British Trade Representation Abroad.
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We hope that the Council of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders will discuss Mr. Calthrop's suggestion for the establishment of Intelligence Bureaus in different parts of the world. He has Mexico City in mind as one point d'appui, but that proposition will very probably, on inquiry, prove to be far from the most promising of those which offer themselves for a choice to be made. There are, of course, not a few difficulties in the way. Trade exclusiveness and feelings of jealousy are bound to assert themselves, but we should be sorry to think that erroneous conceptions of the value of conservatism and secrecy would be allowed to weigh with members of so progressive an industry, and one where the history of the Society's exhibition policy has been so eminently successful. Combination and co-operation along the lines which Mr. Calthrop evidently has in mind need not interfere in any way with the right of the individual manufacturer or trader to make personal arrangements in keeping with his own conceptions of business expediency; yet, as has been amply demonstrated by the activities of Germany's consular officers, the cleverest of agents or travellers not infrequently fails—be it from want of information, .pre-oecupation with other affairs, or whatever the absence of success may arise—to establish that first touch which so often determines the destination of a contract. A competent adviser on the spot, if he be a man of proper ability and standing, both creates and detects openings which others with less specific, or more diffused, objectives cannot but miss, and we fully endorse Mr. Calthrop's view that, although a single such representative of the. British motor industry were to cost as much as .47i,000 year, the expenditure " would bring a much greater return."
Once the proposal were agreed as sound in principle, there should be no hesitancy as to the sanctioning of an adequate subsidy per bureau, -for everything would hinge upon the qualifications of the commissioner. Each representative
would have to be a linguist, and a man with some business training, whilst a general knowledge of motors and their capabilities would be a sine qua non. We regard the plan as a legitimate extension of the work of the Society's trade information department, with the peculiar merit that none of its advices on the subject of openings for trade would be behind others—supplied by devious means—to competing countries. It cannot be held that the suggestion has come too late.
East-End Streets as Playgrounds for Children.
Now that the coroner's jury has returned its verdict of accidental death, and has exonerated the driver from all blame, we desire to revert to the recent fatality and the consequent disturbance in the Mile End Road, which occurred nearly a fortnight ago. The evidence unhappily disclosed facts which are all too common in congested areas of great cities, and in no locality more so than in the East End of London. How often do mothers, as in this case, go out to work and leave three or more of their baby children to play by the kerb, as to the side of which they will at any instant be found nobody can hazard a guess. In the particular case under notice, the mother of the unfortunate child who was killed left three of her six children to play in this manner, and the not less unfortunate driver, although his vehicle was travelling at a rate of only from seven to eight miles an hour, was the unwitting contributory to a death which brought about a disturbance very much in the nature of a riot. The occasion is certainly one which may be utilised to enquire whether something more cannot be done to cause neglectful parents to take greater precautions in respect of the control of their offspring. It is true that the L.G.C. and other authorities already do much by the provision of open spaces and playgrounds, but we are unaware that any statutes or by-laws exist under which steps can be taken to bring home to such women the fact that they have imposed upon them, alike for the protection of their own children as for the safeguarding of the interests of others, both duties and obligations in this matter. Poverty in the East End no doubt hedges the problem about with difficulties, but, if any right of action does exist, we should like to see it exercised, in the form of test prosecutions, in order that a much-to-bedesired deterrent effect might result.
Nobody can deny, in the great majority of cases where narrow escapes, accidents, and even fatalities occur, that blame attaches to people other than drivers of either horsed or motor vehicles. The most careful of drivers can scarcely hope to avoid an accident every time that a small child runs suddenly off the pavement practically into his vehicle, and it is futile to shut our eyes to the fact that lamentable mishaps of this character are due to the deplorable recklessness, and to the not much less deplorable surroundings, of the women who are crowded into the tenements and single rooms of the East End. Why was not the mother of the dead child censured, or at least cautioned against future risks? It appears that, at the time of the accident, the father was abroad, the mother at Dalston, and the sacrificed infant in charge of a girl of six. Are we to accept a continuation of these factors of civilisation (sic) without demur?