Apr. 25.
Yesterday the Automobile Club of China indulged in a little pleasant day-dreaming under the eloquent guidance of Mr. H. ITiefenbacher in the Chair at the annual meeting. It is good for the general public to know how motorists in mass meeting assembled view the traffic problems of the day. For motorists jate not necessarily such aloof, unfriendly folk as they are often apt to. appear as they speed through "the country lane begoggled to the point of grim disguise, muffled in leather and fur or as they loll impassively at, the wheel in a traffic block in Nanking Road. Indeed motorists resent destructive criticism of new roads and, if Mr, Tiefenbacher's words are to be rightly assessed, they strongly endorse the views which this journal tools the valuable achievement. in the completion of the Shanghai-Hangchow Road when it point= ed out that the project yas a practical essay in' providing a light-motor road maintainable within the limits of the financial resources available. Mr. Tiefen~ bacher broadly took the line that motorists, in their dreams, saw concrete ' or tar-finished highways streaming out in all direc tions into China. They woke up make the prosaic demand for funds to carry those dreams into effect. Meanwhile they w content with the "dirt road" as better than nothing, like the [isetical housewife' of the melon market who replied to the pavement butcher's query: "What do you want?" with "What I want is a house in Park Lane, a Rolls Royce and £10,000 a year; what I expect to get is a lee of "mutton for ninepence on week's credit." In this spirit the Automobile Club do well to encourage the authorities in their dificult task of roa construction which has been quietly and unobtrusively sup-Ported with "highly" creditable results, The recent holidays were not blessed with weather favourable to extensive motoring but it will be noted that those motorists who braved the rain were fully rewarded.
Those who are inclined to doubt the possibility of trusting to the open road in the neighbourhood of Shanghai should study Mr. Tiefenbacher's speech, They may then be persuaded to lenvoi themselves in the menibership of the Automobile Club whose hands will be strengthened as the numbers increase, And the ce-operation of the Club with the road-making authorities must inevitably play an important part in the development of road communications, Thence, course the motoring industry will benefit but that benefit is not exclusive. Speedier communications and the release of [the vast, population of Shanghai from the confinement of. its purely urban precincts will tend to stimulate activities of all kinds. The motor-car is entitled to demand that the aeroplane should, not have it all its own way. The Club is planning the construction of garages and re houses along the road to Hang:
It also hopes to put out in due course after practical plans have been drawn up in consultation with its members. This all points to a live policy which deserves to be warmly supported. Mr, Tiefenbacker's expectation of a membership of nearly 2,000 in the near future is not' extravagant jin the circumstances. Certainly the Club is rendering a most useful service in circulating information regarding the [growth of the network of roads in China, The process of extending that network must slow. Yet it is in train, Reports from the Provinces show that even where the stimulus of Shanghai is lacking the authori= proximity to so great a city a
ties are able to find outlets for light motor trafic designed for the strictly utilitarian purpose of transport from village to village, In the progress of this road-construction more can be done to bring the practice of administration in closer touch with the needs of the people than by many grandiose schemes which require funds beyond the competence of the Government to produce.
troubles in Shanghai Mr. Tiefendealing with motorists' bacher was impelled to endorse the recommendation of the Cooper Commission of 1926:
"steps should be taken towards the ultimate elimination of pose senger and freight man hauled vehicles within a definite period, or a8 soon as suitable substitutes are offering. Special considération should be given to possible niethods of encouraging such, substitutes so as to hasten the replacement of manheuled traffic. Mr. Tiefenbacher, indeed, is inclined to be more definite.' He does not make the reservation which has clearly been useful in justifying the continued license ing of the rickshaw. He wants Shanghai to take the Singapore plunge and fix a date of complete
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.