German Commercial Motor Trials : A Muddle.
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From Our Berlin Correspondent.
Experience does not seem to profit the officials of the Imperial Motor Club. What occurred in 1905 has occurred on this occasion, but with this difference : that, whereas two years ago the curious procedure of determining a route without having previously inspected it necessitated but trifling modification in the original plans, this time the organisers' methods of arranging matters have rendered the materialisation of the trials wholly problematical. I write, on Saturday evening, and am still in the dark as to whether they will take platx: or not. At the beginning of the month, I approached the Verein Deutscher Motorfahrzeugindustrieber for some definite information on the itinerary, but, to my amazement, was told by Dr. Haefelin, who holds the general secretaryship of this association, that negotiations with the local authorities on the subject of the routes to be taken by the several classes had not got beyond the " pending " stage It appeared that, just as in too5, some of the roads and bridges selected had proved, on inspection, to be quite unequal to the passage and strain of the heavier automobiles, and, with the start-list already in print, the organisers were searching for roads, and awaiting the authorisation fnom the authorities, On Thursday last, nothing more having been learnt meanwhile from the Verein, I heard a rumour that the trials would not take place, and at once hurried off to the Imperial Motor Club for confirmation, or otherwise, of the report Herr Moestl, the genial manager of the Press Bureau, could tell me nothing definite. Objections had been raised, he said, he the authorities of some of the districts. Even regarding the rumour, Herr ,i1loestl declined to commit himself. Suppose I paid him another visit, say, on Friday evening. I accepted the suggestion, and, on Friday, by way of answer to my query, he handed me a circular to the effect that in consequence of a veto having been placed on a large section of the projected route, the Imperial Motor Club had resolved to cancel all arrangements.
The report was, then, correct—no trials; but even before I left the building, the dub officials had decided to withhold the circulars, which were intended for the Press, to convene a meeting of interested parties, and, at a night sitting, to draw up a fresh route for submission to the powers. It transpired that the authorities of the Provinces of Saxony, which included the western section of the route, had refused to sanction the trials through that district, on the ground that the beet crops were being gathered in, and traffic might be obstructed, Since the vehicles were not to proceed in a column, the starting times being different, and since, in addition, they were to take three or four connecting roads between the termini, according to the distance laid down for the several classes, it is not particularly clear to most people how road traffic could be obstructed by the competing automobiles. I can explain the objection by the Regierungsprilsident and Oberprasident of the Provinz Sachsen, only on the assumption that, in their opinion, most of the vehicles would break down and block up the roadway. Anyway, the Province of Snxony had to be eliminated, and there was no help for it then but to work out a fresh programme. How far the Imperial Motor Club, and their co-operators the Verein Deutscher Motorfahrzeugindustrieller, have got with their programme, I am at this, moment unable to state with any positiveness, but there seems to be a chance of a probability—one must be cautious. —that the run will be confined to a circuit including Berlin, Brandenburg and Jtiterbog, whence to Betslin again. To-day (Saturday) thu vehicles should have been officially received, but the reception remained on paper. Indeed, the foreign competitors were in bond, under lock and key, thanks to the fine appreciation of commercial motoring by the Revenue Department of the country.
If the trials, e en under restricted' conditions., fall through, I can imagine, the joy of the " Vorwa.rts," the official' organ of Germany's " Red " masses,. which, one day this week, actually informed its thousands of readers that the Imperial Motor Club were " secretly " organising a "perilous. run " with " monsters weighing as much as 170 cwt.," through Berlin and suburbs These " monsters," declared the " Vorwarts," were going to. " rush " about and imperil people's lives; and the writer seized upon the occasion to sneer at the privileges of the Imperial Motor Club in being permitted to " race " 5-ton lorries about Berlin. Whether the readers of the" Vorwarts " will ever be told that the maximum speed stands at about 12 miles an hour, and that the scene of the run 75; a big tract of country land, may be regarded as doubtful. Still, any stick is good enough to beat a dog with.
[Later news from our Berlin correspondent be found on page 100.]