Albions in the Indies.
Page 18
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We have been favoured, by tie. Albion Motor Car Co., Ltd., of Scotstoun, Glasgow, with a copy of a really beautiful photograph that has been received from the Dutch East Indies ; we reproduce it below.
In addition to its pictorial charm, this illustration serves well to demonstrate one of the many overseas applications of the well-known Albion vehicles. In the middle distance may be seen one machine of a fleet of public-service and goods vehicles which is in use at Benkoelen, Sumatra ; they are used for running to the gold mines in the in terior of the country, The fleet consists of nine Albions ; all these have been sent out from time to time from the Glasgow works. We are advised that the fleet, which is the property of a local gentleman, operates under most severe conditions. The roads are literally only tracks covered with loose stones, and the country through which these run is admirably exemplified by the picturesque illustration below. The total route is about 110 miles long, and this was formerly undertaken by means of bullock carts, which took no less than 10 days in which to do the journey. As in other parts of the world, a service of this nature had to be arranged in such a way that suitable stopping places were available for the feeding and resting of the cattle. With the Albion vehicles,
this journey, in spice of the strenuous conditions, can be accomplished in one day ; so that the enormous saving in time alone has justified the change from animal to mechanical transport.
We are informed that the road, over which these vehicles have to pass, crosses two ranges of mountains, and that at one part there is a continuous rise of 10 miles which has to be taken on the first speed. This is remarkable testimony, we consider, to Albion structural efficiency. The owner writes to the maker as follows: "After my 15 years' experience of motor transport, I can assure you that Albion vehicles are the best I have ever met."