REPLACING GERMAN GOODS.

Otaki Mail, Volume 26, 4 June 1919, Page 3

REPLACING GERMAN GOODS.

One of the directions in which j British industry is ready to replace | German goods is in the manufacture , of magnetos. This industry has settled almost entirely in Birmingham. Coven- | try, and Rugby. In each of those | towns there are factories with special installations of machinery which make j and put together most of the parts of j which magneto consists. Many j other manufacturers are also engaged in preliminary processes or in the production of details. Such specialised I items as the ball bearings are obtained from firms who devote themselves primarily to that manufacture. The combined output of all the British firms i.-esti-mated at about 30,000 a month, as compared with 100 before the war. Present production, it is expected, will be doubled in the near future, for the industry is growing very rapidly. Now they have a thorough grasp of the business, British magneto manufacturers will not be content with the home market merely; they will expect to develop and ciport trade. What a production of 30,000 British magnetos a month means may be seen from the fact that the pre-war output of the German magneto, which was known the world over was about 21,000 n month. So pervasive was this particular type that British engineering practice was adapted to ir, and to such an extent that "arrangements now have to be made whereby English models will fit in the place of the German. Leading British firms are uniting in an endeavour to advance the industry. To this cndMhey have arranged among themselves for each to take up certain sizes, thus securing bulk production and eliminating competition.