A day and a half in Scotland does not give
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one tune to call on many friends, bat that was all I could spare last week ; my calls began fortuitionsly in the sleeping ear at Eirston, for there I ran into Mr. A. Reginald Pole, the managing director
of the Glasgow Assurance Co., in the corridor: bent on the same journey. We sat on the edge of my bunk, and talked insurance till the small hours. If I were a vehicle-owner and came under iMr. Pole's spell, I should be like the famous oppossum on his being covered by one of the best shots in the district ; you may remember that animal is reported to have said, " Don't shoot, colonel, -I'll come down." All the same, Mr. Pole has a good scheme for commercial vehicles.
One of my visits while in Scotland was to that enterprising and always interesting person Mr. Geo. H. Halley, of Halley Motors, Ltd. We went into the merits of fire-engines and pumps, and we jointly wondered why there should be such price cutting in that branch; we agreed about the increased opportunities for hasi111(55 in these vehicles, both at home and abroad, and then the van and lorry business led him to remark that they were extending the Halley factory, at Yokel., by a new building, the floor space of which is 10,000 sq. ft. Fresh automatic machinery is going in, and there is to be electric drivir r. throughout. Moreover, at he present moment, there is at work a full double shift for night and clay. All this coincides with -the reports I hear, in London, of the firm hold which Halley motors have taken. It was my lot, in connection with the overwork of the Overseas number, which, by the by, promises to be a fine production, to spend The week-end in Manchester, and on Saturday evening, the close of the first of the polling days. I found myself at the -Midland
Hotel, right in the vortex of political excitement. All Manchester and his wife seemed to be there. Dinner parties hail been formed, and that event over they were ready for a glut of polling returns, On one of the galleries a gentleman stood with megaphone announcing the results, and when a Unionist victory was proclaimed the crowd yelled themselves hoarse with " Yip-i-addy-i-ay." When a Liberal success came along they either sang the National Anthem or " For lies itJolly Good Fellow," and it was interesting to notice that the womenkind were, if it were possible, even keener than the mcn. When it was falsely announced that Bonar Law had captured the citadel, Bedla.m seemed to break loose, and one charming little madam was in a perfect throb of enthusiasm. During a lull I could not help overhearing her remark to the rather-stolid individual who looked as il lie o ere her devoted slave. " Why is there another election so soon, dear: Have the House of Lords turned out the Commons:" At the Olympia motor shows, the proprietors of this group of journals make a point of providing some comfortable reception rooms to form a temporary oasis for our friends in the motor business ; to these we can retire when we desire to talk business and have friendly greeting. These rooms have gradually developed from the oldstyle fit-cup of some panel-work covered with cloth, and the bareness of the " walls " partly relieved by a few original sketches, to handsome, permanent-looking apartments with oak panelling reaching right up to the ceiling, with a fine grandfather clock, the so IM1'011 ell111T11-hell Chime. Of which surprised and delighted everyone. The whole environment wafts one back to Haddon Hail and to the Tudor period. The reason why I am doseanting on all this is that one of my provincial friends came in to see me, and I offered him hospitality, which ranged over tea and cakes, then a variety of more potent liquors, and my final offering took the form of a choice cigar, but although most friendlily posed he shook his head at them all; he seemed to be anti-everything. There seemed to he nothing else for me to do hut to beg him to take a good foe& at flue oak panelling.