A SUCCESSFUL INVENTOR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 17789, 11 February 1920, Page 10

A SUCCESSFUL INVENTOR.

! NEW PLYMOUTH BOY WHO MADE GOOD. I IMPRESSIONS OF ’ENGLAND AND AMERICA. : .Mr Clarence Davy, who left with machine-gun section of the 24th i Reinforcements, served with the New ; Zealanders in the hard fighting of ■l9lß up to the armistice, is on a I visit to his old home in New Plymouth. Mr Davey married a Liverpool lady whom met in 1914, I when he was on a visit to England, before leaving for France, and after the armistice he settled down in Liverpool, and proposes to stay there for some years.' It will be recollected that Mr Davy invented, among other articles, n non-refillable bottle, which a local syndicate exploited until the war came and prevented its marketing. When he arrived Home with the | troops he inspected the various hand i grenades in use by the British forces, I and set himself the task of improving upon them. He was fairly suci cessful. The authorities provided , him with the necessary facilities and j gave him temporary leave to prosecute his work, but on completion of the model he had the greatest difficulty in getting a hearing from the Inventions Department of the War Office. Disappointed at the treatment he received, he went to Paris, and submitted to the military authorities there his model. Later he was informed that his invention was accepted. and that a sum representing several thousand pounds was being paid to him by the French Government. I ENGLISH CONDITIONS BETTER. Mr Davy did not confine himself to grenades. He worked at some ideas in connection with the mechanism ot' the aeroplane, but his patents were not taken up by the British military authorities. Since the armistice Mr Davy has been living in England. “Under war conditions,” he said to a Taranaki News reporter, “England is a place to live away from, but things have greatly improved during the last year, especially in the provinces. Industrial troubles there have been in plenty, and Liverpool has had its share, but the workmen are settling down, and it won’t be long before England will be back again in the position she enjoyed in the world’s markets before the war.”’ "Prices are very high at Home, are they not?” queried the reporter. "Yes. they are. But they are gradually coming down as the foodstuffs increase in quantity. Of course things will never be as cheap again as they were before the war. as the standard of living amongst industrialists has been lifted permanently. which is not a bad thing considering the plight in which a large proportion of the community were before the war. Quite ten millions, according to competent observers, were always at starvation point.” The rates in some parts or England were very heavy. In Liverpool, they were 14s 7d in the £ of the annual value, and, as if this were not enough, an extra rate was struck to make good the damage done by the mob on the occasion of the recent police strike. The irresponsibles—the lowest elements of the town—did the damage and stole the goods from the ships, while the ratepayers, who had nothing to do with it. were compelled to make good the damage. The income tax, too. was very stiff. On £IOOO a year income the rate was from 3/- to 3/9 in the £. on £2OOO 4/G to 6/3, and on £2500 6/-. Qver £l3O income tax was payable In New r Zealand, of course, the exemption is £3OO, and the taxation on the larger amounts very much lower. But it is expected, said Mr Davy, that a considerable reduction will soon be made in the income taxation, which is now on a war basis. HIGH PRICES IN AMERICA. Mr Davy went on to say that for dearness of living one had to go to the United States and Canada, in which con (tries he spent, a fewmonths before coming to New Zealand. There prices of living were terrific. For a bedroom in a modest place the cost was anything between 14/- and 16/- of our money, plus tips: then there w-ere the meals, which were not less than a dollar.. Also the tips. One had to economise [to get through on less than 30/- or 35/- a day. New’ Zealand, he said, j was the cheapest place in the world . to-day in which to live. We in this ; country did not know’ how well off ;we were in this respect. Then there • were the amusements. In America one expected to see something good in the way of theatres and programmes, but as a rule they w-ere disappointing, patrons receiving absolutely no attention after they had paid for their tickets, the interiors of .thetheatres were unattractive, and the music—well, that was generally supi plied by a broken down piano or origan. The programme consisted of a ■ gazette and one subject, and the lowI est price was a quarter of a dollar. I In England one had to pay 2/6 for ■ a good seat in a decent picture theaj tre. He contrasted the shows with | those he had seen in Stratford and New Plymouth, which did not suffer by comparison. Indeed, he believed that the public in New’ ZeaZealand provincial towns were better catered for by the pictures than in any part of America or England. NEW ZEALAND AT HOME. Mr Davy said that New Zealand stood in very’ high estimation at Home. The boys had advertised the country as nothing else could have done. They Rlayed the game, and the English people did not forget it. The fact that he was a New Zealand- ' er w’as sufficient to gain him entry ianywhere. “But,” Mr Davy added, i "we should follow up this favourable i impression by effective advertising, i Liverpool is one of the most imporitant places in Great Britain, indeed j in the w’orld, and the fact was recogI r.ised by the Canadian and Australian Governments, which conduct vigorous advertising propaganda there. Not a word, how’ever. is heard of New Zealand. This is a loss to us, for hundreds of men and women of the right type are going across to Canada, who, I am sure, could be induced to come to New Zealand, which can offer better advantages. What we w’aut to do is to boost New Zealand, and it could be done without undue cost if it were gone about in the right way.” In England there were some fine [ men and women anxious to try their lot in other parts of the Empire. | They had to be careful, however .and | not attract the lower classes in the cities, who would not make success--1 ful colonists. The condition of the

inhabitants of the slums was deplorable. They were a,s ignorant as the Russian peasant. To raise their intellectual, moral, and physical standards was one of the problems before the country. It was not an easy one to solve, as both men and women had seemingly no other ambition but to drink beer and have "a good time." POWER OF INDUSTRY. The real industrialists, however, w'ere quite different. They were the real backbone of British industry, and were going to make Britain more powerful industrially than it ever was. "Make no mistake about it.” continued Mr Davy, "Britain is a wonderful country, with powers and talent that no other country can excel. She turns out only one quality—the best. It does not matter what it is. The war revealed her latent strength. She is now gathering it for the commercial war, and will get there. Yes, even beat America, with all her brag.” Mr Davy was not particularly enamoured of America. "Go there for a fortnight and you’ll like it. Stay there for a couple of months and you will be disgusted.” Asked to ex. plain. .Mr Davy instanced what he saw hinrself. An American battalion was returning home from the war, and so the town he was in turned out en fete. On one banner in the procession were inscribed the words. I'.‘The boys that won the war—after ■all the others had failed.” Th« egoitism, exaggeration, and boastfulness I were national characteristics, and to I those like himself who were in the fighting and knew the comparatively insignificant part America played in it, soon became nauseated. The Americans had no time for anyone but themselves. They were selt'-in-I iatuated, and he was not particularly sorry to see the last of the States’ WAR ON PROFITEERS. Mr Davy mentioned that clothing and other things had become substantially cheaper in England since Ihe Government had got. on the track of the profiteers. Take I clothing. A good made-to-order serge suit, cost now £9, a tweed £7, and a further decrease in price was expected. The same applied to other things. In regard to houses, six and seven-roomed houses could be rented in Liverpool for from 8/6 to 12/6. To build a six.roomed house would cost to-day about £6OO He was surprised to hear of the big increase in building in New' Zealand. In this respect the Dominion was far behind England. Mr Davy liked England a great deal, but he was free to confess the people there did not exhibit the same pushfulness as in the colonies. New Zealanders, as a whole, were far more susceptible to new ideas, and W'ere more progressive generally, but there were signs of a disposition on the part of the people of the Old Country to get out of their old ruts and move forward. Mr Davy hopes to spend a few months in New Zealand before returning to Liverpool, which he expects to make his home for the next ten years.