Commercial Motors in Warsaw and Berlin:
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By Henry Sturmey.
see that in Sour last issue you have a letter from a Warsaw correspondent giving information concerning the contract which has just been placed for motorcalis there. I did not have the pleasure of meeting your correspondent while in Warsaw, but congratulate him upon the }wenn-icy of his information.
An Alert British Consul.
In the first place, I have to express my high appreciation of the value of the services rendered by our consular system, which is now taking an active interest in the advancement of British commerce. But for the activity of Mr. Olive Bayley, the British Consul there, no British firm would have had tile opportunity of quoting for this contract, which had been practically settled to be placed with a French house. Mr. Clive Bayley. however, on his hearing of this, obtained a delay. with the object of getting quotations from British firms, and cabled a long message to that effect to the Board of Trade here; with the result that seven English firms put in quotations. There were already five French houses in the field, and there had been many German firms after the busiaess, but I ascertained that Russian sentiment is opposed to German industry, although; owing to their proximity and to the pushfulness of the business houses, and to the fact that German is practically the commercial language of Russia, German goods are very largely used everywhere. We were thus put in touch with the .Nowy Tattersall, or, as the motorcab branch will be termed, the Nowy Tattersall Saniochodowa, which is the largest firm ol cab proprietors and livery-stable keepers in Warsaw_ This firm has recently obtained from the 'Municipal authorities the sole concession for the running of motorcabs there. Their place is situated just off one of the principal business streets, and 1 found a commodious two-floor garage already in course of erection for the accommodation of the cabs, whilst I was greatly struck by the superiority of their equipment in horsed outfits, and the great order and cleanliness of the whole place, everything being wick and span and in the neatest of order. A few days after the despatch of quotation and specification, I was wired for to come over and complete." Upon making some enquiries from parties here who know Russia, I was led to believe that the order could only be secured by absolute bribery, and that I might expectwhen I got there—to be visited at all times of the day and night by various members of the firm on the look-out for " backsheesh " for themselves. I was very agreeably surprised, therefore, to find that nothing of the kind was even hinted at, and that negotiations were carried on upon an absolutely business basis. Indeed, the whole matter was put before the British Consul himself, who discussed the proposition with me, and through him we came to terms. The details of the cab were very closely discussed, as well as the merits of the gate-change, straight-through change and no change at all, and I had to explain the principles of the epicyclie gear fully.
Amusing Instance of Confusion.
One incident in the negotiations was interesting, and it deserves to be mentioned. In the statement of original requirements, engines of from 12 h.p. to 16 h.p, were specified, and in drafting the final agreement 1 used the common double nomenclature, " 12-16" h.p. This proved a matter of grave doubt. How an engine could be of two powers was not understandable, and it seemed to throw an element of suspicion over the whole matter. I was asked if I would mind removing the figures 12, and Mr. Dziewulski, who acted as interpreter, told me afterwards that they could not comprehend it at all, and that e hat it conveyed to them was that there was something not quite straight about the transaction.
The Cabs on Order.
Tile cabs are to be four-cylindered vehicles of 16 hp., and, like the cabs in Berlin, with full double seats in front, four-seated, with spring folding-seats for the front passengers inside, and with extension over the driver's head, with baggage rails on the roof. Unlike cabs anywhere else, however, they are, on account of the great severity of the winters, to be fitted with glass screens.
Special provision will have to be made to prevent freezing. both of the water and of the lubricants, and, in view of the nature of the roads, they are to be fitted with 36 in. wheels: there are, happily, no police regulations or " turning circles" to be compiled with there. Cloth linings are to lie employed, as, although it was admitted that leather was the most hygienic, it was also held that ladies would see the dust—it is very dusty there in summer— on leather seats, but would not notice it on cloth ones! The taximeter is to be illuminated, and the inside of the cars lighted up as well, anti a fare rate, which works out at approximately is. 3d. per mile has been secured ; this should make the service a paying one.
Unusual Road Conditions.
