IN BRITAIN TODAY Replacement For Steel Visualised

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31942, 20 March 1969, Page 12

IN BRITAIN TODAY Replacement For Steel Visualised

(N.Z.PA.-Reuter-Copyright Cable News Digest)

The all-party Parliamentary Select Committee on Science and Technology has warned the Government that it is of the utmost national importance that a large factory for the production of carbon fibre should be built in Britain without delay.

Carbon fibre, a combination of carbon and plastics, is four times as strong as steel and a quarter the weight. It was invented by scientists at the Government’s research establishments at Farnborough, Harwell and elsewhere. A report by the committee says the commercial stakes are so high that the Government alone should decide which American firms are given information in the manufacture of carbon fibre i under licence, and that there should be repayment of American technical information in any such deal. The report says that in time carbon fibre may replace most conventional materials used in aviation, space, engineering and all industrial activities not involving hightemperature oxidising conditions. The motor industry especially could benefit.

The fibre now costs about £lOO per lb to produce, but; if extensive factory facilities are made available, this could fall to £5 in 10 years. The committee says: “We consider that knowledge should be made available from the Government research establishments only to those firms actually investing in the manufacture of end-products. “The commercial risk of establishing a large manufacturing plant in Britain should be taken. Three British licensees—Rolls-Royce, Court!aulds and Morgan Crucible—might combine to invest in a plant capable of producing 1450 tons a year and, if necessary, the Government should | help.” Liquor Limit ! The Foreign office has told [the 114 Commonwealth High Commissions and foreign I diplomatic missions in London that their unlimited supply of duty-free alcohol is at 'an end. I Instead, their tax-free I liquor will be limited to | “reasonable quantities for (Official entertainment puri poses.” The Foreign Office is unwilling to be more specific but, according to diplomatic sources, ambassadors and high commissioners will be allowed 20 tax-free cases a year from now on, and members of their staffs four cases. Diplomats pay 10s for a bottle of whisky, which costs Britons more than £2 10s. Canal Blocked A multi-million-pound, com-puter-equipped super cargo ship set sail on an export trip to Montreal this week — and paralysed her home port, Manchester.

The voyage of the 12,000ton Manchester Courage came to a halt when the vessel slammed into the 180-ton gates of a lock on the Manchester Ship Canal, at Irlam, only eight miles from port. As a result, 15 ships were trapped at Manchester, and vessels from all over the world were unable to reach the port. The managing director of

the canal (Mr Walter Edmonds I commented: "This is the worst accident in the 75-year history of the canal. The water level between Irlam and Manchester has dropped by eight feet, and this stretch of the canal will be out of use for about six to eight weeks.” Ships into Manchester will now have to be off-loaded at Ellesmere and elsewhere. The damage to two sets of lock gates is estimated at £250,000, and 150 men will be needed to repair them. It may take a w’eek to free the ship Manchester Courage, which is holed above the water line. Sign Of Times The last all-male preserve [at Cambridge has been Hoppled: women undergraduates are to be admitted for the first time for nearly 700 years to a men's college. Churchill College, founded only nine years ago as a memorial to Sir Winston [Churchill, will admit them. I and it is almost certain that other men's colleges at [Oxford and Cambridge will | follow suit. [ The provast of King’s Col- [ lege, Cambridge (Dr E. R. [Leach), says his is “actively [considering” the admission of women.

Up to 40 women undergraduates will be admitted to Churchill College in either. 1972 or 1973. The Master of Churchill (Professor W. R. Hawthorne) commented: “The object is not only to provide more places for women to study the arts, mathematics and biological sciences, but, more importantly, to encourage women to read the physical and technological sciences, to which at present very few are attracted."

Royal Air Force has already announced its intention of entering its new Harrier vertical take-off strike plane and a Victor jet reconnaissance bomber.

To give everyone a chance, the £64,285 prize money has been divided into 20 categories, some reserved for competitors choosing ordinary airline flights, or crossings in light aircraft that must be refuelled en route. Several prizes will be awarded to the most meritorious and most ingenious losers, regardless of whether the finishing line is ever reached.

These encourage a repeat performance of the fun and games of a similar 1959 Lon-don-Paris race, when the modes of transport included roller skates, a lawn mower, a vintage car and a war-time Spitfire fighter, which managed to record the fastest nonjet time.