BRITISH CARS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 29 September 1928, Page 14

BRITISH CARS.

FOR DOMINION MARKETS. REMAR IvA RLE DEMONSTR ATION. British motor-car manufacturers have for long been criticised because they failed to eator for the Dominions. That they are anxious to remedy the deficiency is evident from the touim that have already been made by a. number of influential repnrbentativew of. the ■trade. In pursuance of the same object ..Mr 1 Leslie Walton, Managing Director of Messrs A'auxhall Motors, Ltd., is to visit Australia and New Zealand. He will arrive in Sydney early in Septeiiib.w, and after a month in Ails trail a. he will go on to New Zealand, arriving atf Wellington on October 16. M.r. Walton’s mission, however, j-s rather different from that of some of his predecessors. He goes out with the assurance that his firm has produced the British quality car which is equally suitable in every way for use at home and also for the very different market overseas. To demonstrate this fact the enterprising firm invited the Rt. Hon. L. S. Amery (Secretary of State for the I Dominions) arid about a hundred Press and photographic representatives to their works at Luton, and out on a rough. hill side we saw something of the. possibilities of a 20-60 model, which is th'* result of two years’ research. It was rather an amazing performance. The hillside chosen for the dej momshration was a very Tough piece of country, rising very steeply and punctuated with banks and cuttings, and overgrown .with long grass and scrub. The six-cylinder car, on its lowest gear, came up the. hill with some amount of , speed, lurching on its spring® and bumping like a small ship in a storm. It .took the banks apparently without, difficulty, and in less than a’minute it was at the top of the slope. Then the driver described many ciroVg and figures of eight in going down the rough mope again. Once more it was brought up the. hill, and the driver dismounted. TEST OF STRENGTH. The car rested at, the edge of a 45di?g. slope. At the bottom of the slope was a, piece of level ground. The handbrake of the car was pint on, and, a dozen men raised one side of the ear and sent it rolling down the slope. It turned two complete somersaults ancl came to rest on its four wheels. There was a breaking of glass, Put afterwards that was found to be owing to- a box of tools falling against the wind-screen. On examination afterward® it was found that the running boards were bent, the splash-boards were bent, the bonnet was a little dented, and tlere were a. few superficial industries. The other glass wa,s finite intact, the doors opened readily, the saloon was in perfect condition, and Mr Amery and the •■mnaging director were, driven down the hill fe the factory in the car that had been subjected to such violent usage. VAST DEVELOPMENT POSSIBLE. Speaking at the subsequent luncheon, Mi- A ir.m-Y said that from lii.s experi- j ence in the Dominions, for. every mile i of oc'od road opened there were 100 1 miles of had roads being opened. In i Empire they had 'something like 15.000.000 square miles of country, and

the hulk of that country was going to bo improved with motor traffic. There would bo a tremendous' field for the development of motor traffic as thfire had been for railway building twenty or ■thirty years ago. If they met the needs'of the British Empire.they might be assured they would,, also meet the greater demand of the world generally.