March 1900

Articles in this issue

• Editorial (opens in a new tab)

  Reports that the Universal Lights Bill remains stalled but the County Councils' Association has backed a statutory substitute for conflicting by-laws, praises the Middlesex County Council's broken-glass by-law proposed by Montagu Sharp, and announces the Annual General Meeting at St. Martin's Town Hall on 9 March. Also covers the railway companies' refusal of the N.C.U.'s cycle-carriage requests, the First Commissioner of Works' extended Hyde Park riding hours, the C.T.C.'s neutrality over the Mansion House war fund, the disputed Italian customs concession to the Touring Club de France, and the fall in new candidates.
• Official Notices (opens in a new tab)

  Formal notice and agenda of the Annual General Meeting on 9 March, with motions from Archer M. White (fortnightly Gazette), J. Edmund Clark, H. Croydon Roberts (abolishing hotel signs), the Rev. G. H. Bourne Barton (more money for District Associations) and Rees Jeffreys on Council reorganisation; includes Joseph Pennell's appeal to the Foreign General Division for new Consuls.
• The Shipton Testimonial (opens in a new tab)

  A. Graham Murray announces that 1,653 persons have subscribed to the testimonial to Secretary E. R. Shipton, to be presented after the General Meeting on 9 March, and prints the final alphabetical list of subscribers.
• The Council (opens in a new tab)

  Minutes of the monthly Council meeting at the Blossoms Hotel, Chester, on 10 February 1900, chaired by W. Kendall Burnett: Chief Consul appointments, the annual elections, a Danger Board budget of 300 pounds, a new Preston and North Lancashire District Association, and complaints to the Board of Trade over railway cycle rates. Includes the Finance Committee's annual report and 1900 budget, the Council's draft Annual Report for 1899 (66,449 members), and the interim reports of the Finance, Rights and Privileges, Foreign and Colonial Touring Arrangements and General Purposes Committees.
• Statement of Accounts and Balance Sheet for the Year ended 31st December, 1899 (opens in a new tab)

  Honorary Treasurer W. B. Gurney's accounts of the Cyclists' Touring Club for the year ended 31 December 1899, with auditor Wm. F. Allvey's certificate and the balance sheet showing assets over liabilities of 13,164 pounds; followed by the Capital, Revenue, Depositors' and Continental Road Book and Maps accounts.
• District Associations (opens in a new tab)

  Reports and notices from the Dublin, Liverpool, Lothians, Manchester, Metropolitan, Northumberland and Durham, Notts and Warwickshire and Birmingham District Associations, including annual meetings, elections of officers and the Northumberland by-law against leaving broken glass and thorns on the road; also the Roads Improvement Association's committee meeting at 27 Chancery Lane, which opened membership to owners of carriages, carts and motor cars at 5s. a year.
• Companion to the Road Book (opens in a new tab)

  Haydon Perry's descriptive notes on routes in Volume II of the Road Book: Route 257 reversed, Chester to Wrexham (Aldford village), Route 104, Manchester to Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Route 115, Liverpool to Manchester, with local history of Hough End Hall, Barlow Hall, Warrington and Latchford.
• Currente Calamo (opens in a new tab)

  F. T. Bidlake on free-wheeling as a boon rather than a failed boom, the case against plain bearings in free wheels and the Humber clutch, and his doubts about spring forks and spring frames, with a record ride paced by automobiles as the test case.
• Mechanical and Practical (opens in a new tab)

  C. W. Brown on why tyres should be pumped hard in winter, narrow gear-cases, valve tubes in cold weather, puncture-proof bands such as the Empress band, and a new pattern pedal.
• Review (opens in a new tab)

  A review of H. A. Garratt's The Modern Safety Bicycle (Whittaker, 3s.), a 220-page manual by the head of the Northern Polytechnic Institute's engineering department, judged useful though too reliant on two representative machines.
• The Ladies' Page (opens in a new tab)

  Constance Everett-Green on the varied road surfaces of the past month, the side-slip caused by frozen ruts, and the maxim of riding across rather than in them.
• Correspondence (opens in a new tab)

  Members' letters on the Gazette's improvements and a weekly or fortnightly issue, the new membership ticket and badge arrangements, the Touring Club de France, Consuls' badges, free wheels and long cranks, light railways, danger boards, ball-bearing lubricants, and complaints about the Engineer Co. of York and the Armus triangulated frame.
• Prospective Tours (opens in a new tab)

  Members' small notices seeking cycling companions, including Saturday rides near Bristol, a three-week April tour from St. Brieuc to Rouen and Dieppe, an English Lake District tour, and a Riviera tour from Genoa to Marseilles, Paris and Cologne.
• Answers to Correspondents (opens in a new tab)

  Brief replies to members' queries on foot-pumps from A. W. Gamage, machine recommendations such as the Raleigh, free wheels versus fixed gear, specifications of gear, cranks and brakes, and the Club's willingness to prosecute thorn and glass strewing.
• List of Candidates, March, 1900 (opens in a new tab)

  The Club's invitation to join and the Article 6 election rules, followed by the alphabetical list of candidates for membership with their addresses, grouped by county and district.
• List of Candidates for Life Membership, March, 1900 (opens in a new tab)

  Extracts of the Life Membership rules and the Life Membership (Capital) Account, followed by the list of candidates including H. J. St. B. Cunliffe, with their offices and dates of joining the C.T.C.