H.—24.

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[j. H. BBENNAND.

attention. I asked which was the best brake, what were the good and bad points about the braking system; and got an unbiassed opinion on it. 1 can say that the advisabilit)' of installing the magnetic brake had been considered. It'was not installed, but the air brake was. As a practical man I have given a practical opinion, after taking into consideration all the necessary factors as to public safety, &c. The air brake is a brake in which motormen, as a rule, have big confidence. They are confident because they know they have the pressure, and the means of applying that brake, and they can hold the car at any time. The man can try his brakes before leaving the depot. The braking effect is not dependent upon the car-equipment. That is a very big consideration if anything goes wrong—that the force which controls the brake can be depended upon. The air brake is easily learnt by the average motorman. The faults that occur on the road are very simply and quickly remedied. You can see any defect and hear it, and act. Now, with the magnetic brake you do not know whether she is going to go right or not, and that brake is almost entirely disused for service stops, on account of the injury likely to be done. I would not allow the men to use the magnetic brake for service stops. I would not like them to use it, because 1 know the work in the depots would be much increased. By Mr. Rosser : The Sydney drivers had a grievance against the magnetic brake, and there was a Royal Commission appointed to inquire into it just before 1 left for America. That was one of the reasons I took such a personal interest in it. I took service with this company in September, 1907, about two years and seven months ago. Since that time we have increased the staff considerably, and the cars receive more attention than formerly, but, of course, there are other reasons —we have more cars to attend to, and we are able to draw a car out of traffic without it being missed. I say the magnetic brake is more severe on the equipment of the cars and more severe on the passengers. We have six double-deckers here, and the severity on the passengers on the top of those deckers would be more severe. As to the magnetic brake being more severe on the men than the air brake, that depends on whether the men are allowed to use the magnetic brake for service stops. They have to rely on the hand-brake for a stop. As far as I know, all services which have been equipped with the magnetic brakes have started out to prevent the men from using that brake for service stops, but it has generally worked round that they have been allowed to use it. The hand-brake has the same application as the Auckland hand-brake, and it would be severe on the men. As to the air in the compressor lasting, should the trolly leave the wire, it would depend on the number of stops. You would have a sufficiency of air there to control the car down a very big grade. Should the current be off for some time, that would give the driver ample warning to use the ordinary appliances. In the tests made by the Public Works Department I think Motorman Troy drove, also Barker, but he has left the service now. I did not know he was in the Adelaide service at present. By the Chairman : 1 cannot speak definitely as to the equipment of the cars on the Leeds tramway. I was working for John Fowler and Co., who put in the plans. At the North Shore in Sydney the Milson's Point is 1 in 12. On the Spit line and the Mossman line the grades are lin 10, with very bad curves. Neutral Bay varies, but averages about lin 9. On that section the track brake was used. On the stiff grades the track brake was not used. I had very few cars equipped with that. The braking arrangements on the cars of the other lines—the methods of retardation—were the air brake, the hand-brake, and the emergency on the controller. There were two brakes on the controller. The first motion was to. reverse the car, then, if the main switch came out, the hand was brought round with full power. The emergency brake in the oar was the first, the emergency reverser of the motors was the second, and the complete cutting-off of the power was the third emergency. I could not say the electrical emergencies were very often brought into use—not as the usual thing; 1 think the men relied on their air. They were able to completely control the cars by the air alone on those heavier grades. They had coupled cars; they controlled two. The two cars were exactly the same. If the first one failed, the other one controlled it. The weight of the cars would be as much as 10 tons, but they varied somewhat. The brake-cylinders were 9 in., as far as I remember. The working-pressure on the axle-driver compressors was about 35 Ib., and on the Christensen brakes from 75 lb. to 85 Ib. We sealed up the brakes of the car. With the air brake we ran that car three shifts, for eighteen hours, with one adjustment. I think Mr. Carter was with me at that time. The magnetic-brake failure at Kin« Street was due to the man using the brake constantly for service stops. It was a controller failure brought about by the magnetic brake solenoids. We have five types of controllers here, but really only two in use. There are two kinds of manipulation, the ordinary emergency controller and the rheostatic. I. will arrange for your inspection of the cars fitted with these different types of controllers The different modes of retardation in use here are the hand-brake, the track brake and what is called the third emergency. That is, to reverse your motors, and, if the switch blows out, cut into the power. lam satisfied with the sand gear here. There are four sandpipes and, except on very big curves, they always deliver the sand on the rails of the curves. The pipes are between two wheels of bogie cars, and on the single cars about 6in or 6 in in front. The β-eneral thing is, the bogie cars are fitted between the two bogie wheels. That particular car you had yesterday was an exception. The leverage required for the air brake is more if used without the slipper brake: that is my experience. On the air-brake car alone you would rely more on the air brake and more on the shoes, but on the car fitted with the track brake you wou d rely on the track brake. Supposing we are going to rely entirely on the air brake, we should require a larger leverage than if relying on the air brake plus the track brake. When a car is fitted with the track brake, the leverage could be left within a safer limit as far as Ridding is concerned, the reason being that the weight of the wheels is reduced by he i rack brake. With a magnetic track brake the shoe is attracted to the rail and the action of the car is to ove shoot that fhoe, which pulls on the wheel brake-that is, the Newel magnetic brake which s considered the best. I have no personal experience of it though I have seen !t i lustratecL I could form no idea as to the relative cost of fitting that brake as against the Newell brake. Ihe bolstei