NEWS BY MAIL

Hokitika Guardian, 12 August 1926, Page 1

NEWS BY MAIL

NEW SHIP OF DESERT. BEIRUT, June 26

Tlie latest developments qf the motor services across the Syrian desert to Baghdad is tlie advent of the omnibus or saloon type of vehicle. Tlie managing director of the company which carries' the British mails, Mr Norman D. Nairn, lias designed a special vehicle for the Syrian desert, and a trial run of the first of these has just been successfully completed. On this occasion five passengers were carried. Two points strike one on first examing this cross-desert omnibus. These are its great size and the four rear driving wheels. The car is more than 50ft. in length and weighs unloaded 7 tons. It is propelled by a 6-cylinder motor developing over 110 horse-power. Seating, for 16 passengers on padded cane armchairs is provided inside an enclosed saloon body. An ingenious system of ventilation keeps the air inside cool and fresh even should' it be necessary to close all the windows owing to driving sand-storms or dust. The motor has an eight-speed gearbox, and the four rear driving-wheels are mounted on bogie suspension. This minimises discomfort to the passengers on rough going. When the rear wheels pass over a boulder or other obstacle one foot in height the chassis rises six inches only. At the back of the car is a petrol tank holding 130 gallons, which is more than sufficient for the entire journey between Baghdad and Beirut, ■ tlie consumption being between 6 and 7 miles to the gallon. Inside the saloon body there is a drinking-water tank holding 35 gallons. The trial run from Ramadie (60 miles from Baghdad) to Beirut, nearly 700 miles, was accomplished at an average speed of 23 miles an hour without any adjustments being necessary. Despite the fact that the midday temperature was over 100 degrees in the shade, no water had to he added to the radiator. Tlie road surface between Homs and Tripoli is atrocious and here the sixwlieeler received a gruelling test. Over boulders and ruts, round hairpin bends on steep gradients this leviathan of the desert lurched with the motion of a ship at sea, but never on any occasion could anything approaching discomfort i>e felt by the passengers. On the desert one feature of the sixwheel machine was the ease wifh which the omnibus could pull itself out of deep soft sand.