MOTORS and MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 113, 10 February 1928, Page 14

MOTORS and MOTORING

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“SUBSTITUTE"

THE MOTOR AGE

BIG FACTOR IN DOMINION TRANSPORT PASSENGER AND FREIGHT TRAFFIC IMPRESSIVE FIGURES Striking evidence of the part played in the economic life of ICic Dominion by motor trans, port is given in the Abstract of Statistics for January. Regulations were recently issued under the Census and Statistics Act authorising the Government Statistician to collect statistics relating to motor transport, and the first collection was taken for the month of November. 1927. It was obviously impossible to obtain particulars for all motor vehicles on the register, and the collection was accordingly confined to organised omnibus services and to more or less regular motor transport services operating over country roads. 'file following classes of vehicles or services were covered by the principal collection :— (1) Omnibuses running regular services on defined routes. (2) Passenger service cars running regular services on defined routes between centres. (3) Freight motor vehicles running more or less regular freight services on defined routes between centres. (4) .Motor vehicles running regular long-distance freight services on private business of such concerns as Cooperative dairy companies (collection of milk and cream), newspaper offices (paper delivery), etc. (a) Vehicles engaged ordinarily in local carrying services, but frequently catering for freight transport runs of over twenty miles from their home town. No attempt was made to collect returns from—(1) Owners of private cars used for pleasure, even although the owner may use the car for week-end or other long-distance pleasure trips occasionally. (2) Owners of taxi-cars plying for hire locally. (3) Owners of motor vehicles acting as local carriers only. (4) Grocers, bakers, butchers, or other retailers using motor vehicles for their own local transport to and from railway stations or wharves, etc. Owing to the fact that in many instances proprietors did not have actual records showing the whole of the information required by the regulations, a good deal of estimation had necessarily to be resorted to. Nevertheless the statistics compiled may be regarded as giving a sufficiently close approximation for practical purposes. Number of Vehicles. The total number of motor vehicles covered by the main portion of the inquiry was 3274, of an approximate value of £1,505,363. Vehicles employed on freight services numbered 1920, valued at £773,465, while omnibuses and service cars, which cater for passenger traffic only, totalled 1354, and were valued at £731,918. Of the 1920 freight vehicles, 1150 were used on regular freight service runs, 496 were used by private persons or firms for the conveyance of their own goods, and 274 by local carriers for , occasional long-distance trips from their home town. The approximate val-

ties of the vehicles in each of these three services were £466,625, £191,917, and £111.923 respectively. The total number of omnibuses employed on regular routes was 610, and the total number of passenger service cars, which arc mainly confined to the longer routes, was 714. Naturally the aggregate value of tile omnibuses easily outstrips that of the service cars, the tespective totals being £178,176 and £253,742. Twice as manv motor vehicles engaged in the five classes of motor transport are in use in the North Js- ' land as in the South Island, the greatest deviations from this proportion occurring in the regular freight services and in the private services. In the former case the number of vehicles in the North Island totals 852, as against 298 in the South Island, while on the other hand there is only a comparatively slight difference in the number of vehicles engaged in private services in the two islands. The types of firms principally operating their own cartage are daily companies employing motor vehicles for the collection of cream and milk, and oil companies using their vehicles for the distribution of bulk supplies of fuel oils. Persons Employed. The total number of persons employed in the maintenance of the above services was 4435, of which 4187 were males and 248 females. Those employed on the management and clerical side of the business numbered 1962 (males 1748 and females 214), while wage earners totalled 2473 (males 2139, females 34). Working proprietors are included with management and clerical j staff. The greatest number of vehicles arc engaged in freight services, and a similar state of affairs holds as regards the number of employees, the number engaged in regular frieght services being 1468, and in private services 672, while those employed by local carriers and used directly in connection with the long-distance runs made during the month of November aggregated 369. Although the number of vehicles employed on passenger-service runs aggregates more than the number of omnibuses, the figures for persons employed show an opposite result, the explanation being that a great proportion of the omnibuses arc working ever short routes and for longer hours, necessitating tile working of double shifts and therefor-- considerable additions to the number of employees. Females are employed practically proportionately to the number of vehicles throughout the five services, mainly in a clerical capacity; but there are quite a few instances of women owning their own services, and even of women engaged as wage-earners and operating the vehicles from the driver's seat. • Mileage Kun. The total mileage run by the live services during the month of November, 1927, was 3,244,206 —2,408,249 miles being run in the North Island and 835,957 miles in the South Island. ’J he North Islan 1 has a greater proportion of the total mileage than it would perhaps seem likely to have in consideration of the number of vehicles in the two islands, lint the explanation probably lies in the fact that the routes covered in the North Island are to a certain extent longer than those covered in the South Island. Another interesitng feature of the mileage figures is that the total for omnibus services is greater than that for freight services, although the number of vehicles is decidedly in favour of the latter. Passengers and Freight. Passengers carried by omnibuses and

