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MOTORS & MOTORING

(By "Clutch.-'')

A National Roads, Board Wanted. "The roads around Wellington are on absolute disgrace, especially :.that over tlio PaeVaiuriki Hill," remarked a motorist to "Clutcli" this week. "Last Sunday I went for a jaunt to Wnikanae, but'it is a fact that, had I not possessed a good car I-should . have.- been trying, to get there ■ yet.. What has becomo of the agitation for the establishment of a. National Roads Board to take over the ; administration of. the main arterial wads'of the Dominion? The- present position is absolutely farcical. for it is manifestly impossible to expect local bodies, with limited scope for rating, to raise enough money to keep- tho roads in their districts in, good order.: Tho only way in which wo can expect an improvement is-by the creation of a National Roads Board, with power to imposo' levies for road maintenance. 'Motorists, I understand, aro prepared to pay a tyre tax as their contribution towards securing good roads, arid their views on this matter have ■been placed before the Minister of Internal Affaire.' Is it not time thati we had eomo pronouncement from the Government on tho subject?" Bad Roads and Self-Help. "F.G." writes:—"After all the talk it seems quite clear that motor taxation and main roads improvement will not be touoherl by .Parliament this ses<(on. As Mr. Mossey is likely to go to London next year there is little chance of anything happening then, and as the following year will bo election year, windowdressing legislation will no doubt crowd out the claims ,of jnotorifts t once more. Thus' #e aro reduced either to sitting back and watohing what is left, of the roads disappear for good, or else waking up and adopting a policy of selfhelp. It i 6 out of the question to expect the rural ratepayers in the Hutt and Makara Counties to .maintain firstclass roads for' the benefit of four thousand odd city and suburban motorists, to say nothing of the inward traffic from 'the Manawatu and Wairacapa, districts. Both the main road 3 are in m _ appallingly bad condition, and the jolting and .bumping between Wellington and Upper Hutt, for instance, represents expensive extra wear and tear to all car owners. In fact, instances are not uncommon _of the bumping leading to the crystallisation of the chassis stenl, etc., with consequent' costly Tepairs." "A Possible Way Out. . "Good roads," continues our correspondent, "cost money, and it is only right that road users should defray the y cost of them. In the old days there' used to bo a toll-gato cit.Kaiwarra anrd it seems to me, in. view of the apathy of Parliament with regard to road, improvement, that toll-gate 9 offer the most 'expeditious way out -of our 'difficulties in the meantime. From AVollington to Waikanae is Hutt and Makara. territory, and from Wellington to the Rimutaha summit is. under Hutt Road Board, Petone, Lower Hutt, and Hutt County control A toll-gate at Ifaiwarra would mop up enough money to effect a .very decided improvement in. tlie Hutt Road. ; One at Taita eliould provide revenue for. the Wairarapa main road' from Lower Hutt onwards. A. third, say, at Porirua, would cover tho west coast traffio. If the Automobile Club took the matter up and got a round-table conference between the parties, concerned, surely, it should bo possible to get some satisfactory control of these roads, and the acquirement of a couple of road rollers and other- plant, without which' it is hopeless to expect efficient motor roads. Heavy motor lorries should bo mado to pay substantial tolls, and their speed effectively controlled. 1 Tolls and tollgates may be regarded as belonging to a past age, but in view of Parliament's default, what other course is open? Motoring aToimd Wellington is purgatory today, and if things are'allowed to drift it :will soon' 1 be 'impossible to. do more than rra'wl along' at five miles' an hour or risk broken, springs and axles.' : If we do not help' ourselves we shall go •from bad to worse." Motors in the Making In a very readable article on the methods adopted by American motor manufacturers to make quantity produc- . Hon .possible, with due regard also to national- characteristics/ which render cheapening production possible, the "Autocar" (England) remarks how often it haa been asked, in. view of dear materials and the. high, cost of labour in the U.S.A., why care can be manufactured . choaper. than in European countries. The solution appears to be found in the methods of production adopted,' and the skilful manner in which American manufacturers have directed the . mind of labour to see how ultimate benefits ac- ■ crue all round by the utmost use of labour-saving machinery; and that also the public lias been tutored to accept cars distinguished for little individuality of appearance or design. A large number of- people affect to be-lieve-that tho difference between American and European, methods is one of quantity only,. their facile but not entirely correct explanation being that tho home market is so enormous, and tho quantities of one type of car call-be built are so great, that, naturally, America, can produce very much' iheaper than Europe. Mass production, however, is not the only factor; not all factories liTivo the output of_ Ford, or his resources of installing special labournaving machinery, but the greater number $f American motor makers are able to produce, type for type, at lower prices than European manufacturers. "As a proof," says tho writer in the "Autocar," "that it is not merely a question of big numbers, there are many small and medium-size factories in the United States wliich reach a.low selling price than J3uropean_ factories of corresponding size, and with product of approximately the same quality.'' In dealing with tho selling price, the cost at the factory i 9 meant. Admitting tlio advantago of large outeconomical production is the first and most important consideration, and generally takes preference over the desires and inclinations of the public; that is to say, it is easier to convert the public to the use of 6ome special type of car, or whatever it might be, which is satisfactory from a production standpoint' than it is to follow established taste. And there iB no better example of that than in the case of tho car already mentioned, which, when produced, went counter to public ideas of automobile matters, but which was an excellent production job, and has imposed itself, despite its unconventionally, because of the low price at whioh it could bo produced and sold. It is then pointed out that the detachable cylinder head was never asked for by tho public, nor adopt, ed for any other reason than its advantage from a production point of view. European makers would not have dared to adopt it, because it went counter to users' ideas; but, after it had been put forward by America, and the whole world moro or less- had become acquainted with the idea, British and ether European manufacturers followed. Petrol Consumption. It is safe to say that 90 per cent, of car drivers have but tlio vaguest idea of the amount oi' petrol their cars nse. More often than not their only gauge is the number of tins required to refill the tank, and the popularity of tlio spare can, carried as an ugly excrescence on the running boa I'd, is wholly due to tho need for some form of tell-tale on tho dashboard to give an indication of the amount of fuel cither used out of or still remaining in the tank. There ia to be shortly..marketed in England a new electrically-operated device by means of which the actual amount of fuel consumed either during a single trip or in the course of. a season is indicated. •The ' instrument. differs from a gauge pure and simple, in. that it keeps a.permanent record, and its dial, moreover, can be mounted, directly in front of the driver, so that, annoying uncertainty as ■to the exact amount of fuel in the tank on a long run is'provented. The device is somewhat like tho vacuum petrol tanks now used on many cars,-and is said to be absolutely unaffected by vibration.

Lighting-up Timo: To-day, (i.ll p.m. Next Friday,-6.20 p.m.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19201015.2.4

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 17, 15 October 1920, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,372

MOTORS & MOTORING Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 17, 15 October 1920, Page 2

MOTORS & MOTORING Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 17, 15 October 1920, Page 2

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