ROAD TRANSPORT IN OTHER LANDS.
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Items of News Intended to Stimulate the Interest of British Makers in Overseas Markets.
Italian Government Trials of Petrol Substitutes.
UNDER the auspices of the Italian Government a series of trials was recently held in the Rome district of motor lorries using other fuels than petrol. In the first test, which consisted of a run of 250 miles, nine vehicles took part, five using heavy oil whilst four were equipped with gas-producere, two of them using charcoal and two semicoke obtained from lignite, as fuel. Seven vehicles completed the run, two of the gas-producer lorries falling out owing to breakdowns, not connected, however, with the producer plants. This was succeeded by a run from Rome to Ostia and back, a distance of about 30 miles, in which maximum speed rather than load was the object. Ten lorries took part—five using heavy oil, two charcoal and three semi-coke—all but one completing the journey well within the allotted time.
A third test, in which nine lorries took part, consisted of a 62-mile run over a hilly route with a load of 1f tons. A final test consisted of two daily runs of 86 miles, the competing vehicles comprising two Spa lorries carrying loads of 2 tons and 2f tons respectively, a Fiat with 2 tons and a Ceirano with 2f tons. A number of money prizes was offered, and the judge's awards and report are being awaited with interest in commercial circles in Italy.
Chances for Bus Sales in Brazil.
WITH the rapid development of the suburbs of Rio and other large towns in Brazil, such as Sao Paulo and Puerto Alegre, a demand for motorbuses has arisen and a number of new motor routes is contemplated. Use will chiefly be made of light vehicles with open bodies on medium-priced chassis and seating 22 to 32 passengers. In the -smaller towns and up-country districts cheap chassis are essential.
B42 Out of 11,061 lorries imported into Brazil in 1927, those of 1-ton capacity or less numbered 10,093, of 1 ton to 21 tons capacity 898, and above that 70.
German Postal Department's Tests of Diesel-engined Vehicles.
THE motor department of the German Post Office, which operates, in addition to motor mail vans, a large number of combined road passenger and mail services throughout Germany, has recently carried out a series of tests of one of the latest Junkers-Diesel twostroke heavy-oil engines, and of a M.A.N.-Diesel four-cylindered engine developing 53 h.p. at 1,100 r.p.m.
The Junkers engine, which was fitted in the chassis of an N.A.G. petrol van, develops a maximum of 48 h.p. at 1,100 r.p.m. and, according to the report of the recent trial, very satisfactory results were obtained. The chief engineer of the Berlin-Borsigwalde division of the German G.P.O. Motor Department anticipates that crude-oil engines will, in the near future, be in use on a large number of the whieles.
Tractor Sales in Canada's Wheat Belt.
DURING the first 11 months of last year 17,143 tractors were sold in the prairie provinces against a total of 10,026 units in 1927 and 101279 in 1920, the previous record year. Of last year's sales, Manitoba took 2,209 tractors, Saskatchewan 8,703 and Alberta 6,231. Sales by ratings were as follow :
Up to and including 10-20 h.p. ... 895 10-20 h.p. to 12-25 h.p. 529 12-25 h.p. to 18-36 h.p. 11,658 18-36 h.p. to 22-40 h.p. ... 3,502 Above 2-40 h.p. ... 559 The fall in the sale of small tractors is mainly attributed to the temporary disappearance from the market of the Fordson. Tractor Progress in the Dutch East Indies.
CONDITIONS in the Dutch East Indies appear to be more favourable for heavy track-laying machines than for other types of tractor. Immediately after the war a large shipment of light wheeled tractors of Canadian manufacture was imported, but the machines were found not to have sufficient power for the heavy work required on the large agricultural estates in the islands. The British Fowler cable-ploughing equipment has been sold to a limited extent and is the best-known European equipment on the market for power ploughing. The French Citroen tractor is also represented, but few sales are reported.
The principal use for tractors is in , work about the oilfield% for heavy hauling, road making and land clearing. Tractors are not so extensively used in agriculture, whilst there is little incentive to adopt them for sugar cultivation, as native labour can do the necessary work at a slightly lower cost per acre. The limited number of tractors owned by sugar estates is used for emergency situations and for hauling cane from the fields during the cutting season.
In the outer islands of the group, where labour is scarce, the possibilities for tractor sales are greater than in Java. The local oil-producing companies, both American and Dutch, have found the tractor indispensable for their development work, and in much the same way it is felt that railway contractors, road engineers and the managers of big Sumatra sugar estates will, in time, use more tractors in their operations.
The Tractor Market in Cuba.
THE economy and efficiency of trac tors are being recognized in Cuba, both for farming operations and for hauling sugar-cane carts. Several of the large sugar plantations have ordered a number of tractors, but apart from these few large orders the tractor trade in 1928 was not so good as in 1927, imports of both wheeled and track-laying tractors having decreased.
Berlin's Commercial Motors.
ACCORDING to a return lately issued there were 14,134 vans and lorries, 838 motorbuses, and 9,119 taxicabs in use in Berlin at the beginning of the present year.
New Import Duties in Finland.
AS from January 1st the rate of duty on commercial motor chassis imported into Finland has been increased from 8.75 per cent to 10 per cent.