MR COATES ON TOUR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19996, 13 January 1927, Page 6

MR COATES ON TOUR

BRITISH POTTERY TRADE,

AT THE DOULTON WORKS.

LITERARY ASSOCIATION OF BURSLEM.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 4. So recently has Stoke-on-Trent become one of the great cities of' the Midlands that the names of the Prime Ministers of Australia and New are among the very first of the freemen. Stoke-on-Trent .happened to be one of the small towns of the pottery district. It held a central position, and when the six towns were recently amalgamated the new city was given the name of Stoke-on-Tront, the other towns becoming wards of the new city. Mr Arnold Bennett haa baaed many of his stories on the “Five Towns.” Wo learned that the author sacrificed truth for euphony, for there were six towns. Burslem, from which Arnold Bennett obtained most of his local colour, contains the works of Messrs Doultons, Limited, which the Now Zealand Prime Minister visited. But Burslem has another interesting literary association. Doultons sue ceeded the firm of Finder, Bourne and Co., where, in 1861, J. Lockwood. Kipling, the father of the poet, worked as an art designer. He became acquainted with Frederick Macdonald, son of the Wesleyan minister of Leek, the Rev. G. B. Macdonald. Frederick Macdonald was the brother of the four sisters, wives respectively of Burne-Jones and Poynter, two famous painters, and Mr Stanley Baldwin and Lockwood- Kipling. From Burslem the young Lockwood Kipling used to journey at week-ends to Leek, a town 10 miles away, and here beside the lake he courted Alloa Macdonald. Now this lake, which wo passed on our journey to Sheffield, is called Rudyard. and when their first son was born Lockwood Kipling and his wife called tho boy Rudyard in memory of the pleasant hours they spent beside the take of that name. The Rev. Frederick Macdonald, the brother of these famous sisters, is stll alive, now in his eighty-second year. He was president of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference and Professor of Handsworth College. He married a Burslem lady, and incidentally it may be mentioned that he visited Now Zealand in 1903. A hearty welcome. These facts are somewhat extraneous to the visit paid by Mr Coates to the Potteries, but they added interest to a pilgrimage which otherwise had to do with such things as trade and Imperial relationship. The editors of the local newspapers had heralded the approach of the overseas visitors, and had -devoted a good deal of space in their journals to the careers and personalities of the Prime Ministers. The public was well prepared, and the welcome given to the visitors was the very heartiest possible. At 11.30 the train from London arrived at the station platform, and hero the New Zealand party were received by Sir Francis Joseph president of tho North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce), by the High Sheriff of Staffordshire, the Mayor and Mayoress, the Deputy Mayor, and a number of representatives of tho Chamber of Commerce. While the Australian party left to visit the Eagle Pottery Mr Coates and his party went to inspect the factory of Messrs Doulfion, Limited. A comprehensive tour of inspection of these interesting works would have occupied several hours. Although the hour and a-quarter available was far too short, one managed to learn a groat deal in the time. It was natural to ask why Stoke-on-Trent had become a centre for pottery. Had they the materials for manufacture in the vicinity? Tho answer is rather surprising. Coal is available, and fireclay which is used for sugars— the containers in which tho pottery is baked. All other materials come from a distance. China clay is obtained from Cornwall, ball clay from Dorsetshire and Devonshire, flint from Dieppe, felspar from Norway and Sweden, and calcined bones from Argentina. Hero it may be mentioned that English china gains its beautiful translucency because of the calcined bones which are used in the process. • Other European countries use a cheaper calcined material. It is said that tho bone dust mixed with the basic material permits the stone and other materials which are added to be more readily absorbed. English pottery therefore, though higher in price, still leads in quality. SECRETS FROM THE ANCIENT CHINESE. The visitors proceeded to the showroom where they were received by Mr J. C. Bailey and Mr C. J. Noke (art director). Here the Prime Minister was shown specimens of the dessert service made for King Edward VII, a tea service supplied to her Majesty Queen Mary, and a magnificent dinner