Men Worth Knowing.
Page 23
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Professor John Scott. Mr. W. Rees Jeffreys.
The pioneer of motor farming, the son of a farmer, and himself engaged in farming during his earlier years both at home and in the colonies, Professor John Scott, whose remarkable abilities have left their impress on the methods of the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, worthily calls for a sketch in our pages of "Men Worth Knowing." I us wide experience of cultivation and cropping, on all kinds of soils and in all climates, together with his early training nd inclination lot farming pursuits, have combined to give him an all-round practical knowledge of agriculture to which few can lay claim. While still a young man he wrote two books—" The Farm Valuer" and "Rents and Purchases," which were published by Messrs. Longmans; both are now -out of print. In the autumn of 1882, at which date there was a great boom in cattle ranching, he resigned his Professorship of Agricultural and Rural Economy at Cirencester and accepted a commission to proceed to the Western States of America for the purpose of reporting on various large tracts of land, some 3,000,000 of acres in extent. These were mostly grazing lands in NorthWest Texas and New Mexico, but his careful enquiries and ramifications also included an investigation of some of the finest sugar cane, cotton, and tobaccogrowing areas in Brazoria and on the Gulf of Mexico. On his return from this long journey in America he wrote "The Soil of the Farm," one of Morton's handbooks for farmers; then seven small text-books on "Farm Engineering" for Weale's well-known series of technical works. He afterwards edited the " Farmers' Gazette" (Dublin) for a year, a n d subsequently the "Scottish Agricultural Gazette" -and "The Farming World" for four years, the two latter -being now merged in the" Scottish Farmer." Mr. Scott is a regular contributor to the daily Press, as well as to various agricultural journals. He has always been a believer in the application of mechanical power to agriculture, and has a carefully preserved private correspondence on the subject elating back to the year 1871. In 1897 he took the matter op in practical form and exhibited the first motor cultivator at the Royal Agricultural Show at York in 1899. He holds numerous patents for motor ploughs, motor cultivators, motor tractors, mowing and harvesting machines in fourteen different countries, and is chairman and managing director of a company with an authorised capital of L50,000, in which he is a large shareholder. Mr. Scott maintains that the application of internal combusion engines to farm work is destined to effect a revolution in tillage which is as yet but dimly comprehended by those who have not made a special study of the matter.
The development of the cultivator in particular, with its various attachments, has been a tedious and costly business, but the initial difficulties have been entirely surmounted. He is now engaged in writing a series of hand-books to motor farming, the introductory volume to the series being announced as already in the press. These hand-books will tell farmers just what they want to know about motors and their application to all kinds of farm work, and are indicative of the new era which has opened to agriculture. The world of commercial motoring is the richerby Professor Scott's entry. Professor John Scott. Mr. leties Jeffreys is best known to our readers as Secretary of the Motor Van and Wagon Users' Association, which organisation exists to protect the interests of users of commercial vehicles. He is, perhaps, better known in the world of autoniobilism as secretary of the Motor Union of Great Britain and Ireland, and as head of the legal department of the Automobile Club. In all capacities alike he is engaged in fighting the battle of those interested in automobile vehicles, and there is no doubt that many of the privileges enjoyed by automabilists are directly or indirectly due to his efforts. Mr. Rees Jeffreys was born in 1871, in London, and was educated privatelyIn 1891 he secured an appointment in the Board of Trade, after open competition, which post he resigned in 1903 on his accepting the position of administrative secretary of the Automobile Club. This appointment largely followed on his reputation as an authority on systems of highway administration, which had not been diminished by his services as honorary secretary of the Roads Improvement Association, to whieh body he imparted new life. He was one of the first supporters of the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he formed the Students' Union and acted as its first honorary secretary. Possessing a thorough acquaintanceship with the theory and practice of Local Government in England and Wales, he specialised on the question of highway administration, the administrative side of which had been much neglected, and he has laboured to secure—. by legislative and administrative changes—a reform of the existing systern of highway administration in England and Wales, so as to adapt it to modern conditions. As a result mainly of his efforts, the president of the Local Government Board appointed in 1903 a departmental committee to enquire into the question, and Mr. Rees Jeffreys was the first witness examined. The committee in its report pays a tribute of praise to the assistance he then rendered, and many of the committee's recommendations are based upon his evidence. He also gave evidence before the Royal Commission on London Traffic, and supported a proposal for the " Haussmannising " of London. In 1902 the value of petroleum as an agent for fixing the surface dust was tested at Farnborough, on his suggestion, this being the first English experiment.
Mr. Rees Jeffreys has written a considerable number of articles and pamphlets dealing mainly with road questions, autemobilism, and labour matters. Of the latter, his paper on "The History and Work of Wages and Conciliation Boards "is still recognised as the best summary of this important department of labour organisation.
Mr. Rees Jeffreys is associated with cycling as well as with autornobilism. He has been for many years, and still is, a member of the Council of the Cyclists' Touring Club and it is upon his initiative that the Club has recently decided to hold competitions for the purpose of discovering some device which will prevent the side-slipping of bicycles. As evidencing the close attention he gives to every matter pertaining to uses of the road we note that he was present in the House of Commons on Thursday afternoon, the occasion being the debate upon the working of the 1903 Act. Mr. Rees Jeffreys.