jU LY 27TH, tg<,7.
THE AUTOCAR B Journal pubhsbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall~ propelleb roab carriage.
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.
No. 614. VoL, XIX.
SATURDAY, J ULY 27TH , 1907.
[PRICE 3D.
TfIE A UTOCAR.
(Published Weekly.)
Registered as a newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom,
Entered as secon d-class matter in the New York (N.Y.) Post Office,
EDITORIAL OFFICE :
COVENTRY.
PUBLISHING OFFICES :
20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.C., ENGLAND.
CONTENTS.
PA G£
NOTES
• . . .
. . 13r-r32
THE MOTOR CAR CENSUS . . . • . • . • • • . • • •
USEFUL HINTS AND TIPS: A TEMPORARY BOLT-ANOTHER PIT
132
SUBSTITUTE-(lLLUSTRATED)-STICKING TREMBLER BLADESCURRENT LEAKAGES THROUGH lNSULATIO~ - SLOW \VORKING OF TREMBLER • • • . . , . , . • • • • . • • 133 NORTH-EAST LANCASHIRE A.C. HILL-CLIMB (ILLUSTRATED) • • 134-136 THE 18 H.P. BUICK TOWN TRAFFIC TEST (ILLUSTRATED) r36 MOTORING IN INDIA • . • . . • . . . • • • r36 THE M01'0R UN ION MEET AT SOUTHPORT (ILLUSTRATED) • • r37 - r38 A REMARKABLE SERIES OF SUCCESSES (ILLUSTRATED) • . r38 THE ROLLS-ROYCE RELIABILITY TRIAL (ILLUSTRATED) . • r39-r40 THE DusT T RIALS • . . . . • . • . . . . • . r4r BROOKLANDS AUTOMOBILE RACING CLUB ( ILLUSTRATED).. . • 142-144 IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 145 THE MOTOR CAR CENSUS.. • . • . • • 146-147 THE ELLIOTTMOTORMETER ( ILLUSTRATED ) 148 THE FUTURE OF MOTOR FUELS . . . . . • 149-15 3 CONTINE~TAL NOTES AND NEWS (ILLUSTRATED) . . 154-15 6 CORRESPONDENCE • . • . • . . • . . . • 157-161 0N THE R OAD FROM PEKl:-1' TO PARIS (lLLUSTRA"TED) 162 FLASHES . • . . :- . . . . • 163-165 CLUB DOINGS (ILLUSTRATE D ) • . . . • • 166-168 How To S EE THE LAKES BY CAR (CoNCLUDEo) .• 169-170 REVIEWS • • . . . . 170 M OTORI:s'G AND HEALTH . . . • . • • . . • . . 17I INSTITUTION OF THE AUTOMOBILE ENG I NEERS-ROYAL PARKS
REGULATIONS-Sor.lE ELECTRICAL NOVELTIES • •
172
101000 MILES TRIAL OF THE StX·CYLINOER HOTCHKISS
REMOVAL OF ENDORSEMENTS l!-J PARK CASES
172
172
" THE AUTOCAR " SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
British Is le• , 16• . Abroad (thin paper edi 1ion), %2•. Sd. per amrnw.
f Notes. The Fuel Question. The report of the Fuels Committee of the Motor Union o.f Gr-eat Britain and Ireland was, save for -::ertain appendices, presented to the members of the Union at their meeting at Southport on Saturday last. It comes before us. rich in that thoro ughnes.s and com plete ne ss. which has marked all the work of the Motor Union s.ince Mr. Rees. Jeffreys assumed the secretarial duties. The effect of the enquiry upon the fuels question as a whole cannot as yet be presaged. but no one in any way responsible for the measures which should and must be taken to prepare for, and grapple with, the im pa8se before, and when it arrives can plead that the whole situation has not been pertinently and starkly set before him in the re port unde r review.
Without dealing with the report in extenso, we would draw the attention of automobilists particularly and the outside public g-enerally to the conclusions arrived at by the Fuels Committee after hearing and weighing the vast mas.s of important and valuable evidence placed before it.
From the summary of the report, it is clear that, owing to the demand, which is every day increasing by leaps and bounds, a petrol famine is inevitable in the near future, and the Committee, while emphasising this probability, earnestly draws attention to the extraordinary and disquieting fact that this rapidly approaching s.hortage does not appear to be realised by those whom. it most intimately and most vitally concerns. This e.1:raordinary short-sightedness would not be of so much account in France or Germany, for the paternal goyernments of those countries do in large measure exercise fo resight and forethought on the part of industries they very properly consider they are called into existence to protect. But it is otherwise on this side of the Channel. With that progress annulling axiom of laisser aller which has always distinguished British administrations, no such imperial dry nursing has ever obtained, with the lamentable result that in this, as in kindred matters. we as a nation lag painfully in the rea r. But to• the automobile industry this presaged fuel famine is fraught ·with the direst peril, and it is more than imperative---it is for the actual aversion of annihilation- that this subject should be tackled. By the Ji~ht of the voluminous and valuable evidence subrriitted to it. the Fue ls Committee has considered th e whole subjecr in the most thorough and careful manner. with the result that. having- taken into consideration all the fu els available for use in internal combustion engines as applied to road locomoti on and marine work, it (without any beating about the bush) has plumped fo r alcohol. Alcohol produced from vegetation, apart from its present cost. is barred by an artificial rather than a natural restriction , and that artificial bar must in the best intere ts of a great industry be unhesitatingly removed malgre the wrench to an unprogressive and singularly blind bureaucracy.
The statements in the reoort show what ind eed has been shown long since by oi.1r most valued contributor, Dr. Ormandy, in the columns of The Aittocar, namely , that alcohol offers a most complete and satisfactory substitute for p etrol, and, what is more, its substitution under properly arranged condition. would un doubtedly form a huge :md prosperous home industry, benefiting a class of taxpaye rs upon whom fis ca l burdens to-day press heavily, and who of a ll th e employers of labour throughout the country deserve a ll th e favour and all the support th at can be a fforded them. We mean, of course, the British farmer. " ·hose row is to-day a hard one indeed to hoe, but upon whose industry largely depends the continued virility of the nation.
Of course, th e Committee points to th e use of heavier spirit , and urges the Royal Automobile Club "to institute
