Harrop, R. G. Herbert, Singloh issu, K. Kuroda, 0. 8.' Lieu, G. Morris: ain fenbacher, who, addressed Bekins Gordon Lowder, spoke as ayes mesting in the absence
toto Gentlemen: absence in Hongkong of our Chait GIDE, 29 ey the to whan Air. Es tordsn Lowder, have been asked. to occupy the
and. accounts have been in. your Ghai at thie Meeting. "The report hands for some time and wi th your more permission 1 will take them og reed, before. proposing their adoption, I will give you a brief resume Imnpoftant "matters. dealt with your Committee daring the past Year, "I regret that. in preparing he reports the name of our esteem 4 colleague on the Conimittee, Br. XK. "'Karoda, inadvertently omitted Last autumn, your Committee swan approached by. the National Good" Roads Association of "China onthe subject of Good Ronds Exnibition which" they propose to hold in. Shanghat inthe Autumn of this Year. At, the request of he: National Good Ronds Associa Hon, our Secretary, (Mr. TR. N, Swann), was appointed to represent the Club on the Preparatory Com-Inittee which was formed to. submit Tecommendations regarding the proposed exhibition. A considerable Humber of meetings, have been held Bnd a comprehensive scheme for the exhibition iv at fof" preparation, "it at" manufacturers, esp Europe and America, int and construction and all matters pertaining thereto, will be Te.
resented. at the exhibition, as well vomobite. and." tyre Ianufactuers, The Good Roads etocinton wit pace on exhibition jane of, roads, completed and in onstruetign in Various ticipated wil attend the exhibition for the purpose of "viewing the tnodern appliances for road building find transportation methods whic wil be demonstrated.
Since our last meeting very comnlderable progress. has been fade in the construction of motor roads in China and practically all
{rays which "are being used. Cly provinces now have, numerous high motor vehicles for the: transportation of merchandise and passengers, Certainly, existing. roads are feateclasd in the "accepted modern nente of the term, and what is more unfortunate, the majority of Them are, to a very grant extent, isolated. "By the latter 1. mean that feimpt appears to have been a yet at the construction of highways" from province Sehemes have although. extensive been" prepared for hi vray in various ing plans call for the Eonstsuction of over 20,000 miles of National highways over a period of years. 'The total cost of construc. Yon of there highways is estimated at $04,000,000 approximately 'On August 16, 1929, regulation governing the building. and main-Yenance of National highways. in China' were promulgated, These ighwvnys will "be controlled and administrated by. the Ministry of Railways. According' to staticties of. the National Good" Roads Association, less. than 109 miles improved roads existed in'all China (exclusive of foreign concessions)
1921, whereas by the end of 19:
total "of approximately 21,0 files had been constructed, and it ig Believed that a conservative estimate of road mileage in Chinn, suitable for motor traffic Sncluding enravan routes la Manchuria and Mongolia, may be stated SOSO nes in th Shanghai © aletrch, "Chekiang at aking of, provinces. inthe present. has approximately 500 Milles of motor roads and. Kiangsu W964 miles. 'The roads in Chekiang province have Hangechow for their Harting point. in practically all cares, in" Northern "iciangst) the yous radiate from Hsuchow, Haithow and" Tsingkiangpu and, in Central' "Klangew from ngs Ghinklang and Nantungchow, while jin Southern Kiangsu they converge about. the industrial districts of Shanghai Te is a. curious fact that fewer Toads have Deen -contracted in the Shanghai "District outside the foreign Settlements), than in any other part of the With very little labour and! expense, the road from Shanghai to Hangchow could be completed, with great benefit to the country people, but there, does, not, 9 be any way of getting the local authorities to mayen the matter fe hope, however, that the impetus given to the Good Roads move~ ment by the forthcoming exhibition will render completion of this all-important highway possible in the near future, would like to state that I am indebted to Miss A. Viola Smith's publication (Motor " Highways in China) for the figures I have just quoted.
'The activities of the Club are still restricted owing to the limited scope for touring in this area, but} fat such time as it is possible' for ists to. travel further afield ill endeavour. to which the Club} has to offer to Members on similar Hines to those provided by the great motoring organizations in other countries 'A good deal hag been said during the past year regarding the necessity of compulsory insurance by motorists against Third Party Risk, and opinion locally appears to be sharply divided on the mater. Compulsory Third Party Insurance was. recently introduced in Great Britain and efforts are at present] being. made to introduce a Bill to provide for similar precautions, in New Zealand, which are bel strenuously opposed by the Roy Automobile Club of Queensland in favour of the Safety Financial Resporsibility Law adopted in cer-States of America and Canada. have no knowledge of the detail alternative to. Compulsory Third Party Insurance, but our} Secretaries are endeavouring to obtain information on the matter. There is no doubt that the public should be protected in this matter to the fullest possible extent, and Jat such time as the Club has had tunity of studying the results accruing from the introdue-Hon of compulsory insurance in England and the various alter-pal "Couneil_ and endeavour to" obtain action locally matter. in the
"The unsatisfactory position caus ed by divided control of trafic and Hcensing: in the Shanghai—district
found possible, apparently, to over-continues and it has not been come. existing obstacles to unificafon of tref: and license reguli tions in the Greater Shanghai are 'The Honourable Mr. Justice Feetham will shortly be' submitting his Feport to the Shanghai Municipal Gouneil and it is to. be hoped thet some solution to existing unsatis-Taetory conditions may be found a result of is recommendations.
Your Committee has continued to impress upon the local. authorities the advantages which would accrue from the formation of a permanent Trafic "Commission consisting delegates of the three local. Sfunipal authorities, but here again we fare faced with what appear to be Insuperable obstacles in the of certain of the local authorities themselves" who have hitherto shown no. willingness to act on thi Speaking of the International Settlement and French" Concession tone, existing traffic control leaves! much. tobe desired at present.
not. make. this statement—so much as a criticism of the Police, of the Regulations themselves, bue'T feel that T must comment on the slackening off in trafic control Which has taken place during the ast year. Mechanically propelled Vehicles have, to a very. great extent, complied with existing regulations satisfactorily, Dut rice has and other man-hauled vehicles fare permitted to operate in a most dangerous. manner and. they " are undoubtedly the principle course of danger on the streets to-day. SIMs. have recently introduced trafic' regulation prohibiting the Eons of Nanking: Road during zsh periods. This course has been urged the Club for several, years and Yor Commitee id The the existing regulation extende the Stincipel thoroughfares in the Gincat strict ama to be fect om asin f9 630 pam. The pak Inge of vehicles for periods of 80 mminotes, as at present permitted, Mrould of be tolerated i any othe Sty in the world Over ons peat tige, "your "Committee protested against the parking places. for joter cars arranged on the South side of Bubbling Well Road, along the Race Course, and constant ob-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.