The Industry in Central Europe.
Page 10
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From Our Own Special Correspondents.
The Magdeburg Corporation has resolved upon the purchase of two automobiles each for the municipal hospital stations in the old city and in the suburb of Sudenburg with the object of transporting disinfecting materials.
The Austrian Post Office will work over a dozen motorbus lines next summer in the Tyrol. A complete list of these lines, together with information respecting fares and daily journeys, is obtainable from the Oesterreichische Postrerwaltung at Vienna.
The Cabs of Berlin.
Recent traffic returns for Berlin place the number of motorcabs at 1218, compared with 1065 a twelvemonth previously. On a like basis of comparison, the horse-drawn cabs numbered 2773 and 3'298 respectively. In other words, while the mechanical type increased by 153, the. equine decreased by 525.
Commercial Motor Trials in Holland.
We understand that, during a period of eight days next April, the Dutch Motor Club will cooperate with the Dutch Motor Syndicate's Chamber in holding trials for commercial automobiles over a route comprising Tilburg, Venloo, Nimwegen, Deventer, the Haag and Amsterdam. Several foreign firms, it. is stated, have already promised to enter vehicles.
Commandeered Motorbuses.
At the beginning of the Balkan hostilities the motorbuses working the Austro-Montenegrin and Cattaro-Cetinje line were promptly commandeered by the Montenegrin War Office for the transport of guns, ammunition and provisions to the troops at the front, as welt as for ambulance work. According to all accounts, the vehicles have left little to be desired in point of efficiency.
English Daimler Omnibuses in Munich.
The new omnibus line which has been opened with English Daimler vehicles is between NeuhausenWestend and Sending, Munich. The bodies are painted blue-white, like the trains, and are heated by means of the exhaust., which is eonducted through a system of pipes underneath the seats. Electricity lights up the interior. The omnibuses are double-deckers. Other lines, worked by Coventry vehicles, will shortly be established. The initial line, although essentially Anglo-Austrian, is under the management of a German. Lorries for Batavia.
According to the Belgian Consul at Batavia, East Indies, owing to the complete satisfaction given at a trial of two motor lorries recently for transport work on tea plantations, the question is now under consideration of establishing a service of five lorries. It is very likely that these services will, M future, be exceedingly popular.
Agrimotor Trials in Germany.
By way of celebrating the Revolt of Prussia in 1813, the Konigsberg Chamber of Agriculture is holding a big agricultural show in the town, with special trials for mechanical-plough systems of all kinds. These tests will take place towards the end of May. Interested firms could doubtless obtain further particulars from the Koingsberger Landwirlehaftska.mmer, Petrol Haulage for Italian Artillery. Foreign Houses Invited to Tender.
According to the Milan paper " Sola," the Italian War Office, on the ground of actual experience in the Tripoline campaign in Africa has decided to adopt, on a large scale, motor haulage, in lieu of horses, for dragging heavy field pieces of artillery. Foreign as well ae home makers are invited to tender for contracts, which cover from 70 to SO suitable tractors.
A Competition Worth Noting.
Respecting the two international competitions for motors with any mechanical driving-power and for small crude-oii internal-combustion engines, which are being organized at Parma next summer in connection with the Verdi Memorial celebrations, the Permanent Exhibition Commission for German Industry has received reliable information to the effect that the projected competitions will form "a favourable and relatively inexpensive opportunity for an effective exhibition of German manufactures as well as a welcome occasion for increasing sales, especially as the significance of agriculture for Italy's economic development is more and more emphasized, and the transition to a more intensive and rational mode of working increasingly furthered." No other comment. is needed than that, in the citation within inverted commas, the word " German " might be replaced by " British." By the Way, the Permanent Exhibition Commission for German industry is an institution which keeps a very watchful eye on foreign openings for German productions.
Quite a number of new motorbus lines will shortly materialize in the State of Wurtemberg.
The Berlin Police and Summer Carosserie for Motorcabs.
Von Jagow, the Berlin President of Police, has issued an order to the effect that all motorcab owners in possession of two or more vehicles may work 50 per cent. of their taxis with summer carosserie and so-called American. canopies from May to October inclusive, provided that the place next the driver's seat be left available for the transport of smaller luggage, and that a grille for carrying large trunks be attached at the hack, equipped with chain and lock.
Germany's International Trade.
In 1912, Germany exported 694 (346 in 1911) freight automobiles, valued at some £388,450 (i205,90u in 1911); consequently, compared with the preceding year, she nearly doubled her exports in this class of goods. On the other hand, the imports, although tending upwards, underwent but a moderate expansion, 201 vehicles having been imported, as against 134 in 1911, with the respective values of 2127,450 and £81,950. The foregoing conversions into British standards of currency are based on the assumption (not quite accurate) that 20 marks are worth El.
Austrian W.O. to Use 100 h.p. Gun Wagons.
New 12-inch siege-mortars of the tubular-recoil pattern, with the tube 1-1 ft. in length, and equal to projecting a shell weighing nearly 8 cwt. to a horizontal distance of six miles, and to an altitude of 2.5 miles, have just been introduced into the Austrian army. Two such guns, it appears, will constitute a battery, and, together with the initial supply of ammunition, will be carried through the agency of three motor lorries and four trailers. Each lorry has a fourwheel drive, also declutching arrangements for restricting, if necessary, the propulsion to either the rear or the front pair of roadwheels, and possesses an engine which. at 800 r.p.m., develops 100 h.p. On the fore-part of each lorry is a cable-winch for hauling the vehicle itself, by hitching the rope to some stationary object, over heavy ground, as well as for drawing, under similar conditions, a trailer by means of a, stationary lorry. Besides the trailers proper, there are, we learn, a number of special winch-wagons for fixing the guns in particular positions, their haulage-mechanism being worked by the engines of the lorries.