the case a few years ago. Many of us oan remember -the time when a man who had just purchased a new automobile deemed it quite necessary to go out and pass everything on the i-oad, skidding turns, cutting corners, now dud then scraping mud-guards with another car. Nowadays, however, since the agitation for greater safety has been.in progress, the owner of a new vohicle in the majority of cases considers it bad form to do 'stunts' on the road. ■ I have observed many motorists taking pains to slow down on especially oily roads or roads that have just been watered, in order not to splash pedestrians on the sidewalk, a thing that was a nasty abuse a few years ago. k "Another thing I have-noticed is that in many suburban places drivers slow down on. dusty roads in order not to kick up more dust than is necessary, particularly when women in white' clotbes are walking on the sidewalks. The arrogant spirit of the motorist who used to consider himself something j superior is disappearing. And let mo say that a number of automobile dealers with whom I have talked ' recently agree with mo and tell me that their observations are the same as mine.

"Society lays down certain rules of etiquette which right-thinking people observe, and huppily, these very points of etiquette, as fav as the motor-car is concerned, are making for greater safety on the highways. For instance, it .is considered bad form and just as impolite to pass a car on a dusty road on high speed with the muffler cut-out open so that the occupants of tho overtaken car are showered with dust, as it would be to smoke in a street car and fling cigar ashes about upon passengers' clothing. "One piece of motoring etiquette which I have noticed to considerable extent on this trip is the courteous custom of dimming, one's head-lamps en unlighted roada when passing cars and vehicles. Many accidents have been caused by drivers' eyes being blinded by the headlights of an approaching car. Modern lighting systems are eo constructed mechanically that it is really no trouble for a driver to dim his lamps. On the Safety First car in which I am travelling, it is certainly r.o more trouble to manipulate the lamps when passing another car than to sound the horn." Hints and Tips. At'least onco a year, or overy 5000 miles, the engine lubrication system should be cleaned out, and this is best dono when tho cylinders are taken off for the removal of carbon deposit. With the cylinders olf the crank chamber can bo well washed out with paraffin. Many drivers omit this annual cleaning, but if they could see tho amount of solid matter contained in tho old oil they would be surprises. Not only is this largely composed of bearing metal and dust, but also of carbon deposit which forms on the underside of the pistons, peels off in flakes, anil falls into the crank chamber. This solid material is not only detrimental to tho bearings, but it is liable to choke tip an oilway especially in engines having drilled crankshafts.

The ball-and socket steering joints aremost difficult to lubricate. They are generally enclosed in leather covers filled with grease, but even this does not always secure a good supply of fresh lubricant to t'ho bearing surfaces. Almost accidentally (says a correspondent of the "Autocar") I have discovered a method which works splendidly. Requiring a now hall for the down reaching arm 'from the steering box. I looked round the workshop, where nothing is ever thrown away, for a suit-

able piece of steel, and my eve rested upon part of an old crankshaft. Closer examination showed that it had an l-Bm. hole drilled through its centre from ond to end. This seemed at first sight to put it out of court, but further considoration showed how this very fact could be utilised for lubricating purposes. 1 left the nut shank half an inch longer than necessary, and screwed it to match the cap of an old Stauffer lubricator, also picked out of the scrap heap. To secure the nut a grub screw took the place of the usual split pin.

Occasionally it ie desirable to remove the shackle bolts of front and hack springs in order to ascertain their condition, i.e., the amount of wear which has taken place, and , to note whether lubricant is finding its way to the bearing surfaces of the bolts inside * tho spring eyes and shackles. When this work is undertaken, and assuming the back springs are attended to first, the back axle should be raised on jacks, ono at each side, and the wheels removed; then stout packing cases, or trestles, should be pushed under the chassis frame so that the weight of tho car is taken through the frame to allow t'he jacks to' be removed. The axle will then be suspended from the springs. Before taking the bolts out orvthe shackles, however, the axle should be supported by further packing cases, so that it may remain in the same position when the spring bolts are detached. If this be not done there will be some trouble to lift the axle again when the bolts are refitted.

Beginners should remember that it is inadvisable to overtake and pass another vehicle at a bend. In the case of a left-hand curve the vehicle being overtaken blocks the view round the bend, with the result that one may find one's self on the wrong side of the road and facing an oncoming vehicle •which has the right of road. Similarly) when stopping, say, for lunch by the roadside, or for a tire repair, do not stop on a bend. Hers and There.

Legal iighting-up time for motor-care and motor-cycles: To-day, 6.59 p.m.; nest. Friday, 7.7 p.m. A recent census of the motor ve-

hicles owned by German municipalities showed that of fifty-eight towns of populations above 80,000 only four did not own any motor vehicles at all. The number owned by each corporation ranged from one to twenty-fivo and the total number was 590. Fire brigades owned 250 of them; 113 were Lsed for street-cleaning and watering, and fiftyfour were ambulances, tiie rest being "miscellaneous."

The Automobile Club of Chile has recently been formed-at Santiago. . • , Judging from the official returns late-' ly issued, the export trade in Italian motor-cars was last year in a somewhat quiet condition, only 3233 cars and chassis, valued at £1,275,018, having been exported, as compared with 3587 and £1,431,446 respectively in 1912. The United Kingdom .is by , far tho, largest customer for Italian cars, but the 1013 total was not equal to that of the previous year.

No country is feeling the disturbance enused to trade by tho war less heavily than England, and it is pleasing to note that one oomporary embargo which.'was enforced at the outset has now , Meet entirely removed. This concerned the exportation of cars, and was probably enjoined in the first instance pending such time , as the military authorities , could gauge tlie 'extent'of, their own rs--by purchase. Any British manufacturer, however, is now free to export cars of every kind, and a« the trade routes, thanks to the English Navy, are kept open, there should bo an increase of business owing to the withdrawal of a large proportion of Continental supplies. The recent ! amendments made to the Victorian Motor Act provide that "any person proved to have been under the influence of intoxicating liquor whilst driving a motor-car or motor-cycle shall be liable to a penalty of not less than five pounds or more than thirty pounds or to be imprisoned for a terra of not less than fourteen days or more than three months and the license of such person shall be cancelled and such person shall not be again licensed except upon the order of a Court of petty sessions."