TOURING BY TRUCK

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 285, 2 December 1933, Page 17

TOURING BY TRUCK

AMERICAN TECH. BOYS j \ ON WHEELS THROUGH EUROPE OFF THE BEATEN PATH. (By a Special Correspondent.) PROVIDENCE (R. 1.), October 15. Europeans can make good automobiles, good cheese and good chocolates. Their workmanship is excellent when it cames to machine guns or beer. But they have a good deal to learn before they come up to American standards of precision or quantity of production—before they can turn out goods as we can do it in such quantities. These are among the impressions gained by Frederick Murphy, jun., of Attleboro, Mass., a young M.I.T. student, who has touredi Europe with eleven companions in a novel inspection trip. While' they saw the principal cities of the tourist route, and much also that was not "guide book stuff," their tour was a most unusual motor camping expedition. This odd camping tour of Europe was made through an M.I.T. fund given by Thomas Loomis. From this fund a number of auto trucks are equipped. or travelling such as the most' ardent auto campers might envy. In "Gay Paree." Landed at Boulogne in June, the truck made off for Paris, through Abbeville and Amiens. And so to gay Paree. One of the first technical plants there was the Hotchkiss factory, pioneers in machine gun construction in motor cars and in many other lines. Another point visited was the EEcole Centralis des. Arts Manufactures, a French equivalent of M.I.T. Mr. Murphy says his impression was that the school was more theoretical than those in this country, apparently having much less equipment for experimental and demonstration work. Tn Epernay the boys had a chance to learn about the champagne business. They were taken down into the champagne cellars, extending literally miles underground, where the champagne, in bottles, is stored away. A faithful attendant gives cach bottle a slight turn each day until the ageing period of thirteen years is tip. Last of all, the b&ver-

age is given a final bottling,, with tops fastened to give the thrilling "pop" when the waiter pulls it out. At Cambrai the ;boys had their first experience in camping in the middle of the city. The folks there didn't seem to have much to do in the evening, Murphy says, and a curfew law sent them home at 9 o'clock, anyway. But until then a good portion of the population gathered around to see the curiosity of the American camp truck, with gasoline stove and electric lights. In Belgium the boys camped next to the King's palace. It was all right,, for they had the permission of the police, but the Kind's chief of horse apparently didn't know it, and he came over, with a huge retinue, to see what it was all about. He was all a-glitter with frills and gold lace, but kindly enough when it was explained to him why the boys were there. They visited the- plant where the Minerva, a Belgian car, is manufactured. Mr. Murphy says he was struck by the painstaking hand work bestowed upon each individual car, but the process lacked the quantity production aspect of American shops. At Antwerp the Mayor got a tugboat and gave the -boys an excursion around the harbour, where they saw the new canal which saves many miles and much cost in docking the ' incoming shipping. At Liege, the boys visited a famous glass works,-where intricate and ingenious glass is made. They saw cut glass being' made and goblets with tiny stems worth *£8 apiece. And, by contrast, at Moll, not far away, they saw modern plate glass being turned out in continuous sheets. They camped in a Belgian village —in an orchard. Machine shops aplenty' were, seen, but "all textile factories denied them inspection. In Olympic Stadium. One point visited in Holland was "Orange Boom," a brewery which is said to turn out the finest beer in Europe. Here also they, had a boat trip about the harbour. They visited Amsterdam, Delft, and Alkamer, a "cheese" city, where everybody wore a hat of a certain colour indicating the kind of cheese he sold. In Amsterdam they went to the police station for guides and camped in the stadium where the 1928 Olympic Games were played. They played a game of ball in the stadium. Entering Germany, they found the Customs inspectors a happy lot. They even had supper with them. They visited Cologne and camped at Deutz. Next day they visited an -"elsenfas-

chung," a German technica'l school. On July' Fourth they saw a German nut and bolt factory, and camped on the bank of the Rhine, where a German sportsman allowed them "the use of his magnificent grounds, with a castle for a background. They fired off a shotgun celebration of the day. At Gottingen they found plenty of students connected with the university, full of life and enthusiasm and also of zeal for Hitler. During one of the many parades, one of the Tech boys forgot to give the Hitler salute when the swastika passed. For a moment he was roughly handled by the crowd, until somebody explained that lie simply didn't understand lie was supposed to shout "Heil Hitler.'.' They went on through Germany, visiting the famous Harz Mountains and Berlin. In the German capital they camped near the famous zoological gardens. At Dresden they saw the famous china works, a technical school where lessons were given by a kind of a projector, throwing lectures on the wall, and a camera works. The Meissen china factory which they visited has been making china since the IGOO's: At Prague they saw the Ringhoffer plant, where street cars are manufactured —also the Moravia, a well-known European automobile. There was also a brewery there where samples were tasted. "It was pretty good, too," says Murphy. At Vienna they saw a lot of ancient and* modern studios, and now and then $n American, who always seemed like an old pal. They parked their auto-truck-tent-circus on the site of Mozart's studio. That was where tlicy found out the scarcity and the market value of American cigarettes. There was plenty of other kinds of tobacco, but a popular brand of American cigarettes cost 10/. Imagine the' furore when one member of the party dug up a couple of packages hidden away in his luggage. How They Crossed 1 Italian. Border. .They saw the "beautiful blue Danube," the Tyrolean country and Salzburg, an old Roman town.. That was where they couldn't find a parking place anywhere else and the police allowed them to occupy the station yard. Murphy says he still itches to know just what kind of apparatus they had in the "execution chamber." In Munich they rode on . the street cars, and found that every patron received a miniature maf> of the city, with the points of embarking and departure from the car punched on it. At Innsbruck tliey saw the region of winter sports, famous all over the world. They camped in sight of a snow-capped mountain.

They coasted mucli the way down the mountains to Venice. They tarried only briefly in Italy and were soon on their way back to Paris, bound for England. Time was getting short. They camped in a sheep pasture not far from Canterbury and felt the thrill of being near the scenes of the lives of the great. Natives came for miles to see an American tourist camp, which was a decided novelty. They kept coming until after midniglit. A few days seeing the sights of England and the Tech boys were back homo across the ocean. Each one had a little coming back to him out of the £60 he posted at the beginning. And that is, pretty cheap for such a European tour. —ft". A.N .A.