passenger service cars numbered during the month of November 1,772,140, while the three classes of freight services carried between them 191,110 tons of goods. Ninety-six per cent, of the total passenger traffic was handled by the omnibus services, the comparatively small number carried by the service cars being due to the limited capacity of those vehicles and to the infrequency of service. The regular freight services handled 69 per cent, of the goods, traffic, private services accounted for 22 per cent., and the remaining 9 oer cent, went to the local carriers. Receipts. The total receipts earned during the month by the various classes of services amounted to £163,042. a figure approximately equal to £2,000,000 per annum. Of the total of £163,042, £68,961 was credited to the regular freight services, £18,657 to the omnibuses, and £32,219 to the passenger service cars. Excluding the 496 vehicles employed by ptivate persons or firms for the carriage of their own goods, and for which no receipts are shown, the number of vehicles earning the fotal amount of £163,012 was 2778. The average amount earned per vehicle was therefore £59 for the month. Omnibuses earned on the average £76 per vehicle during the month, passenger service cars £l5, regular freight service vehicles £59, and the local carriers £4B. The total mileage covered by the omnibuses was 1,000,545, and the total < receipts received £18,657, the receipts being equal to 1 l|d. for each mile run. The corresponding figures for passenger service cars, freight service vehicles, and vehicles used by local carriers were 9?d., 17-Jd., and 21]d. respectiveclasses of Goods Carried. Provision was made for the tonnage of the various classes of goods carried to be given'wherever possible. The returns indicated that road metal, sand, etc., to the extent of 60,000 tons was carried, which was considerably ir. excess of the total for any specified items. Of the specified items, dairy produce claimed the greatest tonnage, with 23,120 tons, most of this representing the collection of milk and cream for dairy factories. The cartage of timber ranked second, the total being niaily made up through the haulage of timber from the mill to the railway. Closely after timber followed wool, with 12,287 tons, after which came coal (9132 tons), and benzine and other fuel oils (7973 tons). There was not a great amount of .difference in the classes of goods carried by the three classes of freight services, although naturally dairy produce, timber, and fuel oils are the principal items for the private services, and wool and timber for the local carriers. Wool and dairy produce are carried by motor transport to a far greater extent in the North Island than in the South, wl”-r the figures for the two islands in lespeet of timber, coal, and fuel oils approximate closely to each other. Tabulation of figures gathered by the London Safety First Council in the city’s metropolitan area shows that the largest amount of fatal accidents occur when automobiles are going only live to ten miles an hour. The fatal accidents from 1920 to 1926, the survey shows, were 3G6 for cars going not more than ten miles an hour, a percentage of 36.49 of the total accidents. At speeds of over twenty miles an , hour, however, there were only fortyfive fatalities, or 4.49 per cent, of the total. An 'explanation of this may be that those accidents which occur at speeds under ten miles take place in crowded traffic, where even ten miles is at times a dangerous speed.

