THIRD EDITION HEAVY INDUSTRY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17453, 30 December 1930, Page 11

THIRD EDITION HEAVY INDUSTRY

DEVELOPMENTS IN BRITAIN SUCCESS OF DIESEL COUNTRY ‘‘EMPIRE-MINDED’’ Interested in machinery of all kincjs, particularly in heavy steel, Mr. C. W. Salmon, of the firm of Cory-Wright and Salmon, who returned by the Ulimaroa from America and England, where Jio has been .for.the last 15 months, learnt much of the industry, its conditions, and recent development abroad. Mr. Salmon spent a good deal of time in the centres of industry such as Glasgow, Newcastle-on-Tyne, ' Birmingham, and Barrow-in-Furness. At the latter port, which has 4 grown up round the Vickers-Armstrong works, ho saw on the stocks a nbw liner of the fast cargocarrying type for the New Zealand Shipping Co., and at the same port saw the keel of the new ferry steamer Rafigitira, for the Wellington-Lyttelton service. He was also present at the launching of a steamer of about the size of the Maheno, and, seeing one of the directors (whom he knew very well) looking sad, Mr. Salmon remarked that surely such an occasion was one for joy rather than the reverse. The reply, of the shipbuilder was that the trouble was that there was no job to take its plaee, and it meant the dismissal of 400 men. It saddened him to have to do it, for these men were solely dependent on the works. They were the children of llie Vickers-Arihstrong works, and vet there was no work to give them. The only consolation Mr. Salmon was able to draw from the matter was that the ironmasters of England still felt for their men, and were genuinely interested ih fheir lot. “I was immensely impressed,” said Mr. Salmon, '‘to see that the works, the plant, and the methods were* much more modern and efficient than formerly. The British people had found that they simply had to get out of their conservative old-fashioned ways of -working, and they had done it thoroughly by absorbing ail that was best- in the American and Continental methods. “As a result the cost of production is going down rapidly,' and the manufacturers are able to meet the market. England recognised that sterling quality is a virttie to be reckoned with in creating the selling value of her goods* and she is doing her best to retain that excellence of workmanship notable in the individual and apply it to mass production. EMPIRE-MINDED. “Great Britain is becoming Empireminded, too. You cannot visit England without noticing that the people generally appear to be mdre conscious of the Empire beyond the seas and what it means nationally than ever they were. They have been educated up to this by the efforts of the British Empire Marketing Board, whose pictorial posters flash at one from every vantage point, by the Beaverbrook Empire preference campaign, and by the depression. “The Eriglish housewife is at last beginning to ask for Empire products, and will not be piit off with similar goods from Finland or Russia. This, of course, is of immense value to New Zealand, and it is up to us to co-operate "by insisting on buying, imported goods only from the United Kingdom. But to meet the market (people have less spending power than they have been accustomed to since before the war), New Zealand must have her exports down to pre-war prices. If tvb cannot do that by pursuing existing methods we must . simply alter production methods until we can meet the market. There is the lesson of .Australia, which with its high wages and heavy production costs, finds that it cannot sell its goods at a profit as the inarket is to-day. DOMINION' BEHIND IN TRANSPORT.

“New Zealand lags behind in transport,” continued Mr. Salmon. “After seeing the latest types of motor omnibuses and motor-coaches in* England, one Cannot help but know that we are very much behind the Old Countiv. These are so built and fitted that they are giving the public a sense of luxury in transport they never had before, the design of the new buses is such that noise is practically eliminated they glide quietly and accelerate silently, and the fittings and upholstery provide the maximum degree of comfort. Running costs have been cut down and the greater patipnage accorded has fully repaid the enterprise shown in providing only the best. “The success of the application of the Diesel engine using crude oil to buses and lorries is well established. lhe same drivers are employed as those used to petrol engines. The exhaust is colorless, and no more offensive than the exhaust of a petrol engine. The f ee “ from a rear tank through a tube, just as is the case with petrol, and there is no more difficulty in starting up than there ’ is wilh the ordinary motor-car htteu ' with an electric starter. The running cost of this type" of vehicle has been reduced one-third by the Diesel, so it looks as though the future of the hea\y. oil vehicle is assured. The crude oil engine can fit in the same space as the . petrol one, so there need be no difference in the size of contour of the bonnet. So far the application of the Diesel engine to the ordinary motor-car has not reached a commercial basis, but- experiments are being made in various places, and there is little doubt that something will develop from them. In the manufacture and design of Diesel engines Great Britain stands ahead of lhe other nations. ' , , “I think the greater degree of comfort enjoyed in travelling bv tnoiorcoach in 'England than here is due to the fact that at Home they have a speci-ally-designed chassis for motor-coaches, while here they put up a coach or a large service car on a lorry chassis, ■which is by no means the same thing. THE TROLLEY BUS COMING. “Tramways and tramways finance is still causing anxiety in certain quarters at Home. From my observation I same to the conclusion that the trolley car or bus has come to stay. I saw them runninn- in half a dozen cities, and for running cost and popularity with the public thev appear to supply what is wanted. There are good services or them at Bradford and Hartlepool, as well as at other Midland cities. The advantage they have oyer fixed rail trams are their mobility in traffic, their ‘ speed, and the comparative absence of noise when running. In some places the old trams have been given up, and the over-head : wires are being used to feed the trolley buses. 'The railways are feeling the compete 1 fion of the road very severely. They , are still getting the passenger and goods I business for long journeys, hut over short journeys the road services, with their luxury coaches, are successful competitors. To meet this some of the railit* £ companies are putting luxury coaches on the rails, drawn by light oil- ’. fired steam engines. These eliminate the cost of heavy locomotives, and give * really excellent services between fixed §| points. One company is said to have Ipowered its running costs approximately

from £400,000 to £200,000 last year by adopting the coaches in preference to the railway carriages.” +ITE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE. Mr.. Salmon is firmly of the opinion that the Imperial Conference, just over, has served a good purpose. “If it did nothing else,” said he, “it gave the Dominion representatives the chance to air their views on Empire trndd; and as the result I wotiln not be at all surprised to see the English public demanding their leaders to come to Some definite decision. Fdo not. hold that the conference was abortive, as some papers would have one believe, for I think it has Jeft open a gateway for productive conversations in the future.”—Dominion.