Speeding Through

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 46, 17 May 1927, Page 10

Speeding Through

The following members of the Auckland Association Council were present at the last meeting: Dr. J. Howard La wry (chairman), Dr. De Clive Lowe, Messrs. J. B. King, G. Henning, A. Gray - son, N. A. Phillips, H. C. Jones, R. B. Spinks, T. Julian, H. Curd, and F. G. Farrell.

A petition for “something to be done to remedy the disgraceful state of the upper portion of Empire Road, Epsom, and Coronation Road” came before the city council last wek. The roads complained of are to be placed next on the schedule of secondary streets, and meantime the streets are to be given some attention.

Ayr Street residents are taking an interest in the appearance of their street. They have asked the city council to plant some trees, and to put in an eight-foot grass strip on the edge of the footpaths. The council has agreed to plant trees, and will proceed to put in grass on tIA sidepaths provided the residents give a written undertaking that they will keep the grass in order. * * *

The dedication of Pelham Avenue (late Park Avenue), Point Chevalier, has been accepted by the city council. * * The City Council advised the Auckland Automobile Association at its last meeting that it was endeavouring to secure land which would allow of an improvement at the Ayr Street junction.

Mr. F. J. Cullen, recently appointed consulting motor engineer to the Auckland Automobile Association, is leaving shortly on a trip to England. While in London he will confer with the engineers in charge of the service side of the Motor Union organisation, with the idea of securing any ideas applicable to Auckland’s needs.

A member of the Automobile Association has written to the association pointing out that improvements to the junction of Balmoral and Edendale Roads has added to the amount of traffic, and that the corner is now very dangerous. When the matter came before the council last week it was stated that there was no more danger at this junction than at many others in the city. It was decided however to ask that boards drawing attention to the off-side rule should be placed at the approaches.

It is anticipated that the Automobile Association will show a fairly handsome profit on this year’s working, in spite of a huge expenditure, comparatively, on road signs and other work. At the moment the association has £193 17s Gd in the bank, and other money on deposit amounting to £I9OB 17s 6d.

Asked for an opinion by the council of the Automobile Association the secretary (Mr. G. Hutchison) stated that in his opinion the association was now strong enough to be able to face any risk attached to forcing members to meet their liabilities to the body. The question arose from the secretary's report that 56 members of the association owed £lB6 16s 3d in subscriptions, not one of them being under two years in arrears. The secretary was empowered to take what action he saw fit to secure payment—which probably means that the accounts will be put into the collector’s hands With power to sue.

An interesting return submitted to the Automobile Association Council shows that the service car used by Mr. Roy Champtaloup has now covered 32,500 miles, and the total running costs and maintenance,,, including special equipment for service work have cost £557 2s 6d. The running cost is therefore put down at a fraction over 4d a mile, over all sorts of roads, many of them very bad.

Auckland motorists can think themselves lucky when they are told that in Germany it costs approximately £3O to obtain a driving license as against the modest 5s here. Besides having to meet this sum candidates have to undergo a very rigid physical and mental examination.

The South Island motorists are not satisfied that they are getting all they should from the highways scheme, and to-morrow a conference between the motorists, the county representatives, and the Highways Board will be held to try and arrive at some more acceptable policy. Telling some of his droll yarns over the wireless recently, Tex McLeod gave a Ford story. He said: “They are turning out Fords so quickly now that you are likely to get one before it is finished. One was delivered to a customer the other day, and the buyer found a mechanic, still working under it. There is,” added Tex, “now a great demand for Fords among spinsters.”

The New Zealand Motor Trade Association achieves considerable success in the recovery of stolen or missing cars for its members. When a car subject to hire purchase vanishes the garage proprietor is faced with a problem in which the police can give him little assistance. Even in cases of absolute theft the asociation has han advantage over the police. For a flat rate of £3 10s the organisation circularises garages throughout the islands, and dozens of cars have been identified in remote places when repairs or petrol necessitated recourse to a garage.