NORTH ISLAND ROADS

CONDITION AT PRESENT AUTOMOBILE CLUB REPORT The road report of the Wellington Automobile Club, compiled in conjunction with the \\ hite Star service, lor this week is as follows:— Alain Trunk.—Wellington to Shannon and Palmerston N.: Good. Wellington to Foxton and Palmerston N. : Good. Foxton to Bulls: Loose metal and pot boles. Bulls to Taihape : Good. Taihape to Ohakune: Very good, if wet weather chains necessary for four miles between llihatabi to Karioi. Bulls to Wanganui: Fairly- good, some loose metal, careful driving, metalled surface, lair Wanganui to Ohakune: Bad bends, 35 miles from Wanganui, unmetalled 10 miles, rutty and dusty, no need for chains if fine weather. Ohakune to Taumaranui: Very good. Taumaranui to Te Kuiti: Surface hard, but fairly rough, not advisable to travel if very wet wether. Te Kuiti to Hamilton: Good, new deviation rom Mercer to Pokeno, good in fine weather, and cuts off razor-back. Hamilton to Pokeno: Good, no good in wet weather, as all clay.. Pokeno to Auckland: Concrete for 20 miles, rest not good with pot holes.

Via Taranaki.—Wanganui to New Plymouth: Good all the way. New Plymouth to Te Kuiti: Very fair condition. Auckland to Whangarei: Good summer road, not much metal, at present in good order. Auckland to Ilelensville and Dargaville: Good.

East Coast ami Taupo.—Wellington to Masterton and Napier: Good, deviate at Hastings, Waitangi bridge impassable. Palmerston North to Woodville: Good. Napier to Wairoa: Fair. Wairoa to Gisborne: Good. Napier to Taupo: Good. Taupo to Waimarino: Fair, very dusty. Taupo to Rotorua and Whakntane: Good. Whakataue to Gisborne: Good, if heavy rain chains required at Otako. Rotorua to Tirau: Good, chains required if heavy rain. Tirau to Hamilton : Good. Whakntane to Tauranga and Waihi: Good. Wailii to Pokeno: Fair.

PETROL OF ALL COLOURS

That the motorist of the future will have to expect petrol of all colours and odours when he fills his tank is a probability seen by a Chicago scientist, who has investigated the possibility of getting motor fuels from various sources.

“Not only should the publie get used to all sorts of colours in petrol, but to al! sorts of odurs as well,” he says. “The modern ‘cracking’ process is responsible for these new characteristics, but the motor will operate as well with the yellow as with the water-white, blue, pink, or even red fuel. “The potential future petrol supply will last for hundreds of years, and it will come from ‘cracking’ a wide variety of materials, such as petroleum, coal tars, shale oil and wood tars. The old-fashioned petrol was simply evaporated off the crude oil and had no antiknock properties. The modern ‘cracking’ process is a way by which heavy oils are chemically broken down into lighter oils having valuable anti-knock properties. ' The future petrol will be a mixture of the two, and yield double the mileage.”

ENGINE LUBRICATION CHOICIf Ob' OIL. The new owner may be assailed by many doubts as to the proper lubricant for use in his car. There are so many brands of oils on the market that it is difficult for the car user to come to a decision. He knows, or he should know, how very important it is that he should start right in this matter of lubrication, because on proper lubricant, and the correct application of it, depends the efficiency of the machine and its long wearing properties. An unsuitable lubricant may lead to all kinds of trouble, and any type or make of engine has some inherent characteristics which require special treatment in the matter of lubrication, and in the nature of the lubricant employed. As a general rule it may be said that the lubricant, recommended by the makers of the car is the one with which the greatest satisfaction may be obtained. At any rate it is obviously right to rely on the experience of the engiuemaker, whose interest it is to ensure proper conditions for his engine’s operations. But the market is full of all kinds of lubricants, and the appeals made by the oil refiners to the motorist may well cause the novice to wonder. There is no doubt at all but that any engine can be efficiently lubricated by« quite a few different lubricants, and it may be that, although the car-makers have decided to recommend one particular brand, for purposes of simplicity or for outstanding value in result, there are other brands which can be used with efficient results. It is here that the lubricant makers —the acknowledged reputable oil companies—can come .to the help of the motorist. It may often happen that he is obliged to get some brand other than the one which he has consistently and successfully used from the first. It will then be a great advantage if he has taken the precaution to acquaint himself with the grades of other reputable brands so that he can ask for'an oil which he knows will be all right for his engine, and not to be dependent on the whim or fancy or even interested advice of the wayside garage man.

