'""TliE AUTOCAR B Journal publisbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicafl\? propelleb roab carriage.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

'.\ o. 6 17. Vo1. X J X . ::;ATURDA Y, AUGUST 17TH, 1907.

[PRICE 3n.

TlfE AUTOCAR.

(Publis~ed Wee'.dy.)

~ec'.stered a.s a newspaper for transmission 1D t!le United Kingdo;n

Entered a.s second-class matter in the New York (N.Y.) Pest Offic~.

EDITORIAL OFF:CE :

COVENTRY.

PUBLISHING OFFICES :

z:i, TUDO~ STREET, LONDO~I, E.C., ENGLAND.

NOTES • • • •

CONTENTS.

1·.-.c;f':

. . . • . • . . . . . . . . 259-260

USEFUL HINTS AND TIPS-THE ADJUSTMENT AND DRJVING OF

DAIMLER CARS l CONTINUED) . • • . • • • • • • • .

261

A DIARY OF MOTORING IN SOUTH AFRICA (ILLUSTRATED) , • 262-264 15,000 MILES IN FORTY DAYS (ILLUSTRATED) • • 265 -266 ARMY MOTOR RESERVE • • 266 lN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS • • • • • • 267 RELIABILITY IN CAR CONSTRUCTION • . . • • . 268-270 THE CAVE QutcK CHANGE Ru1 (ILLUSTRATED) 270 DRIVING IN THE NEW FOREST . . 270 ON THE RoAn. Bv OwEN JOHN • . • • 271 THE R.A.C. DUST TRIALS (lLLt:STRATED) • . . . 272 -273 BRITISH MOTOR BOAT CLUB, COWES MEETING 273 CONTINENTAL NOTES AND NEWS (lLLUSTPATED) . . • . 274-277 STEEL PISTONS • . • . • • . . 277 BROOKLANDS AUTOMOBILE R >rT:,,. :; C .. un • . :::78-279 THE STEPNEY SPARE WHEhL • . , . 279 THE A.A. SCOUT AND THE M.U. AGENT 280 To EXCITE POPULAR PREJUDICE 281 CARBUR:ZTTER EXPERIMENTS . • • • • • 281 NOVELTIES IN ACCESSORIES-AN htPROVED CHAIN 282 THE HOTCHKISS LONG DISTANCE TRtAL 282 A NEW DISTRIBUTER (ILLUSTRATED) . . • . • . . . . . 283 AN OBJECT LESSON - UPHOLSTERY MATERIALS - -TYRE REPAIRS 284 CoRRESPONDENCE • • . • • . • , • . 285-289 FROM PEKIN TO PARIS (ILLUSTRATED) . • 290-292 PROPOSED SCOTTISH SPEED LIMITS • . 292 FLASHES . • • • · , • · • • 293-295 IN PRAISE OF nm SMALL CAR • • 296 AMERICAN NOTES . . . . . . , . ·. . . 297 AN AUTO¥ATIC PETROL MEASURER (ILLUSTRATED ) .• 298-299 A HOME-MADE M<'TOR CAR (ILLUSTRATED) . . 299 CLUB DOINGS-REVIEW • . 300

" THE AUTOCAR " SUBSCRIPTION~RATES: Br it i ~h Isles, 16s. Abrc ad (thin pape r t.dition 1, 22s. Sd. ptr a, nm11.

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Notes. What Next? i No document which has recently een published in connection with automobilism h received wider attention than the report of the 'uels Committee of the Motor Union. Practically all the engineering and technical papers have dealt with it. Most have repro­ duced portions of the report, others have criticised it. but whether they agree o r disagree with its findings the fact remains that the repJrt has enjoyed exceptionally wide publicity. This is all very well , and quite a good thin g in its way, but it is only one step towardJS the goal of free alcohol. There is no need fo r us to recapitulate the· main findings of the report, as we dealt with the matte r so full y on July 27th, immediateh upon the publication of the report. Tt is on ly necessar)

to say that the Fuels Committee, after the_ fullest investigation, have arrived at the same conclus10n that we reached years ago--a conclusion wh~ch ~veryone who has rriven careful attention to the subJect LS forced to reach~ That is to say that the liquid fuel of the future must be alcohol. Now, the great-in fact , we may say, the gigantic-difficulty is in the matter of Excise restrictions, and in this respect we must say we :;carceh· think the Union committee real ise to the full the ext~aordinary obstacles which must be faced, and which must be surmounted, or perhaps we should say beaten d1Qwn, before there is any possibility of these restrictions being removed or even eased i1; favour of alcohol for traction work. At the same time, we do not believe, as some pessimists affect to do, that the Jifficulties are insurmountable. It appears to us that the line of least resistance is to take up the matter where the Departmental Committee on Alcohol left it. After the Departmental Committee had heard a.II t~e evidence in favour of alcohol for power purposes, their < l.ecision was, as we pointed out at the time, practically to the effect that a good case had not been made out. It must be admitted that short-sighted as was the attitude of the Departmental Committee there was a certain amount of reason in their attitude. After all, however much we talk about alcohol, and, however energetically we may demonstrate that it is only a question of time before it is the only possible liquid fuel, at the present time no one is able to point t~ a single car in this country, either of home or foreign manufacture, which will run as well upon alcohol as upon petrol. The reasons for this are commercial in the main. It is useless for any car manufacturer to waste his time on perfecting an alcohol motor when petrol is the fuel of the day. and no one would look at alcohol. He might just as well devote his attention to constructing a car to run on port wine. This is looking at the matter from the point of view of the individual manufacture r. The question is not one which the individual should be expected to tackle; it is rather a national one, in which all motor ca r manufacturers are equally interested, and every other inhabitant of these islands who is desirous that motor car fuel should be ma.de at home instead, of imported from abroad. There is no need t o again take up the patriotic side of the matte r at a.11 at the moment. What we wish t o emphasise is the fact that what is wanted even more urgently than ever is experiment and p ractical demonstration. It does not much matter what the Union. the Club, the Society of Motor Manufacture rs. or any other body says, none of them: will ever convince the authorities that there is any pressing need fo r a fuel which. apparently, cannot be used. We say apparently, because there a re no cars which regularly run on alcohol. We know perfectly well that they ca n be made to run upon it, but there is nothing ii ke a practical demonstration.

The Roval Automobile Club has done an immense amount or' pioneer work in its time, and it has spent lame sums of money for the weal of motorists at large. and in so doi ng has greatly benefited the motor indus-