November 1902
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CTC Gazette (November 1902). cyclearchive.com, https://cyclearchive.com/magazines/ctc-gazette/vol1902-11/
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Articles in this issue
- Casualties in the month (ten deaths, forty-nine other serious accidents) are fewer but still more than need be, the careful cyclist being master of his fate. Cycling is not on the wane. Dogs Regulation Bill: the Club's request that dog owners answer for injury to people as well as cattle was refused and the Bill withdrawn. Innkeepers: Counsel's opinion (Edward C. P. Boyd, 21 August 1902) holds that innkeepers, not licensed victuallers, must serve travellers reasonable refreshment; the draft Innkeepers' Liability Amendment Bill, introduced by Mr Broadhurst, sets fines of 40s. and £5. A rumoured closure of Stanmer Park is denied. T. H. Wootten seeks rail-damage cases for a Board of Trade conference. The Council reconstruction awaits confirmation at Manchester on 7 November.
- The C.T.C. has established that Sec. 72 of the Highways Act (1835) covers leaving hedge-clippings on the road. Petworth Petty Sessions (18 October 1902): George Budd, farmer of Fittleworth, pleaded not guilty to hedge-trimmings on the highway; Mr A. C. Redshawe Williams assisted the police for the Club, and the Bench fined him 10s. Launceston Petty Sessions (7 October 1902): John Hicks, a contractor for the Launceston Rural District Council, was prosecuted by Mr Edgecombe Stevens for the police and the Club and defended by Mr Eric Ward; the Bench convicted him, fining 1s. and 4s. 6d. costs, while Lieut.-Col. E. J. Cox had three punctures within ten days.
- By Constance Everett-Green. She rode the Mansell-Jones spring-frame bicycle, built by the Birmingham Small Arms Co., some 600 miles in August and September, with three short tours carrying luggage, and felt less fatigued than on an ordinary make. Faults she names: 26-inch wheels, a curved frame, a gimcrack gear-case leaving the chain unguarded; the free-wheel clutch wore out in two months, a pattern the B.S.A. Co. no longer makes. She praises the B.S.A. back-pedalling brake, though she trusts a front brake more. Referring to the fatal accident near the Logan Rock in Cornwall, she offers evidence that the hill is not dangerous. She has tried Palmer and Fleuss tyres and likes the Fleuss's mending and slow deflation.
- By W. Rees Jeffreys. Against dust and mud, he met Dr Guglielminetti at the International Congress of Touring Associations; the doctor's oil and coal-tar experiments at Geneva had satisfied the Swiss Touring Club. Mr St Loe Strachey, proprietor of the County Gentleman, offered oil free to any local authority. The Hampshire County Council, under the County Surveyor W. J. Taylor, had 11½ tons of Texas fuel oil sprinkled on the Bagshot to Farnborough road on 26 and 27 September. A party inspecting it a week later found the dust laid; the press reports on smell (imperceptible to all but one of 150 asked) and on tyres (no danger) are quoted. The author withholds judgement until the winter shows how long the oil lasts and what it does to the road.
- Bewcastle, by A. W. Rumney. The parish and hamlet of Bewcastle lies at least ten miles from any town or station, between Brampton and Gilsland on the Newcastle and Carlisle line, with the Roman station and ruined castle near the church. Its glory is the runic cross-shaft in the churchyard, now headless and said to date from 664 AD: its inscription names Alcfrid, son of Oswy, and its panels show John the Baptist, Our Lord and a man with a hawk. The church has been remodelled. On a fine day the expedition can be extended by wheel to the Flatt shooting lodge, then a two-mile walk over the moor to Christenbury Crags, which resemble a fortress. The track to Gilsland is so slight it is a blind road to be walked with care.
