SEALED PAVEMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1935, Page 13 (Supplement)

SEALED PAVEMENTS

PROGRESS AND ITS PRICE

(By

H.E.C.)

New Zealanders ■'yho have the good fortune to visit Great Britain periodically have observed during the past five years certain definite tendencies in economic and social life in the United Kingdom. They speak on their return of the continuous expansion of the metropolis, of the disappearance of famous “town houses” of the aristocracy to make room for blocks of flats or for high-class hotels, of the disappearance, too, of the stately suburban homes near London and the conversion of the grounds that surrounded them into streets of small houses, rather much of one type, but, fortunately, not reverting to the ghastly “terraces" of the midVictorian years.

Other changes noted are that manufacturers are returning to the kindlier climate of the South and West of England to establish their factories. As most schoolboys know, the metal trades in Britain had their genesis in the south and west counties, because alongside the pits from which came the ores there were the forests ready for transformation into fuel. The iron trade followed the fuel supply and when coal superseded charcoal the district that could offer iron ore and coal in close juxtaposition could be certain, almost, that its resources woulo soon be exploited. To-day the electric current has taken away much of the favourable handicap held by coal as a power-producer. There are other rivals also, to say. nothing of the elimination of distance, made possible by the internal combustion engine of the motor vehicle. So the new factories can be built wherever raw material can be assembled without heavy transport costs, and where it is possible to take a wire to. carry electric current. The electric motor has enabled new and more ornamental designs in factory buildings and layout, while the cheap motor-car has widened the area from which a. factory .can draw its materials and labour.

■ The New Zealander notices also a change in business methods and relationships. The old belief that public ownership of passenger transport agencies was ideal has been considerably modified. There is a tendency in regard to services conferring a district monopoly to combine public and private enterprise. Thus the London Transport Authority has been established. It is governed by a board chosen by the London local governing bodies, the State, and ■by the shareholders of the private undertakings taken over, such as railways and bus services. By this means redundancy of services has been reduced to a minimum, the presence of representatives of the people on the board prevents exploitation of the public, and with that is combined the expert guidance of those who have been trained for commercial specialisation. / This: tendency, to amalgamation of Energies is found on every hand. Three railway systems running from London to Scotland have amalgamated. Ever since the war the railways had been losing money, and it was a case of amalgamation or perish. The three systems are now one, and as such can give -good service without waste —although not without sacrifice by ch individual system. For instance,, what used to be orie of the most important hotels in the, city of Liverpool is now an empty building. It belonged to one of the amalgamating railway companies and it was considered that anothercompany’s, hotel ...was the one to be developed.

,;The Amalgamation of the chemistry industries, and of the cable and radio service has been well discussed in the Dominion. Most remarkable of all, considering its history, is the recent decision to “rationalise” the cotton industry in Lancashire. Ever since its /establishment the cotton industry has stood for' individualistic effort, with competition the spur to efficiency. “Each for himself and the devil take the hindmost”. ’ seemed to be the industry’s motto —amongst operatives as well as among their employers. Strikes for higher wages, reluctance to remodel uneconomic plants, and the loss of oversea markets brought even Lancashire’s individualism to its knees. It is not known yet whether repentance has come in time to save the industry, but a Taranaki man who has recently visited England found rather less despondency in Lancashire this year than existed a few years ago. Even the fanners of Great Britain are departing from their traditional policy of individualism. The old type of landowner—who shared the ups and downs of. the markets with his tenants and when times were hard forgave as much of the rent as possible—has been taxed out of existence. His tenants had to put up with the methods and equipment their resources would permit, and the reSult was that while Britain could show some of the best farming in the world it could show a great deal that was uneconomic. The post-war landowner is usually a business man or corporation. For stich the land is an investment. that should bring in a decent return if handled efficiently. The efficient tenant farmer may never know his landlord by sight, but he will find him willing to advance funds and equipment for the better working of the land. If results are not forthcoming the tenant will lose his farm, even if he and his forebears have been there for centuries!

■ “Great Britain is no longer Jethargic” is the considered opinion of business men who have visited her recently. She is regaining her ascendancy as tire most skilful manufacturer in the. world if not the largest, and has already regained supremacy, in regard to shipbuilding. From tire primary industries to such special ones as the making of picture films, scientific research, specialisation and the assistance of the State are all being sought, for the improvement of the goods manufactured and the furtherance of British trade. . ■ ■" •

The price for these efforts' has to be paid. With the reawakening of industrial. Britain, the reorganisation of work, and the endeavour ,to stimulate industry to remove unemployment there has undoubtedly been a loss of that personal liberty of action of which Britons were proud. The farmer must accept the dictates of a Milk Board; the railway authority of a board concerned with the welfare of other than his own system; the cotton manufacturer must obey the local committee, and the road transport services a plenitude of authorities and regulations. In amusements and in politics there is more willingness to submit to control, in industry more reliance upon the State to supply opportunity and afford protection. Nor are the results of this “ordered” community life discouraging, at least upon the surface. Some of them, however, gave an oveasea Briton room for hard thinking. Progress in material affairs has had strange repercussions. He had been told while in London of a new problem facing architects and builders in the more ’ central districts of the metropolitan area. On more than one occasion buildings in course of erection collapsed. Investigation showed that a layer of gravelly subsoil, in which foun-

dations had been Jaid, had dried out. " It i‘powdered” under the weight of the building; just as. dry sand squeezes but under a motor tyre while on damp sand i a world’s speed record can be made. The same. conditions were noted .in other parts of London. when foundations were • being prepared, and the next step to be taken was to find the cause. That is still being investigated,’but the theory which finds favour at present is that the sealing of the streets and pavements with waferproof material is gradually altering the condition of the subsoil. Before progress in road making had reached its present stage there was sufficient soakage from the surface to supply the sandy subsoil with tha moisture that ■ kept it'able to bear the weight of buildings for But with - no such soakage permitted from sealed roads the subsoil was gradually drying up in certain areas. So there is a price to be paid for progress—whether in i-oad making or « lace making—and the New Zealander pondered upon the repercussions that might follow Britain’s new commercial, industrial and social outlook. Would progress in those spheres' dry up resiliences in national character that have proved of. such value to the race? It is a study that could well be directed to affairs and tendencies in New Zealand. : S'