THE SALE OF CIPPENHAM.
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The Great Depot for Mechanical Transport Repairs Sold to a Private Concern. The Government's Plans Give Place to Private Enterprise.
TS MAJESTY'S Col-eminent must feel, to-day, like -a 'Frankenstein miraculously relievedof a monster of his-.own creation, for the Cipr penham depot, -near Slough, is ,off their hands. • . The story of the depot has been one long scandal from beginning, to end. There was inordinate delay; ruthless destruction of good agricultural land, ineptitude, and then, after the Armistice, sheer obstinacy and refusal to -admit an.
error or to be turned .from a. set purpose. and, . later still, inc.apacity in the utilization of the place when erected. • • •
It was Mr. S. A. Wallace, the manager of the works of the • Associated -Equipment Co., Ltd., at Waltha-rnstow, who, borrowed in order to secure a canioufla,ge of outputwhilst a committee of enquiry.was sitting, ,secured sortie sort of result from the depot, and whilst there last autumn he formed the scheme to take over the place and to run it on com
mercial 'lines. Early this year he secured his release from the Associated Equipment Co.., and then set about his plans. He 'secured the support of a financial group and made a journey to the United States in connection with the scheme, returning at Eastertide.
Negotiations, meantime, had been proceeding with the Ministry. of Munitions, the • Treasury, and the Disposal Board (for, whilst the depot. and its plant were in the' handsof the first-named, the mechanical transport was in the hands of the last mentioned), and had advanced to such a point that it was fully expected that the outstanding matters could be cleared• up and the agreement signed lastFriday. The last part of the negotiations was long drawn out, however.
The purchasing group Consists of a Dumber of prominent English financiers, the negotiations having gone through in Sir P. L. D. Perry's name. The property purchased covers the whole of the depot, standing on 600 acres of ground, with access to the Great Western Railway and to a canal, together with plant and' fixtures and about 15,000 transport vehicles (including from 3,000 to 5,000 yet to come over). The bays of the buildings, placed end to end, would cover a mile, and they include machine shops with full equipment, foundries, forges, assembling and erecting shops, paint shops, stores, offices, power plant and every requisite of the• up-to-date factory. The stock of tyres and spare parts alone, is colossal, although, of course, this is being rapidly called upon in therepair of surplus vehicles. The way in which Sir Percival Perry's group (including Lord Inclicape and Lord Furness) came on the scene was because of their purchase. of the whole of the surplus transport of the American Army grouped at Coblenz. This purchase included 15,000 vehicles, and such a stock of machines inithe hands of cernpetitors could easily have jeopardized the sale of the vehicles gathered together at Slough and calling for repair and overhaul before they would • be available
.for sale. The two purchasing groups therefore found it to be a matter of rindua,1 interest to ,get to
gether' and to pool -resources; . • •
• -The -repair. and disposal of -these, vehicles must • occupy the next three to five years, thus leaving it possible to defer, for the present, the consideration -of 'the niannfaetoring possibilities of .the depot.' In connection with these; two great names have" been
• 'mentioned, one being the Associ • ateclEquipment Co.; Ltd., and the
• other the -Ford 'Motor •Co.. :Mr. Wallace tellsns,howev.er, -that the Associated-. Equipment do. is not ,conceined'inthe deal, or the programme,' in in any way. As' to-the • Ford'Co., there is.no intelitidnwet -of any arrangement being co'n • eluded. But, as, Mr. Wallace is otiq'nf the director's of Internationa Motors, Ltd., the concern which histhe concesSion for Ford vehicles for the London_ district within a radius of 15 miles, there may be some possibilities
'sibilities n the direction of Ford assembly and, even, manufacture.
The purchase price, so -we learn as we go to press, is £7,000,000 sterling, allocated as to £3,325,000 to the buildings, plant, and tools, and as to £3,675,000 to the 15,000 vehicles, and stores included, making the average price of the vehicles about 2240. Over and above this the Government will receive 50 per cent. of theprofit made on the sale of each vehicle.
Certain questions naturally arise concerning matters of importance from the point of view of the
country's 'interests. The first is, what will. happen in regard to further stocks of vehicles '" declared surplus to requirements "I With no Government-owned repair depot, the whole structure on which the Cippenharn depot was based falls to the ground. The alleged justification for the depot was the fact that a better price could be obtained for surplus vehicles if they were, first of all, repaired and overhauled. The future is to be safeguarded by the fact that the 'new owners of the Cippenhain depot will have the right to take over surplus vehicles at a, valuation lor repair and disposal. As, so far, chiefly the worst of the stocli has been declared surplus and, as the vehicles at present in the tpossession of the war department are not being subjected to such strenuous uSe, and are being better -cared for, theprobability is that a mere overhaul thereof will suffice.
We understand that the military -staff, which bad estimated that the repair work on the vehicles that could be handled at Cippenham would occupy them least six years, will be demobilized.
We find on inquiry among leading men in the industry that the competition of the repaired surplus vehicles' with the new productions from the motor factories is not feared in the least, as only a certain class of buyers is appealed to by the former type, and the new vehicles, will have the inestimable advantage' ofjmore modern design and the incorporation of the improvements which strenuouswar service showed to be possible or desirable.