H.—24.

52

[m. cable.

9. Have you any record of the current taken in coasting down the Brooklyn grade? —We have taken several tests of this on palace cars. When this route was first started it was only intended to use box cars. 10. With the cars now in use, can you, from memory, state what is the approximate amount of current taken for coasting down steadily at seven miles an hour?—l should say . about 45 amperes. 11. You mentioned that the temperature of the motors had been taken after running: was this done only in a few instances, or have you made a practice of it?—lt was only done for experimental purposes. 12. In what wav was the temperature taken, and where were the thermometers put in? —The thermometer was laid on the commutator, and was protected outside. 13. Do you know from your own observation or experiment the saturation current taken by the magnets of the brake? —We have no particulars, but from recollection I estimate the current to be about 35 amperes. This is an old type of magnet, and it has a very long circuit. 14. You say that you have used the magnetic brake up to twenty-five miles an hour on the flat, and have made good stops. Have you had any difficulty in making stops, and have any of them been failures? —There have been failuies, but I should not care to make more than one or two stops at that speed, as in a test of twenty-five miles an hour the motors must be in perfect order. 15. You are aware that a failure to stop occurred yesterday when the magnetic brake was applied?— That car - had been out all morning, and it may have been handled pretty roughly. 16. To what do you attribute the failure of the brake to act?—To flashing over the commutator. I did not inspect the car afterwards, as it would be inspected in the evening. 17. You did not consider the matter of sufficient moment to inspect the car?— No. The car is still in use, and it was cleaned up last night after it was returned to the shed. 18. You attach no particular moment to the failure of the brake? —Not in a case like that. For ordinary running I consider that twenty-one miles an hour is about the limit at which the magnetic brake will act satisfactorily in practice. The car in question worked well during the remainder of the trip, and there was nothing to indicate that it was in any way out of order. 1 attribute the failure to stop to flashing over the commutator, and consider that such failures are liable in speeds exceeding twenty-one miles an hour with emergency stops. 19. Your cars are fitted with a hand-brake, which acts upon the wheels. The action of that brake is to a certain extent opposed to the action of the magnetic brake. You are aware that the Westinghouse people have lately introduced an improved attachment to the magnetic brake. If you were equipping a hilly system with magnetic brakes, which would you prefer : to add to the magnetic brake the attachment for coasting or to retain the present ratchet or wheel brake in preference?—l would adopt our present system, together with the improved attachment to the magnetic, which is now being used in the cars working on steep grades in London. 20. Is the speed of twenty miles an hour approached on any of your lines here?— Our Order in Council does not permit us to run over fifteen miles an hour, but the cars are capable of exceeding this limit. 21. Have you heard of any cases of the magnetic brake failing to act when the car has started from the depot after a period of rest? —Three or four cases have been reported. Mr. 0 Shea (to the Chairman): I gather from your question as to the adoption of the new type of magnetic brake that it is proposed to do away with the hand-brake if you apply that attachment. The Chairman: I think the witness understood my question clearly, that the attachment to the magnetic brake did not mean the abandonment of the present hand-brake. Stuart Kichardson sworn and examined. 1. The Chairman.] You have had considerable experience with the magnetic brake here? Yes, the magnetic brake has been installed here since the inception of the service. 2. In evidence given in Auckland certain defects were alleged as being peculiar to the magnetic brake. One was that it was more or less unreliable owing to the fact that some portion of the brake gets out of order, there being no indication to the motorman that such was the case; and the other was that a motorman had not, as a rule, the same confidence in the brake that he had in an air brake, where he had the pressure-gauge before him. Speaking generally of your .experience here, do you find the magnetic brake a reliable contrivance?— Yes. The magnetic brake when used as a service brake would show any fault. The brake is used here as a service or emergency brake, and a man must know if his brake is in good order. 3. Is it possible that a man might keep his magnetic brake in reserve, and use the hand-brake, and that the magnetic brake might fail when required?—lt might be possible, as much as any other brake might get out of order and fail. The same might be said of the air brake. The magnetic brake is only an optional service brake. It is not a compulsory service brake. 4. Witnesses have stated that the magnetic brake is very liable to failure by skidding.' Have you found that to be the case? —That very much depends upon how the brake is applied. 5. It has been stated that the brake is only serviceable at a limited range of speed, and that below three miles an hour it is inoperative, the necessary current not being present, and that at anything much above eighteen miles an hour it is liable to fail by short circuit. Does that tally with your experience?— After a car has been in service for some time I think the limit of speed at which the brake should be applied would be eighteen or twenty miles an hour; but if the commutator is clean and the car has just been taken out of the shed, the speed might be increased and the car would brake well. In ordinary service I consider that practically the speed-limit for the usefulness of the magnetic brake is between three and twenty miles an hour.