1908] on the Modern 3Iotor Oar and its Effects. 155 



prejudice existing in England against any vehicle not drawn by 

 animal power was a drawback which took many years to surmount 

 from a legislative point of view. Even at the present moment it has 

 not altogether disappeared. Anything which interferes with the 

 exclusive use of horses on the highway has for a long time been 

 looked upon in this country as a development to be strenuously 

 opposed. It w^as this feeling which led to the widespread hatred of, 

 and opposition to, the tricycle and bicycle, and w^hich prevented Parlia- 

 ment from modifying earlier the law that the speed of mechanically- 

 propelled vehicles should not exceed four miles an hour, and the 

 ridiculous provision that such vehicles must be preceded by a man 

 with a red flag, a restriction which will make England in future years 

 a laughing stock in the eyes of scientific historians. 



I can testify myself that less than ten years ago many of my 

 friends and relations looked upon me as a nasty vulgar person who 

 had lost caste beyond all hope, because I went about in motor cars, 

 and it is only eight years ago since my car was stopped by the police 

 on entering the precincts of the House of Commons, although I was 

 then a member, and had the right, by sessional order, to demand 

 " free egress and ingress." An appeal to the Speaker eventually, 

 however, put the matter right. The motor car of to-day is, therefore, 

 very modern indeed, for it has only just survived its infantile troubles, 

 and has not yet even reached that stage in which its existence is 

 accepted without question. The very fact that one often hears the 

 phrase — the motor car has come to stay — makes this apparent. For 

 no one has ever heard the remark that the horse has come to stay, or 

 that any other accepted fact has come to stay. 



The effects of the motor car on our every-day life are beginning 

 to be important. As to the direct trade, of which the motor car is 

 the cause, I estimate that a sum of over twelve millions sterling is 

 already invested in this country in motor car plant and machinery, 

 without taking into consideration the accessory trades w^hich are also 

 important financially. Moreover, the output of the motor-car in- 

 dustry in this country will be worth not less than six millions sterling 

 during the present year. In other directions the decrease in the 

 number of horse vehicles, and the way in which the new kind of 

 locomotion is changing the course of existing trades, such as the 

 carriage building industry, give food for reflection. Coach builders 

 are now building more bodies for motor cars than horse vehicles — in 

 itself a sign of the changing current of trade. 



The decrease in the number of horse vehicles is shown as 

 under : — 



[ Horse drawn 



On March 31, 1896, there were 549,630 ' carriages on 



On December 31, 1906, there were 532,452 'j which duty 



( was paid. 



17,179 decrease. 



