HEAVY INDUSTRY

Hokitika Guardian, 7 January 1931, Page 2

HEAVY INDUSTRY

DEVELOPMENTS IN BRITAIN

SUCCESS OF DIESEL

COUNTRY "EMPIRE-MINDED”

Interested in machinery of all kinds, particularly in heavy steel, Mr C. AY. Salmon, of the firm of Cory-AVright and Salmon, who returned by the Ulimaroa from America and England, where he has been for the last fifteen months, learnt much of the industry, its conditions and recent development abroad.

Mr Salmon spent a good deal of

time in me centres of inuustry such as Glasgow, lNcHcast.c-on-iyuc, jiirmuighum, and Barrow-m-i? urncss. At urn latter port, winch has grown up rounu the Vickers-Armstrong works, lie saw on the stocks a new mier ol the fast cargo-carrying type for the New Zealand Shipping Company, and at tho same port saw the keel laid ol the new terry steamer ltangitira, .or the AVellington-Lyttelton service. He was also present at the launching ol a steumer of about the size of tiie Malieno, 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 itß place, 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 the Vickers-Armstrong works, and yet there 1 was no work to give them. The only consolation Mr Salmon was able to draw I rum the matter was that the ironmasters of

England still felt for tlieir men, and were genuinely interested in their lot. ".[ 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 all that was best in the American and Continental methods.

f "As-a result the cost of production is going down rapidly, and manufacI tutors are aide to meet the market. England recognised that sterling qualj ity is a virtue to be reckoned with in I 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 people generally appenr to be more conscious of the Empire beyond the seas and wlmt it means nationally than ever they were. They have been educated up to this by the efforts of tlie 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 English housewife is at last beginning to ask for Empire pi'oducts, and will not be put 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-op-erate' 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 get her exports down to pre-war prices. If we 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 market 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 Country. Those 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 ana accelerate silently, and the fittings and upholstery provide the maximum degree of comfort. Running costs have been cut down, and the greater patronage 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. The same drivers are employed as tnose used to petrol engines. The exhaust u colourless, and no more offensive than the exhaust of a petrol engine The feed is 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 with the ordinary motor-car fitted with an electric starter. The running co=t of tin's + vpe of vehicle lias lieen redo cell one-third bv the Diesel, so it looks as though the future of the heavy-oil vehicle is assured. The crude oil engine can fit in the same snnee as the petrol ore. so there need be no difference in the si/e or contour of the bonnet. So' far the application of the Diesel engine to the ordinary motor-ear 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 the other nations. "I think the greater degree of comfort enjoyed in travelling by motorcoach in England than here is due to the fact that at Home they have a specially designed chassis for motorcoaches, while here they put a coach or a krge service cur on a lorry chassis which is by no means the same thing.

Tho Trolley Bus Cojgj,ng,

"Tramways and tramways finance

is still causing anxiety in certain: quarters at Home. From my observations I came to the conclusion that the trolley car or bus lias come to stay I saw them running in half a dozen .cities, and for running cost and popularity with the public they appear to supply what is wanted. There are good services of them at Bradford ana J Hartlepool, as well as other Midland cities. ' The advantage they have over 'fixed rail trams are their mobility in traffic, their speed and tfye comparative absence of noise when running. In ' some places the old trams have been i given up, and the overhead wires are being used to feed the trolley' buses, j The railways are feeling the com- | petition of the road very severely. They i are still getting the passenger and i goods business for long journey's, but I over short journeys the road services, I with their luxury coaches, are successI ful competitors. To meet this some of the railway 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 lowered its running costs approximately from £400,000 to £200,000 last year by adopting the coaches in preference to .the railway carriages.”

The 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 trade, and as the result I would not, he at all surprised to see the English public demanding their leaders to come to some definite decision. I do not hold that the conference was abortive, as some papers would have one believe, for I think it has left open n gateway for productive conversations in the future.