From Our Berlin Correspondent.
Page 19
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According to the " Diario
Oficial," the Uruguay Minister of Public Works (Ministerio de Ohms Publicus) has authorized the purchase of .six motorbuses for the iminieipality of Montevideo. A sum of 26,000 pesos is set apart for the acquisition_
Herr Ferdo Budicki has received a concession to work motorcars in Agram, on condition that all police, sanitary and industrial regulations be observed with the utmost strictness, especially those regarding the speed within the metropolitan area and over the public highways in Croatia-Slavonia.
Brazilian Potentialities.
British makers of freight automobiles should closely watch the development of things in the Brazilian littoral State of Alagoas, where the Government are considering a scheme for connecting up the city of Penedo with the Port of Maceio by self-propelled vehicles, The projected line is some 125 miles in length, and Senhor Barrette, who has submitted the scheme to the Government, purposes laying the route through the towns of Aiagoinhas, Salome,
Brejo, Usins„ Sao Miguel, and Pilar Satuba. He estimates the cost at 4A million dollars, and reckons upon a. State subvention on the basis of 1,000 dollars per kilometre (1,093 yards). Even-, tually, if realized, the line would become a trunk for branch connections with the smaller towns lying right and left of the projected route. Now, whatever becomes of h is big scheme, it is clear that, in the absence of sufficient capital to construct a railway system, minor schemes for effecting an urgentlyneeded improvement in road transport are sure to crop up, and it is also clear that little improvement all be expected from any other memis of transport than the automobile hence, no matter whether Senhor Barrette's idea fructifies or not, our makers ought to prepare themselves for an industrial campaign in the State. At the present moment, British motor ex ports to Brazil lag a long way behind those of Germany, whose most vigorous European competitor is France. which, however, has hitherto devoted most attention to non-industrial types of automobile. British firms must not send out catalogues in English ; they must use Portuguese for the text. Nor must they be sparing with illustrations_ Another point : travellers who go out to work the Brazilian market should be engineers with a knowledge of the
technical terms used. This point, by the way, was handled at the PanAmerican Trade Congress at Washington early in the year, when the Consul of the United States in Brazil took occasion to emphasize the necessity of sending out only picked men to the country. By 'picked men" he meant men who could talk and knew what they were talking about.
Motorpost Lines in Bavaria Pay Over 9 per cent. on Capital Invested.
According to the accounts for the last, working year, the Bavarian motorpost lines, of which 37 are permanent and 15 worked only during the touring season, yielded a net profit of 257,586.17 marks (S:12,879), or 9.1 per cent. on invested capital amounting to 2,820,933.10 marks (2141,046). Compared with the preceding twelvemonth receipts increa.sed by 39'2,864.91 marks (g19,643) on a total of 1,314,434.16 marks (g65,721). The collective rolling stock consists of 86 motor omnibuses (mostly of the chars-a-banes type), 33 trailers for passenger traffic, 11 freight automobiles, and .24 trailers for freight transport (including a couple of sleighs). With this vehicular stock, 1,389,298 persons and 23,244 load-tons were carried during the year, the distance covered reaching 2,110,915 kaolin. (over 1,319,000 miles). The lines find employment for 116 drivers, 24 daylabourers and brakesmen, and 28 workshop foremen. In the total line-kilometrage of 1,082.2 (650 miles), 674.9 kilom. fall to the permanent lines. On an average, the fare per kilom. over the permanent lines works out between 5 and 6 pfennigs, or, roughly, 7.36 to 8.83 pfennigs per mile (8 pfennigs = id.). Fares over the summer lines are somewhat higher, as much as 15 pfennigs being taken per kiloni., or 23 pfennigs (nearly 3d.) oer mile, for express journeys. Since the. supersedence of horse-drawn cormi bases by the automobiles traffic has increased in the ratio of 1 to 11.2. The best-paying lines are Oberammergau Tegernsee, GartnnischScharnitz, Tegernsee-Bad Kreuth, Bad Kissingen-Kochel, and Koehel2_Vlittenwalci. The first-named is over 70 miles in length. A steady development of the motorpost network is contemplated by the authorities.
Vienna's Universal Automobile.
The Vienna Corporation has acquired an automobile with which one can water a road, pump out an inundated cellar, extinguish a fire, or carry a " thumping ." load. Of course, the vehicle is equal to doing these things only one at a time. It consists of a huge tank, with a capacity of over a thousand gallons of water, mounted on one of Messrs. Puch and Co.'s heavytype chassis containing a fourcylinder engine of 50 hp. ' This engine is connected up, by clutch, spur-wheels and a cardan, to a turbine-pump, which impels the water through a pipe either to the sprinkling apparatus, or, in the event of a fire, to the hose-attachments in the rear of the vehicle. As a waterautomobile, the combination deals with over 52 ft. of roadway : as a fire-extinguisher, it can send a jet on to the roof of the Vienna Town Hall ; as a salvage-pump, it sucks from a depth of nearly 24 ft. as a load-carrier, given a suitable body in lieu of the detachable tank, it can carry six tons, or carry and haul a total weight of 10 tona. The sprinkling devices are also Am-bruin, the patents belonging to Messrs. Parsche and Weisse, of Lissing. Two operators are required to attend to the monster, namely, one to drive and steer, and the other to attend to the watering business. The water-controller occupies the elevated seat at the back, reached via an iron ladder. I learn that the Corporation is well satisfied with the performances of its machine.