BOOTS DRUG YEAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22464, 7 July 1936, Page 5

BOOTS DRUG YEAR

EXTENSION TO DOMINION

"A PIONEERING ENTERPRISE"

FIVE-DAY WEEK IN FACTORIES

[from our own correspondent] By Air Mail LONDON, Juno 13

" We have taken tho first step in a pioneering enterprise which may lead to important developments in the future," said Lord Trent, chairman of directors of Boots Pure Drug Company, Limited, in referring at the annual meeting in Nottingham to the extension of the company's activities to New Zealand.

Lord Trent said that on their recent visit to the Dominion Colonel F. P. Braitlnvaito and ho had conferred witlj members of tho New Zealand Cabinet and had explained to them tho aims and policy of the company, as well as acquainting them with the method of business and the ideals by which it was guided. The directors believed that a good start had been made, and that the company should gradually build up a business that would be a credit to it ancl a valuable asset to New Zealand. It was too early yet to indicate to what extent tho company would be able to expand its business in New Zealand and thereafter, perhaps, in other parts of tho Empire. Expansion ol Business

During the year the subsidiary companies had made steady progress, and the total number of shops at March 31 was 1120. The number of sales transactions had increased by over 6,500,000. The total sales and number of prescriptions dispensed easily exceeded all records.

In addition to providing the requirements of its subsidiary companies and their retail shops, Boots had also a valuable wholesale connection both at Home and abroad. This side of the business continued to expand and the figures of the wholesale and export department showed a material increase over those of the previous year. On the research sido of tho business the company was enjoying still closer co-opera-tion with medical men and hospitals. Peace and Armaments " The five-day week is now established as a permanent institution in our Nottingham factories, and we believe we have provided an example which is likely to have an important influence on the industrial life of Britain," said Lord Trent. " The provision of more leisure is tho inevitable corollary of mechanical efficiency and large-sale production. In one form or other wo are likely to see in the future a steady reduction of working hours or working years. More leisure per head not only means a fairer distribution of available employment, but also it makes for more spending and thereby tends to create more employment. , " If the purchasing power is in the pockets of the public, there is no question as to the excellent prospetcs of the company," said the chairman, " But with the nations equipping themselves less and less for the productive pursuits of peace and more and more for aggression on the one hand and self-defence on the other, the world sqeins to be organising for sterility rather than for stability. Money spent on armament programmes creates an illusion of prosperity in certain sections of the population, but such expenditure is by its nature to be paid for in a diminution of purchasing power, which reacts upon the world as a whole."

The accounts for tho year ended March 3], which were published in the Herald on June 17, showed an increase in profits from £750,037 to £770,589. Shareholders received a total distribution of 29 per cent, free of tax.

FINE QUARTZ CRYSTALS

AN EMPIRE SUPPLY

The discovery within the Empire of quartz crystals of sufficiently fine quality to bo used for maintaining the frequency of radio transmitters is reported by tho Imperial Institute. The now source of supply is in Uganda, in a district where alluvial gold-is being washed, and commercial tfsts are stated to have proved satisfactory. Hitherto, Brazil and Madagascar have been the two chief sources of these crystals.

Besides being used in normal radio transmitters, quartz crystals are in demand for apparatus required in depthsounding at sea, in detecting the presence of rocks and icebergs, and other dangers to shipping. For these purposes common quartz is useless. While the quantity of crystals required is limited, they are regarded as a key product. It was during the war that the absence of any Empire supply first gave anxiety. More recently, a prominent radioengineering firm drew tbe institute's attention to the need-

Quartz crystals owe their special usefulness to the remarkable properties shown by, a plate of quartz cut with its faces parallel with particular directions in tbe crystal. If one of these plates is either compressed or drawn out, an electric current is generated, the strength of tho current being in proportion to the power applied.

"COLLOIDAL FUEL"

RESEARCH IN BRITAIN

The possibilities of burning more coal in oil-fired ships by using a mixture of fuel oil and powdered coal were dealt with in a paper by Dr. Manning and Mr. R. A. A. Taylor, of the Fuel Research Station of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, read before a recent meeting of the institution of Chemical Engineers in London. Experiments have shown that coal-oil fuel, or "colloidal fuel," has been successfully used in an ocean liner and in a locomotive, and that it would be likely to be successful for other purposes where oil is used, such as tho firing of annealing furnaces in the glass and metallurgical industries. Colloidal furls, the authors state, would, however, probably bo quite unsuitable for firing in tho type of boiler extensively used in the British Navy, ns tho furnaces are expressly designed for fuel without ash. It is the problem of the sedimentation of the powdered coal rather than the burning of the fuel which has presented the greatest difficulties in the use of colloidal fuel and has prevented further tests with it. Tho authors have shown that it is essential for success either to incorporate some chemical in the oil or to treat it in such a way that, it tends Lo set as a jelly when at rest, but behaves like a liquid when pumped or vigorously agitated. Several methods of treatment wero described, and it was stated that following one of these which had been developed at tho Fuel Research Station, no deposit of eoal after eight or nine months had been found after treatment by blowing air through tho heated oil. It was also stated that if oil fuel for bunkering in the United Kingdom alone were replaced by colloidal fuel, 750,000 tons more coal would be used a year.