Mention of the roads leads ins to what is a very important question here. They are decidedly not good, though, perhaps, hardly so bad as I had fancied they might be. The whole of this part of Poland is practically one vast plain. hut Warsaw is situated on the Vistula, which is about twice the width of the Thames at London Bridge, and the country on one side of the river is about 60 ft. lower than that on the other. The town is built mainly on the right (higher) bank of the river, and, with the exception of the streets—having a length of, perhaps, a quarter of a mile—running down from the level plain above to the water's edge, there are no hills whatever, the country being absolutely flat. There is a very excellent service of electric trams, which are confined to the upper town. The surfaces, here, through the main streets, are mostly wood paved, but the wood paving is not in the best of condition, whilst ofF the main streets they are paved—especially in the older parts of the town—with very large and very bad cobble stones, flat in the middle, but sloping off with a steep side-fall of about 4.5 degrees.
Time steepest gradient is probably not more than 1 in 12, certainly not more than I in 10, but the face of the gradients is particularly bad. There are two new roads, however, descending to the lower town, which have been beautifully graded. One, indeed, takes the form of a series of circles running under itself twice before reaching
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the bottom, and the gradient here probably does not exceed 1 in 16, if that. There are very few motorcars in Warsaw at present, although the city is one of 800,000 inhabitants, and it is increasing at the rate of 50,000 annually, and thereare no commercial-motor vehicles there whatever, although, in a couple of years time, when a magnificent new bridge—which is being built over the Vistula to connect. up the rail head on the other side with the town—is finished, there will no doubt be openings.
Warsaw's Scope.
There are over 4,000 horsed cabs on the streets, all of the light hooded-phaeton type and beautifully sprung, whilst the carts for the conveyance of merchandise, which are also fitted with semi-elliptic and transverse springs to the rear, and double-elliptic springs in front, are built more on thelines of our timber wagons, unsquared beams being used in their construction, and the frames hung together so that they yield and give to every inequality of the road. They seemed particularly suited for the work they have to do, extremely simple to construct, very strong and very cheap. When the time does come for the exploitation of -Warsaw as a centre for commercial vehicles, this question of the roads and springing, and construction generally to meet the road conditions, will be a very important one, and will have to receive very careful consideration at the hands of our constructors. I hardly think the time is yet ripe for much to be done there in the heavy-wagon line, but the popularization of the motor by the introduction of motorcabs will no doubt pave the way towards at least a consideration of it, and then, if British manufacturers are alive to the position and are not afraid to trade with Russia (I was informed that the trade sentiment there is entirely in favour of the British article) good business may be done. Mr. Clive Bayley, however, told me that he had almost lost heart by reason of the apathy with which his efforts to secure trade for British firms had been met, the fewness of responses— and sometimes the entire absence of them—to the countless communications as to trade openings there which-he had made, and the absolute adherence to British methods of finance being most disheartening_ A Flying Visit to Berlin.
On my return journey, having an hour or two to wait at Berlin, I strolled into Cuter den Linden for a while and watched the traffic. I was struck by the largo use which is made there of the motorcab. It seems to have asserted itself in the German capital quite as completely as it has done in London. The cabs are all large and roomy, with a seat beside the driver and baggage space on the roof overhead. All taximeters are illuminated, so that they can be seen at night from inside the vehicle, and I noticed, too, in the great majority of cases, the name of the make (and sometimes the number of cylinders) appeared in " phantom " lettering across the front of the radiator. The motorbus, also, seemed to be as omnipresent as the motoreab, but I saw few large commercial wagons, no fliers, in fact, than one sees in London, although there were several of the lighter order, probably for loads of 10 cwt. to 15 cwt. in particular, of two rather striking fleets, several of which I saw, one had the conventional van body, striped after the manner of Harrod's vans, and the other had a very striking body in polished oak with brass fittings and brass letters. These little vans were belt driven, and I saw at least a dozen of them during the short time I was -there. Further, I was struck by the number of tricars used for business; quite a large number of these little vehicles was flitting about. They were all fitted with a Cyklon single-cylinder air-cooled engine, mounted over and driving the single front wheel, which was also steered, and they seemed to do their work very well, with a box equal. to probably a couple of cwt. of goods trailing behind. Then, again, another type of vehicle, which I have not seen in London, was a municipal combined water-cart and road-sweeper, four of which ran out of a side street while I was looking about me.