BRITISH PIANO INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3755, 2 March 1926, Page 13

BRITISH PIANO INDUSTRY.

A NOTABLE ADVANCE. COMPETING WITH GERMANY. A visitor to New Zealand at present in connection with the piano industry is Air Clifford Martin, a director of the famous .firm of British piano manufacturers, John Broadwood and Sons (Ltd.), and a member of the Council of the Federation of British Music Industry. He is at present on a world tour in the interests of his firm, and wisited Dunedin after a trip through New Zealand of several weeks duration. Air Martin brings with him a story of progress in the British piano industry, but he feels that he cannot hold out much hope of any appreciable reduction in Ilia cost of this article, whether British or foreign in origin On the contrary, he believes that pianos, like many other similar lines, have now reached a standard in respect to price, which is almost double that of pre-war days. The Empire had readied normality in this respect, but the standards of normality had changed and people must learn to forget the prices and values which obtained prior to 1914. He added that he could not see how manufacturing costs could be reduced since wages were 100 per cent, higher than in those days, and the cost of raw material was also double. Perhaps the chief object of Mr Martin’s tcur is to educate the people up to a realisation of the excellence of the highgrade British piano. The impression that the German manufactured piano was superior to the British piano was common, but there was little ground now for such an idea. Mr Martin considers this a fetish not hard to explain. A great demand in Germany, a music-loving nation, enabled German manufacturers to launch out on ambitious lines and on a much larger scale than struggling British concerns. Though not attempting to belittle the German goods, Mr Martin claims that England can produce an article equal in quality and price. Tests behind screens have proved that the tone of the arious mal varied little, and the visitor has nothing but the highest regard for the high-class German article. Still Germany also produced a cheap and inferior class of goods, and Air Martin is equally frank in his condemns* tion of this. The war was a hindering agency as fa* as the British industry was concerned, and of course in foreign countries also. The position at Home was aggravated by the strike of 1920, but Mr Martin states that the industry is now in a much more promising condition, and whereas in the past the works have shown little profit things certainly tended towards a more remunera* tive exploitation of the possibilities of the trade. In the piano industry the British worker gave the finest service in the world. The German employee increased his produo* tion only by working longer hours. “The British worker,” said Mr Martin, “is not a mass producer. Good workmanship is an inherent characteristic of our race, and the trouble was to get the men to hurry a piece of work. This may bo detrimental to mass production, but it is responsible for the unassailable reputation of the British artisan. The trade require* great skill and pains.** ATr Martin says that thero is a decided tendency in the Empire to buy British goods, and he is anxious that the British piano industry should be thoroughly advertised and its merits made known to th 4 people of the dominions. Broadwoods will celebrate their bi-cen-tenary noxt year, and there are vet several descendants of the founder, Mr John Broadwood, in the business. When asked about the Exhibition, Mi* Martin said it impressed him <rroatlv. To bis mind the onlv pity was that it could not have been held, in London so that the many millions In the Homeland could see what New Zealand really was. and what if could do. Mr Martin’s firm sent out the concert arvond piano which is at present in use in the Festival Hall.