Trade Skill In Britain Vanishing

Chronicle (Levin), 9 June 1948, Page 5

Trade Skill In Britain Vanishing

Press Association J

(Per

- ' AUCKLAND, .Tune 8. The nee.cl for Britain to concentrate on the kkilled design "of her mass produCed goods, was emphasised by Mr. P. L. Laing, New Zealand civil engineer, .who 'has ... returned ' after two years in the .Unit.ed States as-* an ongineer observer on behalf of the Public Works Depa-tment. Mr. Laing, who undertook duties with the Trade Commissioner in "Washington and also visited the United Kingdom, said we could uot afford to regafd as slightl.v second rate, the qualitv of American mass produced goods — qnality resulting from skilled design rather than trade skill. "The people of the British Commonwealth have for a long time accepted the superiority of Ameriean mass production skill but have remained rather smugly over confident that we have a strangle hold on qnality," said Mr. Laing. This eonfidenee was based on the fact that British tradesmen wero the best in the world. As far as luxury goods like furniture and chinaware and luxury motor ears were coneerned, that was still justified but today the luxury oustomer was not ihe onlv judge of qnalitf and the working man was a more important market than the ric'h man. , f A comparison' between British (ineluding New Zealand) and .American design is most striking in the appliance field, U refrigerators/ kitchen stoves. washing- machine's and so on," added Mr. Laing. "A visit to the Home Show at Olympia was most disappointing. Equipment designed and built in Britain was almost uniformly only fair. Far too evident were open seams, sharp edges, re-entrant angles and difficult to clean surfaces. Clearly enough the manufacturing of good designs can he dorie in England as witness several items heing made under licence to Aiperican coneerns." It seemed desperately important that we should search for higher quality in onr volume produced artieles. America achieved results with a relativelv low percentage of skilled craftsmen but a very high employment level of young scientists and designing engineers. Whether we liked it or not, trade skill was vanishing and we might replaee it as the Americans had with the cfrawing board and laboratorv.

America *Wgs one great field of opportunity for young technicians. Large salayies, with the high'est going to physicists and industrial chemists, were paid by industry. "Our standards for house buiiding and the mqre tajlor-made constructiop works like hydro-eleetrie schemes and reinforeed concrete work generally, compare very well with the -best in America and are higher than for much of the work to be seen over there," continued Mr. Laing. American buiiding bv-laws differed in the various States* and eontrol over buiiding was uon-existent in some places, witfi resulting very low standards of eonstruction concealed by most elaborate finishes and decorations, said Mr. Laing. Buiiding trade wage rates were the highest of all artinarr rates and there was almost no apprentiee training in many trades, . It appeared certain that the whole veight of A'menea7i ingenuity would u j brought to bear to reduce "as much as possible the need for these trades. On the eonstruction of prefabricated steel forins, simpler designs and mechanical equipment had already virtually eliminated the need for carpenters on some bridge eonstruction work.