ROAD TRANSPORT IN OTHER LANDS.
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Items of News Intended to Stimulate the Interest of British Makers in Overseas Markets.
Finland as a Van and Lorry Market. FIGURES lately to hand indicate that Finland is a growing market for motorvans and lorries and one to which British manufacturers might devote more attention. They show that during last year 151 complete vehicles, valued at approximately £14,050, were imported into the country, as compared with only 17, of a value of 13,850 in 1926. The reason for these comparatively small figures is that the bulk of the industrial vehicles imported are in chassis form and are fitted with Finnish bodywork.
In Finland the Customs authorities include chassis under the heading of motor parts, the imports of which increased front 1386,000. in 1926 to £499,520 last year. The bulk of the imports are credited to the United States, and although Denmark occupies the second place the chassis imported from that country are doubtless assembled from American parts. The remaining imports come, in the order of importance, from Germany, Sweden, France, Great Britain and Belgium. It is estimated that there are now about 1,680 motorbuses and 6,000 vans and lorries in use in Finland.
Overseas Trade in Swiss Lorries and Buses.
THE exports of motorbuses and lorries from Switzerland during the first nine months of the present year attained a value of approximately £544,000, as contrasted with £416,000 in the corresponding period of 1927. At the present time the principal markets for Swiss productions are Spain. Brazil and the United Kingdom —in that order.
Tractors in Western Australia, DURING recent years there has been an increasing demand for tractors in Western Australia. American tractors are at present In the majority, but manufacturers in other countries are offering increasingly active competition. The British Pete.rboro tractor is reported to be selling quite well, whilst the Benz and Lanz machines, both of German manufacture, are being advertised extensively.
Except in the lumber districts in the
south-west, Western Australia is largely a market for light tractors, which are capable of being operated easily over the sandy plains and rough laud found in a large part of the State. The combination of high cost of operation, rough working conditions, and the difficulty of providing service to many purchasers, some of whom may be located a thousand miles from the tractor salesroom, invests the sale of tractors in Western Australia with difficulties unlike those encountered in many other markets.
Subsidies for Producer-gas Vehicles.
A NEW official order has lately been issued by the French Government which provides that, in future, subject to certain conditions, users of 2i-ton
lorries equipped with producer-gas plants will be entitled to a Government subsidy of 4,000 francs (about £32 Sc.) on purchase of the vehicle and to an annual grant for three years of 2,500 francs (about £20).
Another Swiss Lorry Maker.
IT is announced that the Societe des
Automobiles Martini, of St. Blaine, Switzerland, which has, hitherto, confined its activities to the production of ears, is taking up the construction of high-speed motor lorry chassis.
Tractors in South Australia.
AT the end of June last there were 110 motor tractors registered in South Australia, but there are actually many more machines than this in the State, as tractors which are used for agricultural purposes only and are not used on public roads do not require to be registered.
Sweden's 6,000 Buses.
THE rapid growth of bus traffic in Sweden is indicated by recently published figures, showing that that country has 6,000 licensed motorbuses running daily over 1,600 different routes. The combined length of the routes covered amounts to about 50,000 Idioms., or more than three tithes the length of the entire Swedish railway system. Logging in New Zealand.
MANY British vehicles are in use
overseas in connection with lumber operations, and they are giving good service in a branch of work which is• extremely arduous and which calls for a vehicle of particularly robust design. One of the first British vehicles to be shipped to New Zealand for this work is shown in an accompanying illustration. It is a Thornyeroft six-wheeler, and it has been acquired by Watkins Bros., Ltd., of Kalts-hi, for use in conjunction with a four-wheeled-bogie trailer. We learn that this outfit is making an average of five trips of 15 miles each way per day into bush country, and the owners are enthusiastic concerning its performance.
In a letter to the Thornycroft New Zealand agents, the company expresses its satisfaction in the following terms: "We have been connected with steam and oil-motor hauling for upwards of 30 years, and can Ray unhesitatingly that this six-wheeled Thornycroft truck is the best thing we have ever had for heavy haulage." Better testimony would be hard to find.
This must surely be one of the first instances where a pneumatic-tyred vehicle and trailer have been used for work which often entails travelling over very rough ground.
Business Motors in Hungary.
AT the end of August last there were 14,825 motor vehicles (motorcycles excepted) in use in Hungary, 3,233 of the number being commercial vehicles, 1,150 taxicabs and 463 motorbuses. Of the total number of commercial vehicles, 1,785 were in use in Budapest, in which city 155 motorbuses were also in operation.
Tractors in the Prairie Provinces.
THE number of farm tractors in use in the prairie provinces of Canada-Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta —at the end of 1927 was about 60,000, of which approximately 10,000 were purchased during 1927. It is estimated that as many as 12,500 machines will be sold during this year, making the total at the end of 1928 about 70,000 tractors, after making an allowance for' those which have finished their normal working life.