horse traffic, and frantic efforts made to keep them from being sanctioned. These people had lived to see the folly of all such proceedings and predictions, and therefore, their minds were free to wish success to a new mode of traffic, which might be expected to bring many of the benefits of quicker and cheaper transit past their own doors by the road.
Another fact which made a strong impression upon me was the small fatigue of long road journeys, as compared with horse-drawn travelling. I suppose Colonel Magrath and I were the two oldest men who made the tour, and we rode on a car having solid tyres. Yet I cannot recall having felt any sensation of weariness even after the longest runs (e.g. 125 miles per day) and we both came to the end as fit, if not more fit, than when we started. Another remarkable feature of the event was that, although it was the first demonstration of the power vehicle on a large scale, so many of the cars completed the whole journey, notwithstanding that many devices which were still in the experimental stage must have been on trial. And of the breakdowns which did occur, a very large proportion were vehicle failures, and not machine failures. It was not surprising that with little experience of vehicles travelling on ordinary roads at higher speeds than was possible with horse traffic, and with greater dead-weight, and with the power applied direct to the wheels instead of by haulage, defects in frames and axles and wheels should show themselves, until experiment had reduced the requirements to formulas that might safely be followed.
Of the kindness with which we were received everywhere, we shall all cherish a delightful recollection. But I think everyone who took part in the tour will join with me in saying that what will be most remembered was the extraordinary success of the organisation, by which so great an undertaking was carried on without a hitch. The labour, the forethought, and the tact that must have been put out cannot be measured. Mr. Claude Johnson, Secretary of the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, who originated the scheme, and
