HOW I ACHIEVED SUCCESS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2168, 26 August 1920, Page 4

HOW I ACHIEVED SUCCESS.

WHEN FIVE SHILLINGS WAG MY WEEKLY WAGE,

By Sir Ernest William Moir, Bari,, partner with Lord Bowdry in the famous engineering' (inn of S. Pearson and Coy., Ltd., which em-

ploys over 30,000 workers. Sir Ernest W. Muir, Bari., tolls in the following exclusive article the romance of his remarkable career.

At school I was usually* regarded as what is called a “lazy hoy," f disliked my lessons because they did not interest me.

I was at heart an engineer, and the educational groove into which I was pushed did not appeal to nun 1 allowed my love of mechanics and engineering to subordinate everything else. Consequently, I was more or less of a rebel, and while arrangements were made to send my brothers to complete their education on the. Continent, I decided to enter the engineering shops.

I lived to regret that, for whatever one's ambition may be one cannot specialise without a good foundation of general knowledge. When I was fifteen 1 started as an apprentice in one of the big engineering work's on the Clyde. In those days the working week was liflyfour hours, and the pay of an apprentice began at live shillings per weelc.

f began right at the bottom; sweeping the door of the shop, cleaning and oiling the tools, and doing any job required. It was drudgery, but 1 have never regretted it. Drudgery led to my great chance. When, in after years, I went to Air (afterwards Sir) William Arrol, the famous bridge builder, who built the Forth Bridge, for a job, he took no account of my theoretical knowledge, but said he would give me a start because 1 haul served my time in the workshops.

1 would urge every yoaug man who enters engineering, shipping, mining, or the railways, to work m the yards, workshops, a.ml sheds, and thus acquire that practical knowledge which is so essential if he aims at emit rolling men and departments himself;

I was fortunate enough to gain the eonlidence of those with whom 1 worked —the journeymen in the shops, the foremen, and, later, my employers. The consequence was that while my 'remuneration was small, my chances of learning were as much as 1 could desire.

It: was during my apprenticeship (hat I found myself handicapped by my Jack of technical knowledge, I decided to improve it at a night school in Glasgow, so that I could he in a position fo go to the I niver-

sily wlu.'ii my manual training was finished. Luring the four and ahalf years of my apprenticeship I went to the Mechanics Institute, Glasgow, three to live nights a week.

Physically, 1 was an overgrown, somewhat weakly boy, but 1 cannot say that (lie hard work hurt my constitution. Bat it is obvious to me now that 1 wa.s then running risks, and I think - that I should have paid more attention to health and exer-

To describe in detail my progress after leaving the workshop for the University College, London, would, I fear, he somewhat egotistical and. monotonous. My good torlune led me to have Mr (now Sir Alexander) Kennedy, among others, for a teacher. 1 worked hard because I had acquired the habit of doing so in the workshops, and saw how essential it was to combine my practical training with theoretical knowledge if 1 w,jis to raise myself above the average. It was my ambition, on the completion of my college training, to join the staff of engineers who were about to build the great Forth Bridge, Mr William Arrol, as he was then, had been given the eoiilraet, and I remember how kindly he received me at the Dalmarnoek Iron Works when I went to him for a job.

I joined the staff in the drawing office, where 1 was one of A mil’s four particular assistants, and was fortunate enough to gain his approval of my work* and ideas. I remember he used to come from Glasgow by a very early train, always travelling third class, # and was on the site of the bridge before ho had his breakfast. 1 was out before breakfast, and therefore had my meals with him. He gave me my lirst opportunity, and laid the foundation of my later success. I often wonder what my future would have been had I not decided in my youth on manual labour in the workshops, and so met with the approval of the great engineer. I was only twenty at the time, and looking back over more years than 1 care to -remember, I am convinced that a young man’s achievements will be mediocre if he docs not decide upon a goal and concentrate on reaching it, refusing to deviate one iota, no matter what other influences and troubles may occur.

This was proved to me by the fact that my .association with the building; of the Forth Bridge brought me into contact with Sir Benjamin Baker, with whom I worked on the Hudson Bay tunnel. - It was in connection with this work that 1 Rad the good fortune to get in touch with my chief and life-long friend, Mr Pearson, now Viscount Cowdray, with whom I have been associated for thirty-one years in the. many gigantic enterprises he has carried out in various parts of the world. To sum up, I think that the three qualities which make most for success are observation, hopefulness, and concentration. Practical training develops observation and concentration, but the value of hope-

fulness cannot bo over-estimated. Hopefulness breeds eonlidence, and the man with these characteristics will never be out of a job.