Transport's Gilbert Harding
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MAJOR F. S. EASTWOOD, the Yorkshire Licensing Authority, is playfully being described as the Gilbert Harding of road transport. Both hold the distinction of having walked out of a dinner because they disapproved of what was being said and both have a reputation for out
spokenness. ,
Major Eastwood and Mr. Harding also have police service in common, Major Eastwood having at one time been a . member of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Happily, the legal proceedings that he now initiates are rather less serious than those with which he was concerned in Northern Ireland. Scholastically, Major Eastwood and Mr. Harding are rivals, for the Licensing Authority was an Oxford man• whereas' the broadcaster went to Cambridge University.
• Strangely enough, Mr. Harding's description of his recreations as " reading, talking, listening, looking and w,,,,iting " would fit Major Eastwood's occupation.
Historic Link
AST week's travels brought me an introduction to the Rev. T. G. Beer, war-time chaplain with the famous 51st Highland Division and now Vicar of Goosnargh, on the outskirts of Preston. Mr. Beer tells me that his family have a special interest in The Commercial Motor, for his father, a' South Wales transport man, has taken the journal from the first issue.
Mr. George Beer, brother of the Rev. T. G. Beer, now runs the family business of George Beer and Son, Swansea. The Vicar of Goosnargh's 800-year-old church stands next _door to " The Grapes," a village hostelry where you may often encounter some of the local personalities of the transport world..
Church windows usually commemorate someone who has died. but Goosnargh is probably unique in possessing: a beautiful Coronation window. This reminder of an outstanding event in the lives of the present generation is probably the only specific personal gift of its kind to be presented anywhere in the country on that occasion. The donor was a certain Mr. 17111D. Holmes.
• Made Light of His Problems
THE Holmes story is largely one of post-war success. Mr. W. D, Holmes and his brother, Mr. Harold Holmes, at one time ran a saw mill, from which developed an interest in commercial-vehicle bodybuilding. But, in the immediate post-war period, timber was difficult to obtain and a study of the situation convinced the Holmes brothers that the answer to their difficulties lay in the evolution of light-metal components for bodybuilding.
These days the Homalloy works are a scene of great activity, but what impressed me most while there was readymade bodywork being exported in sections, all patked neatly into cases only 1.8 in. by 18 in. by the length of the body.
Moving House
ESTATE agents in Manchester tell me that there are signs of business houses moving away from the centre of the city and so, in their own particular way, giving valuable aid in reducing peak-hour traffic. In these days, when so many people have their own means for transport, the appeal of the main-street address is somewhat . diminished. The motorist would rather drive an extra mile if, by so doing, he can park in comfort.
As an example of the trend would quote the Royal Automobile Club, the north-western counties office of which was for many years located in the heart of Manchester.
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Three years back it was moved more than a mile from the centre. Has anything been lost by the change? On the contrary, the area manager, ,Mr. L. J. Marshall, tells me they now have three times the number Of callers they had
at their city ideation. , .
Let's hope the process of evolution will continue to help„ in curing our traffic troubles.
Mistaken Secrecy
I T is refreshing to hear a .man4acturer support the view that secrecy -over production methods is soinetirnes 4 mistaken policy. Discussing with me the merits of the Quasi-Arc Sigma method of welding aluminium' bodies, Mr. R. Blake and Mr. P. Gassling, of the Syntilla Manufacturing Co.. Ltd., Dunstable. were confident that no harm could be done to their own business interests by the widespreadadoption • of the process by other concerns. They were , certain that the general acceptance of welded construction by operators throughout the country would increase the demand for such bodies to such an extent That everyone would be happy.
. Hearing is Believing
SOME Edwardian ideas in design which were subsequently abandoned have been revived, improved and accepted by vehicle users as great advances. The steering-column gearchange was in vogue well before the 1914-18 war,. but its re-introduction has not been received with whole-hearted acclamation, least of all by repairers,
Mr. J. Lewis Jones, chairman of Swain and Jones, Ltd., who opened a garage business in Farnham, Surrey, in 1908, is one who regrets the revival. Speaking last week at a luncheon given by his company, he brandished a catalogue of a 1906 vehicle with a steering-column gear-change and was greeted with applause when he said: "The only difference between then and now is that in 1906 you knew which gear you were "Yes," replied Mr. C. H. Rowley, deputy general service manager of the Austin Motor Co.. Ltd., "so did everyone else. They .heard it! "
Quicker the Fewer
PAA SPEAKER at a recent dinner suggested that higher speed increased safety. because vehicles occupied road space for a shorter time than if they travelled slowly. I think he must have been the man who, having been caught exceeding the speed limit, explained that he was in ,a hurry to get home, as his brakes had failed and he was anxious to
avoid an accident. •
Highly Aromatic
I-1 A MAN who has spent a good deal of time in -Berlin assures me that the Russians drink a solution of petroi and sugar. Only 100-octane spirit is served in the officers" mess.