AN INVENTIVE GENIUS.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 September 1923, Page 4

AN INVENTIVE GENIUS.

A MAX OF IDEAS, In a foreword to Lady Yarrow's biography of Sir Alfred Yarrow Lord Knutsi'ord mentions that at. first the latter strongly objected to the publication of the work during his own lifetime. But his friends pointed out that while at the age of SI he showed no signs of decay and '•would probably have lo he shot on the Judgment Day.” they were growing older, ami wished lo read the book before they died. Accordingly he has withdrawn the embargo. J.adv Yarrow has written the story of. a very remarkable career. The lad who at lo entered Ravctihiir's engineering shop its a humble apprentice ruse ere long to he head of one of the greatest shipbuilding yards in the world. He was always of an inventive turn of mind. When eight years old he made a self-acting candle extinguisher. Next ho devised a most' ingenious apparatus, which automatically lit the fires in his mother’s

ami his own room 10 minutes before tile alarm clock sounded. With a youthful crony he constructed the firstprivate overhead telegraph line in Loudon. Its cost was only half-a----c-rovn. At first if got the pair into trouble with the authorities, because the small hoys of the neighbourhood used to throw over the wires strings attached to stones and cabbage stalks, at which horses shied. However, a clever arrangement, by which the wire could he readily cleared disposed of this difficulty. Ilis first important invention was the steam plough, followed, in the early ’sixties, by the,.‘‘sleam carriage.” This worked well—too well, in fact. For unfortunately one uigld when traveling at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour it met a mounted policeman. The terrified horse bolted, throwing the rider, whose leg was broken. As a result Parliament passed the celebrated law providing that vehicles driven by mechanical power must not go aL a greater speed than four miles an hour, and must he preceded by a man carrying a rod flag. This rule postponed

the evolution of the motor ear for -10 years. Yarrow, however, was not discouraged. If they would not let him develop speed on land he would trv the water, and ho set up his first mo-

dest plant on the Isle of Dogs on the Thames. Subsequently tho works wore shifted to Poplar and finally to the Clyde.

At the Isle of Dogs he was commissioned to build a steamer, which was to he engaged ill tile suppression of the slave trade on Lake Xyassa. The specifications wore exacting. Tiie vessel had to be immensely strong to withstand the violent storms to which this inland sea is subject. She had to

be very light, with a shallow draught and with powerful engines, in order to steam up the Zambesi. And as she hud to he transported overland, she

had to ho constructed in small sections, each piece weighing not. more than 50 pounds, the maximum load for a na-

tive bearer. The ‘Tlala” was a complete success. Since then river boats from the Yarrow yards have taken part ill many river campaigns, notably in the Shubin and in Mesopotamia in the Great War. In the ’Seventies Sir Alfred Yarrow turned his attention to torpedo craft. He was the first to build destroyers. Many of his types have held the blue ribbon for speed in tho British Navy, and many of the destroyers which rendered such signal service during the war were of his making.