From Our Berlin Correspondent.
Page 14
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Liability for Side-slip.
As a result of the excellent performances of most of the vehicles which recently took part in the Swiss Commercial Motor Trials, the Swiss military authorities have advertised to the effect that they wish to hire a number
of 2 motor lorries for the forthcoming manceuvres of the 1st army corps.
Berlin Motorbuses.
The Berlin Tramcar Co.'s petrolstorage arrangements have been so far completed that two of their city lines are now at work. Pending the completion of the storage arrangements the company used some of the omnibuses for excursion trips only. However, the fact that a couple of city lines are in working order will not put a stop to the excursion trips, these being part of the company's original programme, as I stated when reporting the inaugural ceremony a few weeks back.
The Berlin General Omnibus Company's store-houses in the Ktipenickerstrasse, situated in the south-east of Berlin, have been destroyed by fire. Such a conflagration Berliners have not seen for many a year. The horses, stalled on the ground floor, were saved with difficulty, but hundreds of tons of maize, hay and straw fell a prey to the flames. An idea of the situation may be realised from the fact that, in the yard enclosed on three sides by the burning store-houses, 27,000 gallons of petrol lay in tanks underground, whilst, within a stone's throw, there were several million litres of alcohol belonging to the Government! The firemen kept the yard under water, although it was feared that the falling buildings would crush in the cellars and set fire to the petrol. The company fill their chassis tanks by carbonic acid pressure, and, of course, during the •submersion their motorbus traffic was seriously interfered with. Owing to the damage done to some of the vehicles by the fire, horse traction had to be temporarily resumed over two lines hitherto worked by motorbuses. Two Berlin Courts, the Amtsetericht and Landesgericht, the latter standing above the former, have concurred in saddling the Allgemeine Berliner Omnibus-Gesellschatt with responsibility for damage to persons or property through the skidding of their motorbuses, holding §lil23 of the Civil Code to apply. This is as follows :— "Whoever intentionally or through negligence unlawfully injures the life, body, health, liberty, or damages, the property or any other right of another, is liable to the other for compensation in respect to any damage which shall have arisen therefrom. A like liability applies to those who transgress a law framed for the protection of another. Where, according to the tenor of the law, a violation of the latter is possible even without fault (of the transgressing party), liability for compensation holds good in case of fault only."
The Berlin judges hold that, since skidding is unavoidable, the Company must either stop their self-propelled traffic or be answerable for any damage arising from the side-slipping.
Commercial Vehicles in Germany.
Some interesting statistics of selfpropelled vehicles in Germany have just been compiled by the Imperial Statistical Office. On January 1st of this year, Germany possessed no fewer than 27,026 motor vehicles of all classes. The actual number of freight vehicles in service is 1,2 1 , and these are analysed as follows :•
Delivery vans up to 8h.p.
Delivery vans from 8-16h.p. ... 313 Delivery vans from 16-4oh.p.... 126 Delivery vans over 4oh.p. 2 Motorcycles, tricars, etc. ... 254
The number of public-service vehicles is divided as follows :—Berlin has 565; the Province of Brandenburg, 255; Rhineland, 77; Silesia, 34; Hanover and Hesse-Nassau, 25 each. In Bavaria there were only 37 vehicles ; in Baden
the same number ; Saxony had 30; Wiirtemburg, 28; and Alsace-Lorraine, 53. Hamburg could not boast of either a motorbus or a Motorcab. Of course, this was six months ago and, perhaps, by this time, the free city has had time to repent of its backwardness. Taking commercial vehicles generally, the figures are as follows -Prussia has 6,214; Bavaria, 1,096; Saxony, 1,035; Wiirtemburg, 566;
13aden, 77; Hesse, )29 ; Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 135; Oldenburg, 521 ; and Brunswick, 135. For agricultural purposes Prussia has 159; Saxony, 3o; Bavaria, 18; Wiirtemburg, 16; Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 12 ; AlsaceLorraine, 12; O-ldenburg, 8; Baden, 7; Anhalt, 6; and Brunswick and SaxeWeimar, only i each.
Electric Cab Operation.
In their last annual report, the directors of the Berliner Elektromobildroschken-Aktien-Gesellschaf I. (Electric Motorcab Company) mention an American solid-rubber tire which they regard as calculated to replace the pneumatic. They are giving it a trial, and find that, although more expensive to buy, its superior economy in working outweighs this extra cost. It also surpasses in resiliency the ordinary types of solid-rubber tire. The directors purpose making most of the mechanical parts to replace those worn out or or damaged, and hope to save 30-70 per cent. on present costs. In the balancesheet, their cabs and batteries at the two depots represent a value of over
,eii.o,000, as follows :— Marks. Depot I. Rolling stock _. 843,610 Batteries ... 376,031 • 1,219,641 ,,L1,2 0 Depot II. Rolling stock... 821,550 Batteries ... 176,054
997,604 Total ... 2,217,245 (2110,862)
As soon as all orders are executed, the company's rolling stock will consist of 186 motorcabs, 41 private automobiles, and 8 automobiles for purposes of instruction and working. During the first year's working the receipts, which amounted to 864,302 marks (4,43,2 5) Were almost swallowed up by the expenses, which amounted to 822, I 17 marks (.4.41,109); after suitable amounts had been written off, there was a net loss of 63,407 marks (.4;3,171). But with the higher fares, lower charges for current, and saving on fresh mechanical parts, the directors venture to predict a successful year. In the middle of the foregoing financial year the company passed through a strike period, which was largely responsible for the drop. The company's vehicles—" Bedags," as they are called—have little difficulty in securing fares ; they enjoy a greater popularity than the petrol cabs, and the company will in all probability see better times.