INDUSTRY ABROAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 898, 15 February 1930, Page 6

INDUSTRY ABROAD

MR. W. APPLETON’S TOUR ENGLAND AND AMERICA Seme interesting details of industry abroad were given by Mr. Will Appleton on his return to Wellington from' a tour which lasted 10 months. The managing director of the Charles ! Haines Advertising Agency, Ltd., had letters to many of the biggest manufacturing people in the world and he was personally conducted over their huge works. His tour,began in California, where he saw everything, from the talking picture studios of Hollywood to the manufacture of bathing suits at Portland, Oregon. Crossing over the Canadian Pacific, •Mr. Appleton stopped at Sicamous, Lake Louise and Banff and saw the Canadian Rockies at their best. “Without in any way disparaging my own country, I must take off my hat to Canada in respect to her alpine scenery,” he said. “And as for the railway and hotel service of the Canadian Pacific, all I can say is that we in New Zealand do not know the first thing about catering for tourists. Nowhere else on my trip did I encounter such wonderful service. “On my way to Chicago I dropped off at Kenosha, where I went over the Nash Motor Works, and had the pleasure of meeting one of the outstanding personalities of the American motor industry. Mr. C. W. Nash is one of the most human men it is possible to meet. “Chicago impressed me tremendously, notwithstanding all the alarming reports we have read recently about its lawlessness and state of bankruptcy. I consider it a fine city, well planned and magnificently laid out. The drive up Michigan Boulevard and along the Qold Coast, as it is called, where the millionaires live, past the shores of the lake, is one of the finest motor excursions anywhere.” St. Louis, another town Mr. Appleton visited, is of particular interest to New Zealanders, inasmuch as it is the rabbit-skin market of the world. Here the bunny skins come from every quarter of the globe, and the fame of the New Zealand variety puts it at the head of the list when the sales take place. The New Zealander’s tour was an amazingly comprehensive one. He called at Dayton, where he visited the National Cash Register works and at Akron, where for two days he toured the works of the Goodyear Company. At Toledo he went over the WillyOverland establishment. Detroit he thought a vast city. Here the DodgeChrysler plant was inspected and later the Ford works. “Without doubtr the Ford establishments are the most wonderful in the world today,” said Mr. Appleton. “Here mass production has been brought to the highest point of perfection, and not at the expense of the workers, either. The day I visited the Highland Park plant at Detroit there were 106,000 men on the pay-roll, and the output was 9,300 cars. I saw the men changing shift, and they marched in fours like a battalion. Thousands of cars were parked around the plant in which the workmen came to and fro.” On through London, Ontario, Rochester and the Kodak factory, Washington. Philadelphia and Montreal to l Quebec, from which he sailed for England. “In the Old Country I visited three of the big soap concerns, Lever Bros., Ltd., at Port Sunlight, out of Liverpool, Joseph Crosfteld’s at Warrington, near Manchester, and Gerrard’s, at Nottingham. One must hand the palm to Lever’s for being the most up-to-date and the best organised business in England today. In fact, I place it next to the Ford Works for general allround efficiency. “In the cocoa field I had the pleasure of going over Rowntree’s at York and Cadbury’s at Bournville. Bournville is unique. It seemed to me that in regard to welfare work and the provision of better housing conditions for the workers generally, Cadbury’s are in advance of any other firm. Both Lever Bros, and Rowntree’s have provided garden villages, too, but not to the same extent.

“Other prominent manufacturers with whom I came into contact were Reckitts at Hull and Colman’s at Norwich.' These two firms are distinct, but combine their selling activities as far as Australia and New Zealand are concerned. Reckitts is a wonderful organisation and members of the firm have been very generous in the provision not only of better conditions in the way of housing and recreation for their workers, but for the people of Hull generally. The ultra-marine works of Reckitts at Hull are the largest in the world.”