MOTORS & MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2593, 15 October 1915, Page 9

MOTORS & MOTORING

[Br Clutch,} Wairarapa Association. The AA'airarapa Automobilo Association lias another useful year's work to chronicle ill its annual report issued,this week. The balance-sheet shows a very satisfactory state of things. Tie year started with a cash balanco of general account £2 3s. 7d. , Subscriptions, badges, etc., amounted to £142 is. Bd., making a total of £IG2 lCs. 7d., and the expenditure for the twelve months £96 ss. 4d.. leaving a balanco to-day of £48 os. lid. in the general account. The year started with a-membership of 117. During the past twelve months 53 new members have been elected, and 43 proposed members are now awaiting election, which will bring the total up to 213. The names of the 43 proposed members were obtained during the canvassing for the motor fire insurance scheme. As this, membership extends to all parts of the Wairarapa, it makes the association a truly representative one, and there is every reason to believe that the membership mil bo greatly increased thereby in. the near future. _ Many dangerous corners have received attention, and sien-posts and warnings have been placetT at others, and more are in course of erection. 'The association has been in constant communication with the various local bodies in reference to roads and bridges and other improvements thought necessary to be effected. The report of Mr. Harry Topgood, civil engineer, was obtained in reference to the proposed road*t-o Wellington via the Western Lake and Orongorongo. The committee regrets to say that it was proved impossible to follow this route. A full description of the country traversed was published in the local papers. Hie thanks of the association are due to the Wellington A.O. for their assistance in this matter.

Tlie committee has been successful in establishing a telephone at Mr. Davidson's house at the bottom of the Rimutaka Hill on tiie Featherston side. This should prove a very great convenience to all motorists in case of an accident or breakdown. 'It is free to the Featherston Exchange, and is distant three miles, and the erection of a similar one on the other side of the Rimutaka is now being discussed. Tlie committee has been instrumental in founding a mutual company for the insurance of cars and cycles against lire. One hundred applications have already been received 1 . _ The company will bo known as the AVairarapa Automobile Association Mutual Insurance Company (Registered). This 13 the first association to take up such a matter in New Zealand, and the' executive is to be highly complimented on the success thus far obtained.

Tlie executive has through the New Zealand Automobile Union given the inatter i of motor tasati.on careful consideration. Delegates attended meetings in AVellington in reference to the proposed Government tax, and further forts will be made to have this fixed on a satisfactory basis. During the year the annual motor cycle race meeting was held on the Tauherinikan course Dy tho kind permission of tho Wairarapa Racing Club, and proved a great success. The committeo considered the matter of trial runs and competitions during the winter months, and decided that owing to the war and its attendant results the. time was inopportune for such events. The Railway Department has been approached re the dangerous crossings in the district, and the association has been notified that a danger signal warning is to be erected at tha Bank of New Zealand, Featherston, as soon as the Department can 'obtain the same." The following members of the association have joined the Expeditionary Forces and have .been made honorary members during their' absence Messrs. H. Hart, E. Saunders, H. M'Kinnon, H. B. Maunsell, E. AYinchester, G. T. Fenwick, C. Aitchison, and D. H. S. Riddiford.

The thanks of the association are due to the various county and. borough councils for the attention and help they have given in many matters during the past year, and it is hoped that further improvements may be effected, by the association's subsidies and their assistance, and the thanks of the association are also due to those members of the committee who so ungrudgingly gave their time to the interest of the association. The annual meeting of the association is to be held at Featnerston on Monday next. Twelve Wonths of War. The first twelve months of the war, acording to Mr. EL Massac Buist, in the "Morning Post," have resulted in the most remarkable series of changes and developments in the story.of the motor movement.- This is the first campaign in which the motor has been employed as an essential part of equipment. ' Previously, it had been used only as a highly-interesting experiment in auxiliary equipment and as something on which no degree of reliance could be placed. Before this war the motor meant little more to the conduct of a campaign that it has meant to explorors of the Antarctio regions. But during tho last year it has become absolutely essential to the efficient prosecution of the campaign, and it has besides altered the whole aspect of warfare alike ,■ in countries equipped with elaborate roadway, systems and in those that lack them, by speeding up the rate at which military operations can" be executed. We had proof of this very early in the war, both in Europe and further afield. In the Gorman invasion of Belgium last autumn, motor vehicles played an enormously important part in enabling the enemy to push forward more rapidly than he could have done had lie had to depend entirely on his cavalry. The armoured car early proved its value for this sort of patrol work. It exercised another influence on the cavalry arm in that, by expediting the rate at which it was possible for the invader to push forward, it placed correspondingly a greater strain on the mobility of cavalry, and to that oxtent used up the horses of the enemy at an additional rate, as instance the extremely ill-condition into which they got last autumn. Thus, in this connection, the advent of the motor vehicle, to modern warfare made possible operations beyond tho scope of cavalry unaided and, at the same time, put a greater strain on that arm. It lias, also speeded up the movement of the main armies because, unlike horses, motor vehicles do not tire during the spells in which it is possible for men to work them. They have been variously employed for moving masses of infantry rapidly from one part of the battle area to another, for taking troops to and from the trenches, for ambulance work, for taking ammunition, in some cases quite up to the firing line, for doing tho bulk of tho commissariat transport, for conveying tho Staff with a saving of time and fatigue impossible by the use of horses, for portable workshops, baths, and operating theatres, for rushing and holding positions before infantry can come up, and in a dozen other ways. Indeed, the motor has entered moro or loss directly into every phase of the campaign in limopo. Developments in South Afrioa. Nor is this all. In countries where roads are for tho most part lacking, the motor; continues Mr. Buist, has played, and is playing a highly important part, as instance its use for offensive and other work in tho Gallipoli Peninsula. Perhaps tho phaso which has most vividly brought home tho change wrought by tho advent of tho motor to the conduct of military operations, however, has been its employment for tile capture of Pa Wot and his rebels. .The wwd j§ pnabled,

