From Our Berlin Correspondent.
Page 9
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German Industrial Trials.
These trials, organised conjointly by the Imperial Motor Club and the Association of German Automobile Makers, will take place in April and May. On April 23rd and 24th, the vchicles are to be officially " received "; they will be " exhibited " on the 25th, and, from April 26th to May 13th, be in actual competition. Simultaneously with these trials, the Prussian War Office will hold the next subvention run, over similar stages.
Motor Liability Bill.
Uninfluenced by the strong protests from thc automobile industry against the rigorous clauses of the German Motor Liability Bill, the commission is actually augmenting their severity. In clause 2, vehicles officially certified to be unequal to exceeding a given speed were exempted from the workings of the measure, but the proviso has been struck out by the commission! This modification will thus bring the slow-going industrial vehicles within the Act.
German Foreign Trade in "Commercials" during 1908.
The feature of Germany's foreign trade in industrial vehicles, during the past year, was the fall of exports coupled with a rise of imports, although the latter was only trifling. For the imports, we have 1,0S3 double cwt. (ion kilos, to the double cwt.), valued at -C2 r ,66n; whereas, in 1907, the weight reached 1,03; double cwt., valued
(..2o,7oo. Both Austro-Hungary and Switzerland increased their sales in Germany.. The hulk of the tonnage entered under a duty of 15 marks per double cwt.
Germany exported 4,110 double cwt., valued at 4-102,750; for 1907, the respective figures were 6,873 and .7717 1,S25. Thus, on this item, Germany has a drop of nearly 17:70,000 to show. Altogether, 141 (249 in 19o7) vehicles Were_ exported. Bel
gium look 292 double cwt. (299), Italy 302 (18o), Austro-Hungary 496 (357), European Russia 1,411 (979), and German East Africa 286. Notice the improved trade with Russia, to which market Germans are paying marked attention.
The Order of the Red Eagle for Geheimrat Loewe.
In the list of the Emperor William's birthday honours, I notice, under the heading " Rater Adlerorden, dritter R.lasse mu t der Sehleife " (Order of the Red Eagle, Third Class with Bow), the name of I sidor Loewe, Geheimer Kommerzienrat in Berlin. Herr Loewe is identical with the gentleman who directs the fortunes of Ludwig Loewe and Company, whose portrait, with a brief biographical sketch, appeared in " Tnr. COMMERCIAL MOTOR " of the 171h Decembcr.
Berlin Police Refuse to License any More Petrol-driven Cabs.
True to the characteristic tendency of the German police to control all departments of industrial and social life, the Berlin President of Police has suddenly, w idiom anv warning whatever, issued a notification to the effect that no further cabs with internal-combie-tinn engines will be licensed. With who rigorous inconsiderateness the police have gone to work may be judged from the fact that not even cabs ordered prior to the date of the notification will be licensed. The unfortunate cabowner, not reckoning upon this abrupt regulation of demand and supply, who has placed orders for treth and improved rolling stock, is wondering what to do with the additional vehicles when they arrive. He must either take them off the maker's hands or, failing that, cancel the order and lose the initial instalment of the purchase-price. But, assuming an excess of supply over demand, which seems to be the reason for the " bolt from the blue," what has this to do with the police? That is a matter for owner and maker ; the
natural workings of economic laws will settle this without police intervention. And why should a jobmaster who, having obtained an excellent make of cab, reliable in working and attractive in appearance, works the vehicles at a profit, be debarred from either replacing his rolling stock with a view to maintaining his profits or acquiring additional cabs with the object of increasing profits? If he increases or replaces his stock at all, he must. acquire electric cabs—the very kind of vehicles which have never yielded a profit in Berlin, whatever they are alleged to have done else where in Germany. I cannot but think that the police will eventually withdraw the notification.
Refrigerator Cara for the German Army.
In a recent note, I stated that the German War Office had acquired, to specifications supplied, a refrigeratorcar for the Metz garrison. This acquisition, I learn, was made at the dictates of necessity. At Metz, owing to the great distance of the outer forts from the town, the punctual delivery of meat from the garrison butcheries could not be relied upon ; especially in winter, with the roads heavy under a mantle of snow, the horse-drawn service has often failed so miserably that the unfortunate soldiers have been obliged to go on duty again without having had their regular midday meal. This state of affairs could not possibly be tolerated any longer, in view of the fact that selfpropelled vehicles, wholly reliable and speedy in all sorts of weathers, were to be had for the ordi.ring.
Commenting on the Aletz acquisilion, the well-known German military critic Colonel Gaedke writes 1— " A very sensible measure, which urgently needs adoption elsewhere. Might not also the Kriimperwagen of the troops be gradually replaced by self-propelled vehicles? Much more use must be made of the automobile in the German army than at present. Its application, in case of war, must also be considerably widened. Only with the help of small-gauge fieldrailways, and selfpropelled vehicles, will it be possible to ensure a commis-. sariat for the enormous masses of troops. Consequently, should the train battalions to the regiments be enlarged, it would be desirable to furnish only one more battalion to two companies with horses, and, on the other hand, to equip a second battalion of likewise two companies with automobile trains. The second line, too, of the ammunition columns, must be transformed by degrees into automobile troops. Onlv what must come in direct touch with the fighting lines should be horse-drawn—and that only until the machine is equal to cross-country travelling."