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A Complaint About a Carburetter.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1361] Sir,—For some years I have been leading driver to a well-known City firm, and amongst other duties, I have to take and fetch the cars from th0 repairers, as required. A few weeks ago I was sent with a large lorry to the agents in London for a reputed make of carburetter, a serious falling off in the petrol consumption having occurred recently.
The agents, being unable to improve matters, recommended that the carburetter should be sent back to the manufacturers, "for a thorough overhaul." It was returned in six days with : float punctured ; needle-collar twisted ; float tumblers sticking in collar; and the carburetter flooding seriously, through the fixed jet being replaced out of the perpendicular. On test the machine was found to be doing 4 m.p.g. The agents rectified all but the jet. For this latter, we were told, "a special jig and gauge were necessary, and they were never allowed out of the works." The car was urgently wanted in two days, so my employers had no option but to send me with the car 200 miles to ensure getting the job done.
I think that you will agree that this absurd policy
of some manufacturers regarding the repairs and replacements is the reason for so many firms still keeping shy of the motor vehicle. I have had conversations with one or two responsible gentlemen, who have told me that they do not mind the initial outlay, if they could guarantee the repairs would be done quickly, efficiently and at moderate charges. It would have been cheaper for my employers to have bought a new carburetter in the first place, had they but known. I rd.ght add that this is not the first time my employers have had to pay more for a repair than the original cost—Yours faithfully, J.D.R.
Made in Germany. We Must Not Rely Upon a Continuance of the Present Sentiment.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
11302] Sir,—To be perfectly honest, I do not like the suggestion which was made by your correspondent, "Trade War," in your last issue. It is, to say the least of it, not honourable. Do not let us fall into the trap of meeting our present antagonists with weapons of deception and underhandedness, with which it appears they are all too familiar. The idea that we should infringe German patents because the owners are not here to defend them is distasteful to me as a Britisher. [Moreover the Government would not permit it.—En.] The Board of Trade is providing facilities for the proper and due abrogation of patents, and, providing these are found to be adequate, and subsequent protection be sufficient to warrant manufacturers spending large sums of money in the putting down of new plant and making other preparations, we should be satisfied to take these wonderful chances which are offering to us.
But we must have this guarantee of continuity after the war. The German character is so pertinacious, that it will not hesitate to take any advantages we offer them to come back into exactly the same commercial positions that they occupied before the commencement of hostilities, and if I do not misread the British character, I am of opinion that, once this is all over, and the spoils of war have been properly distributed, it will be only a question of months, or perhaps a few years, before we have forgotten our antagonism.
We spoke just as harshly of the Russians in Crimea days, and of the French when we were busy with Napoleon. I expect, too, the newspapers were then
as full, as their means of communications would allow them to be, of tales of atrocities, and of deliberate attacks on unarmed citizens and Red Cross hospitals. And yet to-day we have forgotten these incidents, as we have forgotten what terribkpeople the Boers were when we were fighting them. We, too, shall forget, if I mistake not, how obnoxious a thing is the inscription "Made in Germany" on imported articles. We must not rely on the continuance of the present public sentiment in this respect. We must protect our industries and our newly-found enterprise by legitimate and concrete means.—Yours faithfully, WALTER J. PRITCHARD.
Stoke Newington.
Made in Germany. Buy Your Tires From Britain. The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1363] Sir,—There is little doubt in the minds of every patriotic Briton that the German manufacturers in the past have taken as much out of us as possible, and are now engaged, with their brilliant Emperor, in the endeavour to take our country also. While, doubtless, for the present, this foreign competition is over, those who know the German character sufficiently well will appreciate that they will merely lie low until the most convenient moment arrives for recovering their ground with us. In fact, even now, one of these companies has re-organized under a new name and is endeavouring to hold on to their business till brighter days by assuming a British complexion and the address of an " up-the-river " works. [The impression here conveyed is incorrect. —En.] This move is sure to be followed by others of that ilk, and the persuasiveness of the average German commercial man will very likely impose upon the more credulous of British buyers, who may not appreciate the wolf's clothing.
May f, therefore, warn all buyers of band tires, and other rubber goods, against the effrontery of these Teutons ; and, lest it be imagined that I am doing so with an eye to the benefit of this company, I would say that all connected with us will welcome the news that orders have been permanently diverted from German firms to our British competitors, such as—
Avon Rubber Co., Ltd.
J. W. and T. Connolly, Ltd.
Dunlop Rubber Co. Ltd. Lynton Tyre and Wheel Synel., Ltd. Macintosh and Co., Ltd.
Midland Rubber Co., Ltd.
Shrewsbury and Challiner Tyre Co., Ltd Simplex Rubber Co., Ltd. Wallington, Weston and Co., Ltd.
Wood-Milne, Ltd.
and even to the De Nevers Tyre Co. and the Gaulois Tyre Ltd., both of whom are of French extraction, rather than to representatives of a country which has sowed our land broadcast with spies to execute its base projects. I feel mire that all our British competitors will feel similarly in this matter, and that they only require a lead to express their feelings, and possibly to show up other cunning moves of our common enemies, in order to discomfit them.—Yours faithfully,
ST. HELENS CABLE AND RUBBER Co., Lm.,
J. H. C. BsooiriNo, Genera' l Manager.
[British manufacturers of tires are folly entitled to draw the attention of commercial-motor owners to the claims and merits of their goods, .rarlicularly at the present time. We have made Editorial investigation into the present position and future intentions of Mr. Fritz Poppe, managing director of the Polack Tyre Co., to whom we understand the above references directly apply. We have something to say on this matter elsewhere in this issue.—ED.J