Commercial Motors in Netherlands India.
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THE OFFICIAL statistics relating to imports of commercial vehicles and tractors by the Netherlands East Indies in 1922 do not afford encouraging reading. Nevertheless, it must bezremembered that the. past two years have been trying ones, especially to a country which produoes rubber and tin in large quantities. The recent market improvement of these two commddities, combined with the sound financial, condition of the islands, leads to the confident expectation that the corner has been turned and that there is a prosperous time in store for the islands. This will lead to a big demand .for commercial -vehicles, as --improvements and extensions of the road systems are being planned. Already, in Sumatra, a scheme is in operation by which the motorcar is being used to link up the railways with out-of-the-way estates, etc. During 1921
1,860,000 ear-miles were covered, of which 1,552,466 miles were completed by commercial cars carrying goods. This work is being extended and the opportunities offered for British enterprise are obvious. At present the retailers are overstocked, which accounts for the fact that only 81 commercial cars were imported last year, but this surplus is rapidly evaporating, and, in the near future, there will be a good market for sound commercial vehicles which will fulfil the conditions.
Even America, which in 1990 and 1921 exported the largest. number of the cars imported by the N.E.I., was unable to beat the slump and the overstocked markets—overstocked, it may be mentioned, chiefly with American cars.
With a general trade revival, however, the market for heavy cars, which will be required not only for the Government road services but also for estate work, should revive this year, and the time seems ripe for a strenuous effort to capture the trade from America and Germany.
The actual figures for imports of heavy vehicles into Java during the past three years are as follow :