C URRENT LITERATURE.
The Modest Man's Motor. By Major C. G. Matson. (Lawrence and Bullen. 35. 6d.)—Major Matson tells us that the inception of his admirable little book, most of which has already appeared in the pages of the Badminton Magazine, was due to his reading in one of the illustrated papers a statement that " the keeping of a motor-car was possible only for the wealthy." This struck him as such an exaggeration that he determined to put some of his own experience on paper for the benefit of other persons of moderate means who might be deterred from taking up the exhilarating sport of motoring, or from making their journeys near home with the speed and comparative certainty that the motor provides nowadays, by such a fear of the cost. We may say at once that we have read nothing better than Major Matson's unpretentious and genial book as a guide to such a man, who is not afraid of a little dirty work at times, and proposes himself to undertake the greater part of the work which keeping a oar in good order involves. His experience is lucidly set out, and makes a most interesting story to all who are concerned with the develop- manta of motoring, whether they intend to own a car themselves or not. Incidentally, he covers the ground of pretty well all the adventures and excitements that come in the way of the car- owner who does not depute the dirty but interesting work of cleaning and repairing his car to a hired chauffeur. Major Matson's first car was one of the early low-powered ones of foreign manufacture—the particular type is not named—carry- ing three persons, with an engine of only 41-horse power, which, nevertheless, ran over twenty miles an hour on the level and ascended any possible hill with ease,—a somewhat remarkable per- formance for so small an engine, which makes us wish that the type of car had been mentioned. " For over a year," he says, "I drove this little car daily in all weathers, mostly taking my wife for afternoon excursions round about, but also making a few trips of thirty to forty miles to the seaside ; and my total ex- penses for that period for petrol and lubricating oil were under .310. Accumulators were re-charged about every two months at a cost of is. 6d., and that was all. There wore no repairs. After about two months the exhaust valve required grinding in,' which was done with a pinch of emery powder and ten minutes' work with a screwdriver. I never failed to get up any hill I came to, and I have constantly been up all the so-called 'test hills' round about Sevenoaks. I never started for any place and failed to reach it, and I never got there without getting comfort- ably home again." At the end of sixteen months Major Matson, wanting a more powerful car, sold this one for two-thirds of the cost price. This is a remarkable record, showing how useful a small car may be to a man who understands it and takes pains to get full value out of it by judicious and careful handling. One chief point to which the author attributes his immunity from trouble is his refusal to have anything to do with pneumatic tyres,—a source of trouble and expense, it must be admitted, as well as of pleasure. As he points out, pneumatic tyres "are quite unnecessary for speeds up to twenty miles an hour, but the car must be made for these solid tyres. A frame built up of tubes brazed together like a bicycle would not last long on them, and the carriage must be properly hung on good springs." If this is adequately done, the running is smooth and satisfactory— though never quite equal, we should say, to that of pneumatics— and the bugbear of puncturing is obviated, whilst that of dust is greatly lessened. Major Matson's general statement of the principles to which a really economical car must conform is full of good sense; above all, as he says, it should bo "fool-proof," and avoid all possible complexities, such as the mechanically operated inlet valve. We could desire no better or more enter- taining handbook for the "modest motorist."
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