From our Berlin Correspondent.
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On ate evening of the e3th, on the sfurstendamin, one of the Berliner >tor Omnibus Gesellschaft's vehicles dded on the greasy roadway, collided :h the curbstone and fell on its side. ree passengers were slightly injured, 1 the conductor was hurt rather seridy. Beyond a broken window pane two, the vehicle itsetf was but little naged.
.ximum Weight and Speeds for Freight Motors in Nureniburg.
lenceforth, agreeably with a decision :he Nuremberg Corporation, freight °mobiles above ro tons will not be owed within the city. This weight udes both weight of vehicle and ful load. Vehicles between 4-61 s may not travel faster than six es an hour ; those between g-ro tons y go just over five miles per hour. bridges, and at places where there heavy traffic, speed must not exceed re three miles. Freight automobiles y not be driven along the street-car :k. Motorcabs, by the way, are Wily rising in favour here.
A New Dutch Steam Lorry.
iews comes from Holland that the ineer, W. A. Holk, has designed a tm lorry, for the Rotterdam firm of Lnd A. van der Schnijtt, which "can Ipletely revolutionise street freightlic in the city. It is of the 2-horse t, of vehicle so familiar to Ratterters and, with a length of 21 feet . a breadth of some 6 feet 4 inches, :arries a load of 4-5 tons, its own ght being 2 tons 5 cwt. The maxim speed under full load appears to five miles an heur. Its quick-run?„ compound engine (dust as well as :ight) is convertible into a 2oh.p. h-pressure engine by a simple moveit of the foot. A superheater is con_ :ed with the tubular boiler. Two 7 powerful brakes operate on the rential gear, and a worm-brake ; on the rear wheels. Coke serves firing purposes. The water-tank Is sufficient fluid for a run of six 3ecutive hours under full load. The !els are of the artillery pattern, 5.9 tes broad and 31.5 inches in diaer. One man can attend to the y, which is steered by a wheel. He dates the running of the engine by LOS of a pedal. Both steam and .ke are practically invisible. The v's extraordinary long springs were in to counteract the effect of Rotam's roadways. I understand that Rotterdam firm is so satisfied with
the trial trips that it intends to substitute Holk steam lorries for its horsed vehicles.
New Motorbus Garages for Berlin.
The Allgemeine Berliner Omnibus Gesellschaft proposes building, in the Gneisenaustrasse, a garage large enough for 5i motor omnibuses. At this new garage no fewer than 600,000 litres of petrol (circa 135,000 gallons) are to be stored in underground tanks on the Martini and Hiineke carbonicacid system. At the " Viktoria " depot, burnt down recently, only 27,000 gallons were stored. The Berliner MotorOmnibus-Gesellschaft, whose methol of storing and dealing with motor spirit was illustrated and briefly described in the issue of " THE ComraEacen MOTOR for the 5th August, page 546, has in contemplation a big garage with petrol-storage acconumolaLion to match, and I understand from Messrs. Martini and Iltineke, who will lay down the storage plant, that the arrangement will present several points of interest and novelty. In due course particularswill be in my possession.
Future of the Motorbus : •
A German View.
At the eleventh general meeting of the Union of German Road-Car and Small Railway Administrations, held recently at Mannheim, Secretary_ General Vellguth, of Berlin, delivered himself of the following remarks on the future of the motorbus :— "Most of the small concerns came to a stop a few months after their commencement, as it was not possible to cover even the working costs ; and the majority of the few existing to-day enshroud their traffic figures in deep darkness, as far as the public is concerned— a state of affairs holding good in particular for the big undertakings of Lon
don, Paris and Berlin." After having pointed out that the price of petrol had risen from 31d. to 5d. a kilo., Herr Vellg-uth criticised the manufacturers' estimate of the life of motorbuses, " German makers," said he, " fix the life at 8-in years, hut practice does not confirm their estimate. A chassis with body will, if taken good care of, reach a year's work of 5o,000 kilometres; that is to say, they cannot be used after four years, given, of t.ourse, sufficient reserve and good roads," And he concludes thus : " With the high, working expenses of all kinds of city undertakings the motorbus finds no opportunity for existence, since, no matter whether
with or without the competition of tramways, receipts but seldom cover half the costs—in most cases only a third or less. Receipts exceeding these proportions are obtained onty over a few, short, and much-frequented routes in, for instance, Berlin. In rural concerns there is, under special circumstances, a possibility of balancing receipts and expenditure, in so far as competition from railroads and tramcars does not exist. Without doubt the costs of working motorbuses will drop in time, yet not in a degree sufficient to be seriously prejudicial to an electric tramway system in its district. Costs will probably fall in connection with fuel at first, then with rubber and up-keep.
Motorcabs in Berlin and Vienna.
Vienna cab proprietors are about to come to an arrangement with a motor syndicate for the prompt delivery of a large number of motorcabs, Vehicles of this kind at present running in the Austrian capital fulfil the office of practice-cabs, put on for the purpose of training cabmen in the art of steering and managing the self-propelled vehicle. These cabs are provisionally garaged outside the city precincts, but a central garage is to be built in Vienna itself to accommodate the cabs shortly to be delivered. Apropos of motorcabs, Berlin has now 546 licensed, and the Polizeiprasidium was recently petitioned by rnotorcab companies to refuse further concessions and even to curtail those existing. 'rho Polizeiprasidium, however, declined, insisting that the number of motorcabs licensed corresponded to the needs of traffic ; if owners were not doing well, it was not due to a superfluity of motorcabs.