From Our Berlin Correspondent.
Page 18
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A lengthy document, of 40 sections and a maze of sub-sections, has just been issued for the regulation of automobile traffic throughout the—please note—German Empire. On another occasion I may pick out such clauses as are likely to interest the subscribers of an industrial-motor weekly.
The Marienfelde branch of the Daimler MotorensGesellschaft has received an additional order from the Bavarian Ministry of Traffic for 30 gear-driven motorbus chassis, which are to be fitted with engines developing 28 h.p. These additional chassis are required for new lines, and are not to replace worn-out-rolling stock. • Messrs. St-oewer, of Stettin, will in all probability pay a dividend of 10 per cent. for 1909, or 1 per cent, more than in 1908. Business justifies the directors in anticipating a still-higher dividend for the current year. Besides turning out excellent cars and industrial automobiles, the company occupies a premier position in the German sewing-machine and typewriter industries.
The Prussian Diet and Motor Traffic.
What eccentric ideas some Prussian legislators still possess, of automobiles, is reflected in a motion, by a Deputy named Strosser, not only to sharpen the police regulations, but also to restrict the use of automobiles for the conveyance of persons along busy routes, or even to prohibit it altogether. The amazing thing about this motion is that Herr Strosser has been able to find 50 Deputies willing to
back him in other words, 50 men as ignorant as himself. I wonder whether Strosser and his supporters have ever taken a view of an automobile except through the spectacles of prejudice? Apparently not, else they would have noted two indisputable facts: (a) that, other things equal, the self-propelled vehicle, being without a horse takes up less room than a horsed-vehicle; and (b) that, ipso facto, and by reason of its excellent steering devices, it can more easily be handled than a horse-drawn vehicle. On the foregoing grounds, one is justified in arguing for the very opposite of that proposed by the backers of the motion, namely, that the Prussian police be directed to grant every possible facility for the passage of automobiles through busy thoroughfares. If Herr Strasser and his friends have sought to legislate on other matters with the same wisdom as they display in this case, the annals of the Prussian Diet must afford some highlycurious and diverting reading. Of course, the passing of such a motion would deal a crushing blow to the German motorcab industry. As a rule, motoreab,s do not ply for hire on waste -ground, nor does the ordinary fare re
quest to be driven to a destination of that description. To justify expectations of profit, the driver must be allowed to work his cab along the business routes.
German Industrial Motors in Abyssinia. Where is England ?
note that an agreement has been made between the Abyssinian Government and the " Straasenzug-Gesellsehaf I Th. Mulder," of .Berlin-Steglitz, for connecting up the capital and Diredaua, hitherto terminus of the French railway, with industrial automobiles, The agreement has materialized after considerable trouble and vexation, says the German correspondent who cables the information from Addis•Abeba. The Gesellschaft will transport Government goods at the same rates as private, and has also secured the right of carrying the material of the French railway on the basis of 200 Maria-Theresa thalers per ton over the stretch from Diredaust to the capital.
The Russian Market.
At the present time, there do not appear to be more than 3,000 self-propelled vehicles in Russia, all told, and of this total, 800 run in St.. Petersburg, and 500 in Moscow. The motorcab, which was recently introduced into the country, continues to make progress, especially in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Riga and Tomsk. The motorbus, which has become a popular means of conveyance in these towns, serves also to connect up the districts lying immediately outside Riga, and to facilitate traffic in some parts of the Volga Valley. A point that must be kept in view is that the military authorities purpose making far more use of the automobile than heretofore, and the Duma has voted a large sum for this end ; the St. Petersburg show, and the industrial trials connected with it, were intended to give the War Office an opportunity of becoming practically acquainted with the various makes, and of selecting those best adapted to military service. Russia has no motor industry of her own ; home firms, supposed to turn out Russian vehicles, simply assemble imported engines, chassis and other parts. Colonel Svetchine, President of the Imperial Russian Motor Club and Adjutant of the Czar, thinks that the time has now come for makers of industrial vehicles to devote serious attention to the Russian market. I think so, too, and you, Mr. Editor, are of the same opinion : witness your recent special number for Russia, prepares] and distributed at great expense in the interests of British makers. But the distribution of technical literature will avail little unless makers themselves are ready to co-operate with practical work in Russia. It is, however, gratifying to record that some British makers are awake to the situation, and have already successes to show.
Military Automobiles for Hungary.
Not long ago the Hungarian War Office invited Austrian and German motor hems to submit vehicles for trial ; Buessing and the Gaggenau Co. tieni lorries of five and three tons re
spectively. Both vehicles, it transpires, went through the trials without any serious hitch, and the firms are now expecting to receive orders from the War Office.
The "Continental's" 40 per cent. Dividend : Another Increase of Capital.
Concurrently with their announcement of a 40 per cent. dividend for 1909, the Supervisory Board of the Continental Caoutchouc and Guttapercha Compagnie, Hanover, propose that the capital should be raised from six to nine million marks. The new shares will be offered to the present shareholders at the rate of 250 per cent., and are to rank for dividend in 1910. The " Continental " was floated in 1871 with a capital of 900,000 marks. In 1897 the capital was increased by 300,000 marks; in 1899, by 1,200,000 marks; in 1901, by 600,000 marks; in 1905, by 1,200,000 marks ; in 1906, by 1,800,000. The new shares issued in 1906 were offered to the shareholders at the rate of 232 per cent., a new share falling to every 8,400 marks old shares. Since 1905 the company has regularly paid a dividend of 40 per cent.—a truly remarkable trading record!
Germany's Foreign Trade in Commercial Motors.
No pronounced headway was made either in imports or exports, during 1909; indeed, as to the latter, while the tonnage attained a higher level than in 1908, the value showed a decline. In 1909, Germany imported 59 vehicles, valued at 584,000 marks, against 46 in the preceding year, valued at, 433,000 marks. France and Switzerland accounted for 64,700 kilo. between them. Turning to exports: Germany sent out 156 vehicles in 1909, valued at 1,759,000 marks, compared with 141 in 1908, valued at 1,850,000 marks. Germany's principal customers for " industrials " were Great Britain 79,100 kilo. (17,400). Austro-Hungary 67,800 kilo. (49,600), Russia in Europe 87.200 kilo. (141,100), and Brasil 54,200 kilo. (3,000), the figures in parentheses being the corresponding figures for the year 1908.
The Russian decline somewhat surprises us, as German makers have been very active in Russia. The Brazil figures should be noted as indicative of a growing market for the industrial class of automobile.