- By Douglas Leechman, C.P.A., M.Cy.E.I. Two fixtures of the Midland Automobile Club. At Stratford-on-Avon he rode a 2 h.p. Rex motor bicycle, its motor set vertically before the bottom bracket; it ran at about 25 miles an hour until the wiring broke within half a mile of the town, and he also tried a new 2½ h.p. Rex. At the Gorcott hill-climb on the Birmingham and Alcester Road the Singer Cycle Co. lent a 2½ h.p. tricycle, whose petrol lasted about thirty miles and whose run came to about sixty. The Humber 3 h.p. motor bicycle made times roughly 20 per cent better than the most powerful cars in the Westerham and River Hills trials. Edward Lycett of Deritend, Birmingham, lines his belt pulleys with vulcanised fibre and leather against slip.
- By J. R. B. Floating needs the centre of gravity and the centre of buoyancy brought together: the legs doubled up and spread, the head and arms thrown back, and lumps of lead held in the hands as a counterpoise. A cork or bladder fixed to one leg supports the legs, so the wearer lies at ease on his back. The author urges everyone to learn, and children before they learn to swim; women float more easily than men, and stout people more easily than thin. A 150 lb man needs about 17 lb to be submerged in salt water, and 15 lb in fresh.
- Part II, by C. W. Brown, to be continued. The Scott, a licensed wired-on tyre with an endless fabric cover and moulded tube, a little cheaper than the Dunlop. Wapshare (Clifton Rubber Co.): Nos. 1 to 5, racing to roadster grades. Clincher (North British Rubber Co., the Bartlett original): A. Won, B and C grades with an anti-nipping flap; one wore through in 400 miles on a motor bicycle. Clipper (Clipper Pneumatic Tyre Co.): the Reflex Clipper recommended, five shillings a pair cheaper. Fleuss (Tubeless Pneumatic Tyre and Capon Heaton): no air-tube, a rubber lining and metal valve, slow in the author's test, priced about the Dunlop. Swain (Swain Patents Syndicate): a shaped fabric cover with no wire, the fastest tyre the author has ridden; Horwich and Horwich B are cheaper grades.
- Caxton Hall, 10 October 1902, W. Kendall Burnett in the chair. Motion No. 2, moved by the chairman and seconded by Mr Watson, rescinds the 1898 scale of representation: the Council of 158 becomes 68, with 34 Representative Councillors and 34 Representative Chief Consuls. Professor Everett questioned the English weighting; Mr W. Rees Jeffreys accepted London's under-representation as the price of reform, and on Mr Hughes's question said Middlesex was halved, six councillors to three. Carried nem. con. Mr E. Jenks's motion against editorial praise of tradesmen's goods fell without a mover. Membership 45,076 against 51,056 in 1901; 469 family memberships; a 1902 balance near £1,000. Mr Hughes's motion for a London room for technical discussion lost 6 to 83. The Metropolitan District Association was reported on. The Extraordinary General Meeting carried eleven Article amendments.
- Letters. Advantages of Membership: H. A. G. Samson, T. D. (1622), R. A. Smeeton (2957), E. Burrell Baggallay (22,767), Philos (2366) and Fred Pope (28,492) cite hotel discounts, Road Books and the Gazette. B.S.A. Spring Frame: a rider of nearly 65 praises its comfort; others write on its weight, saddle springs and breakage. Also on the Dursley-Pedersen, the Premier free-wheel clutch, a table of the causes of cycling accidents, the Bowden brake (the makers answering critics), brakes, wicker trailer-cars, and a Chester to Llandudno tour in one. The Woolley and Mansell-Jones spring-frame dispute is reopened. Robert C. Clay's Valley d'Ossau article is corrected. Speed-estimating, Haydon Perry's Welsh place names, the Dunlop, Clipper and Palmer tyres, the Trossachs road and air currents close it.
- Two notices under the Club's heading, each c/o the Editor. A member seeks a companion or small party for a fortnight's tour in the South of France and Northern Italy during the first three months of next year (No. 18,797). A middle-aged lady member, a good rider who speaks French, will spend a few weeks on the Continent, the locality to be agreed, and invites proposals from another lady or party (No. 21,480).
