Cycling Notes.

Free Lance, Volume VI, Issue 263, 15 July 1905, Page 16

Cycling Notes.

The average racing oar costs from £2000 to £4000, and is generally disposed of at a reavy loss. As some forty odd! cars were bualt with, a view of carrying off this year's Gordon Bennett motor race, the cost to the motor tradie alone is something enormous. Again, the cost of holding the race has, during the past two years, all devolved an the organising club, the result beang that tlhe English olub spent something like £6500 over thei Irish Gordon-Ben-nett race. Last year's race cost tlhe German Olub £12,000 to conduct. Competitions of the class of the Australian. Overland Motor Reliability Contest, from Sydney to Melboonrne. will, in due course, take the place of out amid out speed contests, wfcadh air© of little use to anybody. The League of New South Wales Wheelmen is organising a big road race, to be held between Bathurst and Sydney, a distance of 145 miles, orni Saturday^ August 19th. Valuable prizes have been dkxnated by tlhe trade to the value of about £150. Entries close on Saturday, July 29th. This evemit, coupled with the Dtunlop Road Race from Gouilburn to Sydney, should stir up road rating in thte Motiher State. One can beet realise the tremendous advance made in the bicycle by looking over the hour world's record. In 1881 an English cyclist named H. I. Cortas caused a great stir in cycling cardies by covering twenty miles in the hour on a cinder track by the aid of one of the old-time ordinary bicycles. Since then, by the aid, first of all of the pnetnnatcc tyre, then the safety bicycle, followed later on by perfectly banked tracks and mtotor-evcle pacing, the hour record has gone up with leaps and' bounds until the figures to-day stand to the credit of Guignard, of Prance, at 55 miles 994 yards in sixty minutes — a feat that tieems almost incredible. Of course, artificial pacing is mainly responsible for this wonderful result. "Bicycling News" (England), one of the leading cycle journals of •tihe world, tihus enthuses over tlhe variable gear: — "It is somewhat surprising to us tt> find that doubts are sometimes expressed as to the praeticabrility of spe» d gears, and the position of the agent w.th regard tihexeto. Havine had very considerable experience m this line, and Hidden all sorts and conditions of gears many thousands of miles, we have not the slightest hesitation! in saying that the ordinary cyclist minus a variable gear is missing tihe greatest luxury introduced to the wheel world since the advent of the pneumatic tyre. And "the agent who in any way decries the best systems, and does not indeed strongly advocate the dual or triipile speed' device, is not only not doing mis duty, but will sooner or later be sorry hr did wot take tihe advice given in these columns on many occasions, for in tlhe course of another season we 1 venture to say that not one bicycle in a hundred will be unfitted with a variable gear of some sort.

The "Liberal Herald," the official organ of the Liberal Party in New Zealand, is to hand, and' consists of forty pages of well-printed letterpress and pictures. It contains a.n article entitled : "New ZealandPs Prime Minister," a pictorial group of the Ministry, and am explanatory article about "The Premier amd Hi& Colleagues." Also, "Mr. Seddon's History in Brief," as well as the Mstories of the other Ministers. The opening of Parliament is fully repoirted, the "birtihday" address to the Premier is reproduced in facsimile, and "The Prime Minister's 60th Birthdlay" occupies five pages. Altogether an interesting opening number for thds promising serial. • • # The Dix bill at the Theatre Royal is a pretty good document. The KsherJadkson 1 picture show is full of fine films, one of the beet of whiohi shows "Little Tioh" in. one of his famous dances. The Ibson musical people are still showing, as also are Tod Callaw'ay, Paul Kinko, and' the Gaiety Six. Tomorrow (Saturday) there will be a matinee, and children will be admitted! to any part of the house for a nimble sixpence. • # * The Elite Skating Rink still compels a large attendance by ihe cheerfulness of its interior and the attractiveness of the pastime in which) ffe devotees engage. The floor is lovely, the skates are baill-bearing, the band is brisk, and the management attentive. Ranking is, par excellence, the pastime for these cold evenings. • « ♦ About that excellent little stampvending machine on the steps of the Post Office. On "Wednesday evening, after 5 o'clock, it disgorged! 255 penny stamps in two hours. Mr. Dickie of the Post Office, and Mr. Brown, a photographer, who are the inventors of this public boon, ought to be proud. Perhaps they are. Anyhow, Messrs. Watkins and Hull have an option to form a company. They should have no

difficulty. A similar machine can be used for the vending of theatre or tram or any other kind of tickeits, and! is absolutely reliable as it is impossible to tamper with it. With an aiuitomatic registering api>aratus, the machine can be made to keep an efficient check on sales, making dSshonesty impossdiblei. In large commercial offices, where appreioialble quantities of stamps are used, the machine would be a boon. The mechanism is quite simple and strong, and the cost of manufacturing the finished! article is very small in proportion to the benefits derivable.