MOTORING AND CYCLING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 203, 4 February 1915, Page 3

MOTORING AND CYCLING.

NEWS AND NOTES. War reports to hand from Europe rom time to time mention the valuable fork being successfully carried on by vliNclmo-n at the front. In this eonnec- :.,( it is gratifying to find that Sir John Fre .1: holds a high opinion of the sol-dii-r-cvclists, as will be seen by his recent report to Lord Kitchener. Tile English Commander, in his dispatch says: — "Carrying despatches and messages at .•ill hours of the day and night in every kind of weather, and often traversing > bad roads blocked with transport, they I have been conspicuously successful in maintaining an extraordinary degree of efficiency in the service of communications. Many casualties have occurred iii their ranks, lint no amount of difficulty or danger has ever cheeked the energy and ardours which lias dintinguished the corps throughout the operations." In view of the valuable work being accomplished by tile English cyclists at the front, the question arises, are sufficient soldier-cyclists incorporated in the New Zealand expeditionary forces? Someone has invented a motor-cycle-side-ear of the canoe type, which can he detached from the frame by means | of winged nuts, and used on lake or river in the ordinary way. A paddle is neatly fitt.d, invisible when the side-car is in use on the road. The advance made in motor-car construction during the past fourteen years has hee n remarkable, and its evidence in speed tests is well exemplified in a comparison of the speeds obtained in the first Gordon-Bennett motor race in 11100, when Charron won cm a Tankard with an average of 38 miles per hour, Tn the recent Corona race held in America, Pullen on a Mercer recorded an average of over 871 miles per hour for a distance of 300 miles. It will therefore be seen that the fourteei years of continual improvement, in cars and tyre* represents a gain of nearly 30 miles' pel hour.

The possibility of reducing the vibration on motor cycles by the application of a spring device to the rear part of the machine, has not received at the hands of designers anything like the attention that the importance of the subject deserves. It is one that is fraught with great potentialities; but nevertheless, the number of spring-framed motor cycles that has been placed on the market could not be counted on the fingers of one band. Of these, the best undoubtedly tome from America. Of spring-framed pedal bicycles, we have bad scores during the past three de- [ cades, but none of them ever attained , any wide commercial success, a fact that was altogether due to the increased weight, nullifying the advantages from the reduced vibration. On a motor bicycle tbe weigbt is not so important, and we, believe there is a big future in this country for the motor bicycle that is sprung aft as well as fore. Through American sources, we learn that most of the German motor-car manufacturers are working twenty-four hours each day in an endeavor to keep up with the demands of the army officials. In most of these factories, there is great difficulty in carrying. on the work, as so many of their workmen have been called to tbe front, and it is I extremely difficult to secure skilled labor : anywhere in the country now; In some cases the employees of shops engaged on government contracts have been sent ■ back to their work in uniform, to en't able the work i„ hand to lie completed i A number of factories have been taken ' over entirely by the Government, and ! some nearer to the scene of activities have been devoted entirely to repairing damages sustained at the' front. This is particularly the case of Belgian factories. Besides the scarcity of labor, the difficulties encountered are in securing supplies of rubber for tyres, and in the transportation of materials required, even in the case of government contracts

According to the latest .American census figures covering automobile registration in the various States, there are now 1.735,300 automobiles in use in the United States. There was a steady gain right through 1014. These figures are both for petrol and electric pleasure and freight vehicles. On .January Ist, 1014, there were 1.255.575 cars in liso. By the latest census. New York is,far in" the lead with 100,475 cars registered. A motorist at the front writes that the motor vehicles are of nil sorts and sizes, and although their services have been invaluable, the great variety of sizes and makes has developer! disadvantages. Tn a transport lino, the slowest car sets the pace, and this has proved a cause of delay. On the other hand, the smooth, level roads often met with on the Continent tempt the drivers of the fast machines to let them out. with tho result that tho heavily loaded cars are soo n shaken to pieces'.

Few people wo fancy had any idea that the recent activities „( the German, cruiser Kindeii had any direct bearing on the motor trade, but it lias now transpired that included amongst the cargoes of three of the ships 'destroyed by the Eihilcii was some 4000 tons of crude rubber from the Eastern plantations, consigned to London merchants. Four thousand tons of rubber would have made a lot of tyres, and it is just as well that the exploits of that' noted commerce destroyer have been brought to an end by the Sydney, or the price of tyres might have soared up considerably.

The taking of the rebel l)e Wet in South Africa, was, it appears, accomplished solely through the 'superiority of the motor car over the horse. Col. Swetnmer, "o whom ].),. Wet surrendered, iinally came o„ him through the superior speed of motor cars by which his force travelled, and the filial skirmish with the rebels reelly resolved itself into a duel between motor and horse, and J)e Wet himself admits this.