A severe accident has befallen Mr. H. D. Kerr, of
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the Continental Tyre Co., Ltd., I am sorry to learn, and as the accident affects his spine it is unlikely that he will resume work for some time. This will be a trial for him as he is essentially a business man and extremely keen on his work.
The town of Wigan is apt to linger in one's memory if one has splashed through it, on a soaking day, while on a motoring trip fresh from the beau
ties of Wales and taking that. town as an enforced routo up to the Lake District. One is apt, then, to skidder at the recollection of Wigan, with its collieries, its tramlines and its miles of squalor, but visit the place by train in the ordinary commercial way and it looks the proverbial " hive of industry." I was at the Pagefield ironworks of Walker Bros., Ltd., last week, and they are busy preparing an entirely new engine for the Pa gefield lorry; it should he ready within five or six weeks. I venture to think this will be looked for eagerly because this company is now taking the commercial icle business very seriously, and with its extraordinary facilities the coecern naturally commands attention. We shortly expect to give full details of this new model.
Scotland has held me for some days, and a few shining hours were spent in the company of Mr, Tom Stevenson, of Messrs. S. Stevenson and Co., who are earning undying fame with their " learaneure " tires, concerning which an article appeared in these pages a fee weeks ago. Mr. Stevenson quickly
interested me by expressing his surprise that we only issue one Overseas number in each year ; in his opinion, the progress and the extent of the commercial motor movement abroad warrants at least two issues. I judged by this enthusiasm that Stevensons have something very special to offer to Colonials and of course it was soon revealed to me that it is their method of fastening the " Faransure " tire that appeals at once to users away from this country : no press required to fasten them to the rim, and re newels can easily be fitted in the remotest place, wherever the vehicle is.
The points mentioned in the last paragraph as to more than one special Overseas issue per year have already been considered by the Editor, and as the business abroad extends it will probably be found necessary ; meanwhile, much interest is being shown in the " Dominion and Overseas " special which is due for despatch early in December ; the issue already shows signs of being packed with interesting matter.
A friend of mine, the head of a large business concern with numerous branches, is especially partial as to his hobby of motoring; he drives a 30 h.p. ear, and thus pleasantly covers a good deal of his native England, and more than a little of La Belle France. In addition to this, he is a keen motorboat racing man, and when afloat he sits behind engines of enormous horsepower, and he fairly revels in it. His conscience smites him occasionally over the amount of time devoted to all this, and he told me one day with a grim smile that the more he stops away from his business the better it seems to get an. This came to my mind last week when chatting with Mr. Alley, at the Sentinel works, Polmadie. He had just returned from a little holiday, not much more than a week, and he explained, laughingly, that orders for five steam wagons had come in during his absence. I see, during my travels, a lot of Sentinel wagons, and it was good to bear it confirmed that Alley and McLellan are getting a good share of the trade. In reply to my question I found that the price cutting which was so prevalent two or three years ago is practically non-existent now ; at any rate that is their experience.