MECHANICAL TRACTION IN WAR.
Mechanical Traction in War. By Lieutenant-Colonel Otfried Layriz. Illustrated. (Sampson Low, Marston, and Co. 3s. net.) —Mr. R. B. Marston has translated this compact and handy history of the application of traction and automobile engines to road transport. He has also added illustrations of the earlier engines used on the roads, many of which are quite forgotten. Why we do not know, for according to Lieutenant-Colonel Layriz, England has always been re- garded as the nursery of all mechanical developments in con- nection with locomotives and road engines. The sum of the German officer's review of the subject is that prejudice and official lack of initiative are responsible for the very tardy use of traction- engines. They were used in the Franco-Prussian War, and nothing surprises us more than to find that on one occasion some Prussian officers declined an offer made by a driver of one to haul some guns up to a certain BINA, a feat which they could not do themselves. The traction-engine, it should be said, has proved its superiority over all other engines or motors, the many uses to which it can be put making it facile princeps. The latest type for war purposes has been a most decided success. It curious that Jules Verne in his "Tigers and Traitors" should years ago have made so prominent a feature of the mechanical elephant that hauls the travellers across India. The traction-engine has already distinguished itself in South Africa, and its general use surely can only be a matter of a little mental alacrity on the part of our thoughtful war authorities. We have roads enough, but not too many, if the railways became congested, as they might be in war time.
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