The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1896-06-02
THE WIDE TIRE REPORT
REFERENCE TO DATA ON WHICH
THE PENDING ACT is BASED.
United States Bureau of Agriculture
Experiments that Have Beep Made
Various Countries.

Following is the report made to the
Legislature by the special commission
on the wide tire act of last year:
HONOLULU, May 10, 1896.
w. &. Wilder, ESD, President N Sen
ate.
Sir:-Your committee appointed at
the special session of the Legislature
20 investigate and report ON the mat
ter of wide tires, and to whom was
referred Act 2, entitled IAN Act Con-
corning Vehicles, Tires, and Wheels
beg leave to report as fillows:
Considerable information has been
obtained by your committee on the
subject of wide tires for vehicles IN
highways; the most complete being
that contained in Bulletin No. 12 Of
the U. $. Department of Agriculture.
Office of Road Inquiry.
This paper gives the results of
number of experiments showing that
on soft roads less force is required
to haul given weight on wide tired
wheels than on narrow. 1t also gives
the regulations adopted in nine dlf-
ferent States and the width of tires
prescribed in Austria, France, Ger
| many, Switzerland and Canada.
All of the facts point plainly to the
necessity for regulating the width of
tire on vehicles carrying heavy loads,
| in order to save the roads from dam
aging wear. The only question is as
to the method of such regulation. Diff
ferent methods hav been adopted in
different states and countries, but the
practical working of each method as
compared with the others has not
been easily determined. In Michigan
the owner of a lumber wagon which
is made to conform to the wide tire
regulations receives rebate of one
fourth of his assessed highway taxes
in New York under one of the stat
utes of 1898 rebate of one-half; IL
1895 a bill was introduced in the New
York Senate providing fine no
less than five dollars nor more thai
twenty-five for the violation of TIN
ordinance made; in Queens County
n. Y, an ordinance prescribed u fin
of $40 for the first offence and i'm
prisonment for the second; in Obi,
law passed in 1891 allows a fine o
not less than five nor more than fit,
dollars; Kentucky make a distinc
ton in favor of broad tired wagons b.
charging less toll than for marrow
tired wagons; in Vermont there is
inc of ten dollars, and further tn
offender is liable to the town for dam
ages to the public highway; in Mass
achusetts an act was introduced i
1895 exempting from taxation VI
hicles which should conform to Gel
tain wide tire regulations.
The Vermont highway commissio
measured and weighed a large numb
of wagons, and arrived at the conclu
ton that the maximum weight inclut
ing wagon, allowed per inch of tire o
each wheel should be $50 pounds.
Your committee think that simpl
rule will be TO make the width of tir
proportional to the diameter of axle
and that the regulation be enfore
by means OF an increased annual Ia
on every vehicle not conforming {
it; and recommend the passage of
substitute Act on that basis prsente
herewith. The change from narrow
wide tires cannot be made at shoi
notice without involving great e,
pense and hardship to the owners {
vehicles, SO a considerable time mus
be allowed to complete the chang
Your committee believe that for
years should be sufficient.
Only a trial will determine wheths
a simple law can be framed which wi
meet the requirements of the warrior
conditions of the roads in the countr
districts as well as those of the mi
cadamized roads in Honolulu; b,
there Is no question of the adyantae
of wide tires in preserving roads an
the attempt should certainly be mac
to gain that advantage.