The big oil firms who have made a careful study of motor-car engine lubrication have tested out their various brands on all the well-known cars, aaid have got results which have enabled them to recommend one or other of their grades for particular vehicles. They have even gone further than this, and have experimented with various engines and have, in many cases, actually graded and blended special brands for individual cars. The results of their experiments they have compressed into tables which give all the bestknown and most popular cars, and the grade of oil most suitable for them. Further than this they have recommended brands for winter and summer uses, and it may be taken as safe advice that if the motorist abides by these recommendations of the reputable firms they will come to no harm through unsuitable lubrication, and may find that they are getting better results in economy, power and cleanliness. This matter of cleanliness is one of importance. An oil may be a thoroughly effective lubricant in one engine while in another it may cause no end of trouble through carbonisation and smoke. This may be due to the fact that some engines develop much greater local heat than others, and require an oil with a very high flashpoint. These things can be learned and determined by experiment by the user himself, But the lesson mav be a dear one, entailing much expense in frequent decarbonising or in loss of power through overheating or in wear and tear of the engine. It is a long and costly procedure to keep experimenting with lubricants, and one which mav well be left to the engine makers and oil refiners. SPEED OF CARS DRIVING AT LOW SPEED. Speaking before a number of engineers in America recently, Dr. R. E. Wilson, of the Standard Oil Company, gave it as his opinion that the instructions usually given to the owner of a new car to drive it at only 20 m.p.h. or so for the first 500 miles are entirely wrong. He stated that at this low speed the bearings are always completely separated from the journals by thick oil films, so that the surfaces undergo no mnning-in or smoothing effect; consequently, according to Dr. Wilson, the owner who proceeds to run his car "all out” at the completion of 500 miles covered at low speeds is just as likely to cause bearing seizure as if he had run all out at the start. Dr. Wilson’s advice is that the owner of a new car should indulge in short bursts of full-throttle high-speed running, not long enough to cause risk of seizure, so as to load the bearings temporarily to smooth the surfaces. He also expressed the opinion that the running-in period should no longer be left to the owner’s responsibility in any but low-priced cars. The short periods of high-speed running advocated have also the advantages of flinging copious supplies of oil up on to the cylinder walls, so assisting piston lubrication.

THE FRENCH GRAND PRIX CANCELLED ON ACCOUNT OF LACK OF INTEREST. The 1928 Grand Prix race lias been cancelled by the Automobile Club of France on account of the poor field offering. This is an indication that many automobile manufacturers are tiring of the expense of maintaining special racing departments. The French Grand I’rix has always proved spectacular, but the promoters feared a disappointment if it was staged this year. Bugatti was the only certainty. Fiat, Mercedes, and Alfa-Romeo were possible competitors, but no assurance could be secured. The Delage firm definitely decided to abstain from racing in 1928, while the Talbot lacing department recently offered its 1500 c.c. Grand Prix models for sale. The reason for the lack of interest is that some manufacturers, particularly those whose successes have been many, have decided that the publicity value of racing with machines which bear no resemblance to stock tvpes is not balanced by the cost of the special departments. Some Continental firms have been spending from £30,000 to £lO,OOO a vear on racing. Interest is now being diverted to stock-car racing, such as has attracted American factories during the last year. Stock-car racing would have been a tame business ten years ago, but the latest productions of many factories are capable of such high speeds in their normal shape that good entertainment is assured. From a research point of view there is more to be learned from a longdistance stock-car race at 90 m.p.h. than from a competition between pure racing machines at perhaps 120 m.p.h. Unless a racing machine has a close affinity to the standard product of its maker its performance proves nothing regarding the stock car. The consistent running of a standard type m a road' race at least proves that such things as lubrication, springing, and cooling will not break down under hard usage. The first French Grand Prix was run in 1906. Previously the classic annual event was the Gordon Bennett race, but after winning the cup outright in 1905 the French Club refused to oifer it again on the ground that Italy, Germany : nd Switzerland, then but small figures in the industry, should not be on the same footing with the leading producer. Since 1906 about 12 French Grand I’rix races have been run, but during the last six occasions there have been disappointing reductions in the entries.