GIFTS TO CHARITY

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 6 March 1935, Page 9

GIFTS TO CHARITY

LORD NUFFIELD’S CAREER GREAT BUSINESS ROMANCE STARTED IN CYCLE SHOP Lord Nuffield’s gift of £50,000 _ for tlic crippled children of the Dominion, is—large as the amount seems in New Zealand —only one of a number of his great benefactions. As long ago as 1931 his gifts to medical institutions alone had exceeded £000,009. The career of Lord Nuffield—he was raised to the peerage on January 1, 1934 —is one of the great romances of business.

As William Richard Morris, he was born at Worcester in 1877. He had little education except that which he received, in the village school at Cowley, a suburb of Oxford. He set up as cycle agent, building, repairing and hiring bicycles and riding them in races. He also had an old motor car which he let out on hire. His customers included Oxford undergraduates, and one of them lent him some money which helped him to develop his business.

In those early days William Morris studied the petrol motor, built a motor cycle, and then went on to design a small motor car. His success was due to the fact that he was a great mechanic and a man of one idea. He had no personal tastes to gratify and no uses for money except to finance his business. He was unable to enjoy a holiday. At the end of 10 years of experiments he evolved his car. In 1912 he bought land at Cowley and erected his works. In the first season he turned out 500 cars. Then came the war and his works were commandeered.

POST-AVAR DEVELOPMENT The great development in the business came in 1919 when liis output was 1500 cars. The trade slump followed and although he was advised to cut down his production; he did the opposite and announced a sensational “cut” of £IOO in the price of his car. The ‘result was a great success which led to the starting of subsidiary companies, at Oxford, Birmingham, Coventry, in-the Dominions and abroad. The turnover eventually exceeded £20,000,000 a year, and the output rose from 500 a week to 1400 or more.

In July, 1926, Morris Motors, Limited, was floated as a public company,with a capital of £5,000,000. In February 1927, Mr Morris—it was not until 1929 that he became Sir W'illiam Morris—bought for £730,000 Wolseley Motors, Limited, then in. liquidation. He said that it would be kept separate from his other undertakings, though run on the same lines. This purchase made him one of the largest employers, with 15,000 workmen. In the spring of 1927 he visited South America to find an opening for his i motors, as road development schemes were in hand there which would mean ■a big expanse of traffic. Later in the year he made a tour embracing the United States, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and India. AVliile in New Zealand and Australia he drove about 2000 miles in one of his own cars to test its suitability for the roads. On one occasion he drove at 60 jniles an hour over the roughest road he could find. THE empire; market After his return to England in 1928 he designed a special type of car with a wide track and high clearance to compete in the Empire market with American makes. Ho also introduced the Morris Minor, a rival to the Austin seven, and later the “M.G.” sports car, made by separate firm. In 1980 dealers ordered 70,060 Morris cars worth about £14,000,000. In 1932 Sir AVilliam started a film production unit attached to his factory to make.talkies about his cars. These were shown to agents and buyers in London and then toured the country. In February, 1927, it was announced that he had' bought the disused Howbeach colliery in the Forest cf Dean, and that negotiations were proceeding for the amalgamation of several other mines—a scheme that would cost over £1,000,000. These pits would be developed on up-to-date lines, and would eventually employ 10G0 men. Lord Nuffield’s idea was to reduce the priefe of coal and give the miners better conditions.

GIFTS TO MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS

It was not until 1930 that Lord Nuffield took a dividend from Morris Motors, Limited, in which lie held all the £2,000,000 ordinary shares. By that time he had fulfilled his pledge to build up a reserve of £2,000,000 before drawing any profits himself. He announced that his 10 per cent, dividend, free of tax, equal to £200,000, would all go to charities. His benefactions to medical institutions by 1931 had exceeded £500,000. They included £102,000 to St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, £52,000 for the new Birmingham Centre, £47,000 to rebuild the Wingfield Orthopaedic Hospital, near " Oxford, and £25,000 for cancer research. He also gave £BO,OOO for the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, and later bought the lladcliffe Observatory site and buildings for £IOO,OOO for the benefit of the Radcliffe Infirmary and the Medical School of Oxford University. The observatory was to be known as the Oxford University Institute .of Medical Research.

Lord Nuffield, who took a keen interest in the work of the Borstal Institutions in reclaiming young criminals, set aside £IO,OOO, the interest of which was to pay the fares of parents who wished to visit their sons. 1

“MAGNIFICENT ACT”

HEALTH MINISTER’S APPRECIATION

[By --rres» Association.) "WELLINGTON, March 5

<! As Minister of Health, I appreciate the wonderful and magnificent act on the part of Lord Nuffield,” said Sir Alexander Young to-day when commenting upon Lord Nuffield s gift of £50,000 to aid crippled children, “The judicious use of this gift must undoubtedly go a long way to bring some ray of sunshine into tlie li\ os o many deformed children and relieve their parents of the dread of an unpromising future for tlieii children, who might have been deformed either from birth or as the result of that dread disease infantile paralysis, oi by accident. ‘ ‘The rotary movement in New Zealand has already set a fine example and given wonderful service to the community in what it has already done in the building up of a sense of public responsibility towards crippled children in tin? Dominion. I have no doubt Mr Norwood, who has associated himself with the Rotary movement, 1 will co-operate with those institutions, national and local, which have for their aim the cure and alleviation of disability suffered by crippled children. “Perhaps there is no nobler, phase of social service than the highestminded citizen could devote himself to than this wonderful humanitarian work which has been given this most magnanimous assistance by Lord x,uffield. It is a gracious act on his part which for all time will associate his name with noble and humane woik for the betterment of suffering children,” _ A letter has been sent to Lord Nulfield by Mr J. M. A. Uott, District Governor of' Rotary, expressing on behalf of the Rotary Clubs, of New Zealand their great appreciation of the magnificent gift, which he says has given heart and encouragement to those who have bctn working with this object in view. “The magnitude and generosity of. the gift has thrilled us, the letter adds.

No decision as to how the gift is to be used will be made until Mr Norwood, who is accompanying Lord Nuf-* field on a brief tour of the North Island, returns, to Wellington. Mr Norwood said that Lord Nuffeldliad left the decision as to the utilisation of the fund entirely to himself, but he had not had time to decide what steps to take. However, it was to he of national benefit and not- for any special district. He hoped that- after he returned to Wellington a scheme would be devised having the effect the donor intended without overlapping on the work of the government.