to appreciate tho advance in warfare becauso tho scone was identical in nature with that of fifteen years" ago, wlicn something in the neighbourhood of a quarter of a million of our soldiers were engaged for two years endeavouring to round up De Wet and tlio Boors. In this war, though De Wet's rebellion was in tlie nature of a surprise, the quelling of it was an operation as simple as it was speedy. Yet the rebel had precisely that mobility which enabled him to elude us fifteen years ago. The difference was provided by the fact, that we employed motor vehicles instead of horses. But tlieso cars were not built for military use, being merely machines owned by members of the Johannesburg Automobile Club, many designed for use only on roads as we understand them in Euroue. The work in hand, howover, required that the cars should be driven across country in all manner of directions, over the veldt where there chanced to be neither road nor track, and aoross the beds of rivers. Moreover, tho vehicles usually carried something more than tho normal load. Scarcely two cars were of a kind or model. Thus from the point of view of military service it would have been impossible to select anything in the way of motor vehicles less suitable for the task. Of course, many of the cars broke down, as they are breaking down every day in tho war area in Europe. But the thing that counted was that more cars got through than fell out of tho. running, while of those that failed it must'be observed tbat up to the point at which it broke down each assisted to keep the enemy' on the run. To 'that extent it did its work towards rounding him up. Armoured Cars. The Austin 50 h.p. fast armoured cars have been extremely successful in Russia, and some particulars of ■ their construction are given in an interesting letter received by the local agent, Mr. G. H. Scott, from the manufacturers. They wrote: The armour is capable of resisting a German nickel-cased bullet of the latest type, when firing at quite close quarters. The nickel casing has a habit of splitting up, with most peculiar effects, in fact, wo have liad to produce a special armoured bolt to withstand tlie impact. With the ordinary bolt, if a bullet is fired so as to strike within an incli of tlie head, the nickel will spla6h. with sufficient velocity to travel under the head, and cut a deep groove in the substance of the bolt itself. AVo have overcome this difficulty, by sinking the heads of tlie bolts into armoured washers of largo diameter that come to a bevelled edge which deflects the splasli. Our armoured cars when going "full bore" can put in 1250 rounds a minute, firing with standard nickel-cased bullets, ,311 in. bore. Operating at distances from 300 to 400 yards from the trenches or points of attack, tliey are quite bullet proof, and as tlie tyros aro filled with rubbine, and of very largo section, they are extremely hard to put out of action; in fact, tlie only way to tackle thorn is with a field era- ; Here and There. . Legal lighting-up time for motor-cars and motor-cycles:—To-day,' 6.22 p.m. Next Friday, 6.31 p.m. Australia imported from England bicycles to the value of £321,548 in 1914, as'against £267,706 in 1913. The Now Zealand figures show a decline for 1914, tho imports being £208,122 last year as against £221,920 in 1913. In spite of tho fact that a portion of Franco is still occupied by tho'Gennaiis, a road race was decided by our Allies the other day. The course was from Paris to Lyons, and a Belgium named Jessoret proved the winnor, his time for the 77-i,' miles being 4hr. 34miu. 12sec. None of the famous Frond) road riders appear to have competed in this interesting speed trial. An attempt is to be made at an oarly date on the Launceston-Hobart motor-cycle record, which at presont stands, at 2hr. 58min., to the credit of AV. H. King. The new aspirant to the record ia D. Bayles, a Tasmanian motor-cyclist, who is confident that with decent -weather conditions he can negotiate the 11C miles in faster time than, the existing figures. Bayles' mount will be a Dunlop-shod "Indian." .