service, heavily gilt on a ground of Royal blue, made for the Sultan Abdul Hamid. Artistic paintings—landscape and flower subjects—on large vases were greatly admired. One vase stood some five feet in height, and revolved by means of ball bearings on its base. It was whispered that it would cost £SOO. The firm’s pottery figures and statuettes interested all the vsitors. Among these wore the “Buddha” and several old Staffordshire figures which Messrs Doulton have successfully revived. Here, too, were seen specimens of the lustre art which has been recovered from China, largely by Mr Bernard Moore, one of the greatest scientific potters in Europe. Mr Moore, who was present at the luncheon given later on, has been in China for long periods and studied the ancient pottery. As the result of his work Stoke-on-Trent is producing the beautiful Chang and Sung wares with their blending of various colours and the renowned Rouge Flambe. From the showroom the party was taken on to the artists’ room, where they saw the artists at work on the higher class of pottery. Here Mr Coates incised his signature on a vase which is destined to become a piece of Chang ware. After all the processes are complete and the name is made permanent beneath the ?laze the vase will he sent to New Zeaand to the Prime Minister. It was interesting to watch the artists at work. A full landscape' on the face of a plate, for instance, is completed by one man in a day. He has painted the same scene so often, he said, th„t he knows exactly where to lay his brush and the exact quantity of paint to use. No movement of the brush is experimental. Such a plate when completed and with its gold scrolling affixed round the edge would naturally not be obtained for a small sum of monev. Other less costly ware was being ornamented by young girls whoso brushes moved with remarkable precision. "Can you ub the paint off if you make a mistake?” one of them was asked. “Wo don’t make mistakes,” she replied. THE POTTER’S WHEEL. The potter’s craft in all its processes never tails to interest a layman. The New Zealand visitors were permitted to see the manufacture of the ordinary cups and saucers of everyday use. First, there was the mixing of the material. Then we saw the potter at his wheel. Beside him stood a girl who weighed out the exact amount of clay necessary. A moment later tho Jump was spinning on the wheel, and with a lew dexterous movements tho potter had turned it into a plain narrow receptacle. This wn., handed to another potter, who placed it in a mould on his wheel and pressed it outward against the mould until it took on the form of the standard cup without a handle. No machinery is used to turn the wheel, In some cases the operation turns itself. In others his attendant, in entire sympathy wit.i the potter, works the treadles. When the vessels have dried somewhat the handles are affixed, and in due course the cups are placed in their beds of flint, winch is ground to the finest powder. They arc thus packed, layer after layer, ami I placed in the sagars or clay containers, j The sagars are transferred to the oven and there remain until the oven is full, when the latter is bricked and clayed up | and the fires are lighted. A temperature of ISOOdeg Centigrade is needed for the baking. When the cups and saucers and plates are taken from the oven and removed form their sagars and the beds of flint, they are rough with the flint. They | are hen placed in a machine not unlike i a washing machine, and whilc_ they are ' held firmly in position by special frames ‘ they are revolved rapidly and scoured smooth with sand. | Afterwards there follows the silica bath. THE GLAZING. j In other words, a film of glass is placed on -the utensils, and again they go to the furnace. When thev are taken out they are ready for packing —all except about 5 per cent, of slightly defective units. These are trimmed up with revolving emery stones, reglazed, and baked again.

All these processes were carefully explained and illustrated, and the New Zealand party completed their tour of inspection with a greater appreciation of the skill and science that go to the making of the ordinarv domestic utensils. Before the party left in cars for the Town Hall a photograph was taken at the gates of the factory, where 100 of the young spectators, while a similar number of girls employed by the firm were interested people from the houses in the vicinity had gathered in the street to catch a glimpse of the New Zealand Prime Minister. Mr Coates seemed to please the crowd by an ct of courtesy to a very small g’rl who pressed wide-eyed against the footboard of his car.