SA1'URDAY1 dcT:JDER 3otH. t9d9.
THE AUTOCAR a Journal publtsbe~ in the interests of tbe mecbantcall~ propelle~ roa~ carriage,
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANEq,
- o. 732. VoL. XXIII.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30TH, 1909.
[PRICE 3D.
The Autocar.
(Published Weekly.)
Registered as a Newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom.
Entered as ~econd-class matter in the New York (N.Y.) Post Office.
Three Editions every Friday.
The THREEPENNY EDITION, printed on Art Paper. The PENNY EDITION. printed upo:i thinner paper. The FOREIGN EDITION, price .?d., printed on thin paper for transmission abroad
Editorial Office :
COVENTRY.
Publishing Offices :
20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E .C., England.
CONTENTS. N OTES USEFUL HINT3 AND TIPS
"The Auto car League" .. A D ETACHABLE WHEEL IMPROVEMENT {lLLU~TRATED) THE N EW 12-16 H.P. \.VOLSELEY-5IDDELEY CAR {ILLUSTRATED) THE E IGHT• CYLlNDER 35 H.P. DE DION ON THE R OAD THE 19m S1zA1RE ET NAUD!N .. THE IO·I2 H.P. ALBRUNA (ILLUSTRATED) MOUNTAINEERING BY MOTOR CAR {ILLUSTRATE D) . PROPOSED BIRMINGHAM-\VOLVERHAMPTON R OAD (ILLUSTRATED) REVOCATION OF RENAULT PATESTS ( ILLUSTRATED) M OTOR U SION ~ OTES • . THE NEW 15.9 ARROL-j OHNSTO~ CAR (ILLUSTRATED) SMALL CAR TALK .. BOSCH ARC LIGHT :\1AGNETO, TYPE D U2 ( ILLUSTRATED) CORRESPONDENCE • . THE NEW 14- 16 H .P . DARRACQ (ILLUSTRATED) THE NEW DAIMLER CARRIAGES (ILLUSTRATED) .. FLASHES .. THE NEW M oRs CARS-THE l\lIHI SHOCK ABSORBER ( ILLU:
TRATED)
PAGF. 659-660
661 662-66.s
666 667-669
669 670-671
671 672 673-675
675 676 677 67£-679
680 681-682 687-690 691-692 693- G94
695
696
Subscription Rates :
British Isles-Home Edition, 16s.; penny (thin paper edition), 6s. 6d .
Abroad {thin paper editionL 22s. Bd . per annum. Index to Advertisements appears on page 36.
Notes. Motorists and their Licences. Whether motorists are members of " The Autocar League .. or not, they should most assuredly profit by the ad,·ice ,re tendered to the Leaguists in our last two issues as to the places in which they take out licences for anything which requires a licence. There can be no motorist who has not year by year to do this for something other than his car, be it dog, gun, horse carriage, man-servant, armorial bearings, game, or what not. Such licence or licences will not, when the motorist realises what it means, be procured at any except a post office situated within the boundaries of a "clean " county. The fact that the proceeds of all these licences go to the county funds of the county in which they are issued places a weapon ready to our hands which we should be worse than foolish and wanting in our duty to ourselves and those counties 11·hich do not harass motorists if ll'e omitted to use. To do this 11·ill entail some little trouble, but let the car 0\\'11er 11·ho has been unjustly fined by the unsupported evidence of policemen remember his financial 11·ounds, and resolve that no penny of his money that can L >e cfo·erted shall go into the coffers of these plundering authorities. As the law stands at present, nothing but the driving licence fee of 5s. must be taken o:1t 11·ithin the area of the admini trative county in ll'hich the person resides, and if any motorist who lives in Surrey or 'Nest Sus ex, . for instance, takes out his 1·,m ous other licences in either of those counties he tra,·e ls near to b ing a traitor to his kind. The;:e motorphobist authorities have spoiled us: let us spoil them as far as ll'e can. We are carefully compiling a list of clean courties. 11·hich ,re shall publish early in December for final criticism by our readers. and ire shall publish it before the end of the year in its final form, so that no motohsfs monel' need be wasted in assi ting the finances of counties ,;hich fl eece us.
Bargaining with Parliament. :-fany mon,hs ago, long before the present taxati{,n proposa.l, 11·ere mEide public, ll'e ventured the opinion that the right policy for motorists to adopt ,ms one of steadv uncompromising but courteous opposition to any p ropo.,al for increased taxation. This ,ms at the timt' ll'hen cert.1in motoring bodies 1re rc! communicating with the Go,·ernment 2.uthorities on the subject of taxation ,111<l telling them in one form or another that if they must be taxed the money should go to the improvement of the roads. \Ve pointed out at the time that this was a most dangerous policy, and that it was far safer to oppose taxation in every possible way, as it ll'a.· impossible to bargain with Parliament. nfortunately e,·ents within the last few days have shown how true our ,mrning was. The De,·elopment and Road Bill,
• .rhi ch came before the House of Lords last ,reek, has been amended out of all recognition, so far as the road proposals are concerned. From a Parliamentary point of viell' the person mo t to blame is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, becau e he brought out the propositions for the in.creased ca r taxes and the altogether new petrol tax, but he promised the motorists, and in the rlpft of the Road Bi] I he maintained his promi e, that the taxes should in the main go to the improvement of roads. Now the Lords have accepted an amendment that the motorists' money shall go to the maintenance of existing roads, as well _as to the construction and 111aintenance of new roads and the impro1·ement of existing one3. This is an absolutely unfair amendment, as if it is to be a question of general road maintenance, all vehicles should be taxed whether th ev be horsedrawn or otherwise, and the money from the~ all shoulrl go to the same object-that of road maintenance. As it is, the Lords propose that the motorist who already, as an ordinary ratepayer, pays his fair share of the rates by which the roads are maintained, is now to pay a special supertax for road maintenance. This shows plainly that the House of Lords is even more opposed to the motor car than the House of Commons.
