MA\'20rH, l9U5

THE AUTOCAR E 3ournat publisbeD in tbe tnteregtg of tbe meclrantcaltp propelleD roaD carrtsge.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

No. 5oo. Vor. XIV.I

SATURDAY, MAY 2o'rrt, rgo5

[Pnrcn 3o

THE AUTOCAR. perfectll reasonable measure; one rvhich is enforced in many counties, though, in the majority of instances,

(Published Weekly.,7

Rcgistercd as a ncwspaper for trilsmission io thc Unitcd Kingdom. Entered as $cond-class mattcr at the New Yorh (N"Y.) Post Oface.

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no provision is made as to which side the lamp shall be carried, and in almost all cases the byelaw is laxly aclministered. That is to sav, horse-carts are not subjer:ted to any obligation to carry lamps in many r:ounties, and where there is a'lryelaw to compel them to clo so, in manv cases the compulsion is moral rather than legal, and thev are left prrettv much tc do as thev like ; everyone rvho uses the roads knows well enough rvhat that means.

CONTENTS

Notes :'fsu Urrverseu LIcsts Btrr-CrAMouRlNG FoR CoMMIssloN

-To SETTLE DTSPUTBS

Usrrur Hrrrs arp Trps: FITTTNG I Mecxp'ro-MISFIRING-oN

PAG E

661) 670

Pre-rcrrrlon -FlrrING VauvB Srnrtcs-REPATRs AND SPARE PART' " ' 671 THE STAR Goeuox-Bexrmr CARS (llluslrated) ... 672-673 THE CRUTSE oF Naercn Mr.Jon (illustrated) ... ... 674'675 TsE ScorrrsH RELIA8ILITY TRTALS (illustrated) ... 676-6115 CoNTTNENTAL Notes rxo NEws (illultrated): THE MEDITERRANEAN

Moror Bolt Rece-Accrpetrs ru FtaNce-TuE ITRENcH I'ILIMINATIoN TRTALS-STANDARD FoRMULE.tN AuToMoBILE CoNsrRUcTroN-AuroMoBtL& GRAND PRIX, 1906 686-687 MoaE SuccEsrlous roe Covp8llttoxs 689-690 Connespoxperce: THr Ilvenv-oly UTILITY Cen-Tnp CLUB AND

UNwoRTHy Datvers-PsnsecurloJ oF ENGLIsH Mototlsts rx FRANCE-THE Tourrst Tnopgv Ruups-ScHooLS or MoroettcSUMMARY ots orHER CoRREspoNDENcE 69I-693 A MAGNETo aND CorL IcNrrIoN (illustrated) ... ... ... 691 THE TouRrsr Taopcv-Iu rHE HousE oF CoMMoNS-Tse Moron

Car Acr ... ...

FLASHES...

CALLous HoRsE DRTVERS: A Vtclous Honsr Dnrven-Tnu Menx-

... ... 695

..- 696-697

YATE ATFAIR EcLIPSED

CLUB f)orNcs (illustrated): CLUB FrxruRes-THE MIDLAND A,C. truEl

-.. 69ti

CoNsuMprroN Trrars-YonrssIRE A.C,-LTNcoLNsHIRE A.C.LADTES' A.C.-SussEx CouNry A,C.-INTER-CLUB MEET AT Wergrir-Irrss A,C. Hrrr-crrus-DERBy A.C. HIrt--crruelrc CoMPETrrroN 699-700

O@iftg to the s|acc occupied by the vepolt o/ tht Scottish 'fials oe hauc been obliged to omit stucval of the usuaL f.atules of tl& fafcl, and lo cuttuil othe/ s

Tho Industri8l Vohicle supplement, " Molor Tractlon," is insert€d in each sopy.

..THE AUTOCAR" SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Britrsh Isles, t6s. Abroad (thin paper edition), 22s, 8d. lrer annurrr

J U The niversal I ^/oLights s ll. '"fhe attempt to amend the Iarv relatins to the carn- ing of lights upon vehicles has once again met with failure. The seconcl reading of the lJill, lvhich rvas moved in the House of Commons by Mr. Bignvo'od. the member for Brentford, rvas lost by the narrow majority of one, ro8 voting for, and ro9 against it. The Bill, we need hardly say, is one to make it com- pulsory for all vehicles to carrv lamps shorving a white light forrvard and a red light behincl, the light to be carried on the o,ffside of the vehicle. 'l'his is a

Those rvho spoke against the lli1l in the House of Commons maintairred that it was simply drafted to enable reckless motorists to tear aborrt in the dark, and this was practically all that could be got out of them. Speaker after speaker expressed more or less the same sentiment. As to the safety of the drivers of all horse carriages, not to mention cyclists, none of those who opposed the tsill seemed to think these matters rvorthv of consideration. I'hey lvere perfectly certain it rvas the evil motorist who was behind the Bill, and there u,as the encl of the matter. Some of the arguments were absolutelv puerile. and the Scotch members were particularly opposed to the Bill, apparently lrer:ause it did not include Ireland rvithin its scope, brrt it is quite evirient from the remarks of the memlrers o1;posed to the }till that these gentlemen had had little or no experience of using the road.s at night.

Hor,vever, its passage into law is only a question ol tinre; it is not the first attempt which has been made to compel horse carriages 6Senerally, as well as bicycles anrl motor cars, to, carry lights, and it will not be the last. 'l'here is no' question that it rvill eventually .lrecome law, becauss it is common sense, and as soon as the people who oppose it realise that it is for the safetv arrd convenience of all road users, and not merelr a matter of importar-rce to moto,rists, they will ('ease to oppose it. From a motoring point of view, liersonalll , u,e do not r:are whether the Bill becomes Ial' or not, because we carry lamps rvhich are suffi- r'ientlv po,rverful to shorv us all lve Nant to see at re:rsonahle speeds. lrut rvhen we are bicl'cling or being rlr'ven in a horse carriage, we suffer more or less nervolls tension fronr the fact that we never know ruhen t,r rvhere an uy'lighted vehicle lvill unexpectedly r)rrst.nt ilsclf. I ,v

Clamouring for Commission. Latell rve have cor.ne across several irrstances of attemp,ts on the part of agents a,nd others to obtain comrnission from the manufacturers of motor cars on the r'laim of having influencerl the sale of a car. During tl-re last shorvs some of the exhibitors were positively inconvenieuced in this way. Some private person would come to them and cliscuss the points of their car, and possibl;- order one, but whether he did so or not he would be followecl almost immediately by an agent, nnd in some cases by three or four, who all claimed that they harJ influenced him to select the particular car. 'fhese agcnts were rrot onlv people more or less recog-