- No. 6751: the Hyde free-wheel clutch is among the best. No. 23,185: the subject is promised soon. No. 20,950: the Royal Sunbeam machine is recommended, not the combined free-wheel and coaster hub. No. 16,876: the Royal Sunbeam is excellent, but a hand brake is preferred. No. 18,595: an article on Norway would be welcome. No. 11,240: the Rover Cob is built to order; keep the gear low or use the Hub two-speed. G. N. Edmunds: a Bowden brake fitted properly gives satisfaction; the Triumph band is preferred. No. 4835: the B.S.A. materials are first-rate, the fittings less so. R. W. S.: a spring seat-pillar wastes power. No. 35,919: the choice is the member's. No. 27,266: machines ranked 5, 1, 4, 2, 6, 3, 7. No. 3367: a Hub two-speed fits a B.S.A. lady's spring frame.
- Caxton Hall, 11 October 1902, W. Kendall Burnett in the chair. Resolutions 175 to 185 adopt interim reports (Finance; Rights and Privileges; Map and Road Book), thank Mr Rees Jeffreys for his L.I.A.T. delegation, send a solicitor to the Petworth hedge-cutting summons, require Mr Henry James St Benno Cunliffe to resign, grant the Irish Roads Improvement Association its first instalment, and limit election addresses to 100 words. Finance (Belfast, 13 September): accounts sound, surplus £950 to £1,000. Rights and Privileges: hedge-cuttings, a non-member's use of a ticket at Dolgelly (refunded), railway claims, a Kildare hotel refusal, Glasgow tram point-shifters, Lichfield broken glass. Map and Road Book: official map revision and maps for Chief Consuls. Next meeting Manchester, 8 November.
- The annual election of Representative Councillors: nominations on printed forms to headquarters by 15 November, with the schedule of divisions (twelve English, Wales one, Scotland four, Ireland three, British colonies and foreign countries one) and the rule that a Councillor missing two Council meetings must show cause. A Special General Meeting at the Grand Hotel, Manchester, on 7 November, 8.30 p.m., to confirm the eleven resolutions of the 10 October Extraordinary General Meeting, amending Articles 1, 20 and 24 to 43 and adding Article 26 for Representative Chief Consuls. F. C. E. Perkins, R.C. Cheshire, gives notice of an application to enlarge the Liverpool District Association to take in western Cheshire beyond the London and North Western main line.
- Glasgow (7 October): car-rail ruts in Great Western Road, bottles on the streets, a petition against point-shifters. Leicestershire (26 September): danger boards and finger-posts. Liverpool (7 October): the death of Mr J. H. Barrow, a Great Central Railway tours sub-committee, Moss Bank danger boards, two hotel complaints. Manchester (7 October): town clerks' replies on the Salford, Middleton and Bolton roads, a bulrush-injury case, Stockport macadam, a direction post at Slade Lane, and hedge-cuttings at Cheadle and Wilmslow. Northumberland and Durham (7 October): North British Railway gates at Angerton kept closed; the Redheugh Bridge road repaired. Warwickshire and Birmingham (2 October): sign-post replies from surveyors, a smoking concert and lectures, and the Council's decision to leave the financial year unchanged.
- Club information for canvassers and members. The pamphlet 'The C.T.C. At Home and Abroad' is free; the Rights and Privileges Committee and the district associations (secretaries listed) deal with wrongs on the road; the Touring Bureau and Library answers queries free. The British and Irish Road Book volumes and the Companion (about 400 pages) are on sale, with a new Bartholomew map edition in hand. Also the Handbook and Farmhouse list, Customs tickets with photographs for Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland and the United States, the Year Book and Diary, the Foreign Handbook, the Continental Road Book, badges, name-plates, reciprocal arrangements with foreign clubs, Cook's organised tours, steamship concessions and the Club costumes.
- The monthly list of candidates for membership, arranged by county from Bedfordshire to Suffolk on this page and continued on page 38 with Surrey to Yorkshire, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the British Colonies and Foreign names (Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, United States). The preamble invites amateur bicyclists and tricyclists: subscription five shillings a year, entrance fee one shilling; second and later members of a family may forgo the Gazette and Handbook for three shillings; commutation for one guinea (five years) or two (ten); Articles 6 and 7 on election, and applications must reach the Secretary by the first post on the 15th of the preceding month.