BRITON PRAISES SPANISH TRANSPORT EFFORT A S a regular reader
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of your deservedly popular "journal, "The Commercial Motor," and as a resident in Spain, I feel that Mr. Harold Champion's article on Spanish transport, published in your issue for December 3, cannot be passed without comment.
Your contributor has, apparently, found a great many faults and not one redeeming point, and on the whole I think his article is unfair and apt to mislead your readers. Bearing in mind that progress in this field has been hampered since 1936 by the Spanish Civil War, World War II and present-day currency restrictions, B18 Spanish industry has made very praiseworthy efforts to master the situation, although handicapped by shortage of raw materials.
The trolleyb uses manufactured by Messrs. Maquitrans, a subsidiary of the Barcelona Tramway Co., are as comfortable and up to date as any to be found in Europe, atrid theft' time schedule is irreproachable.
Without having recourse to cajolery of any sort, I was able to obtain some information from the management of the Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones S.A. (E.N.A.S.A.), the concern which has taken over the former Hispano-Suiza factory at La Sagrera. Its production technique, far from being obsolete, is controlled by engineers of experience, and the works have been completely reorganized and equipped with the latest machinery.
The Pegaso heavy-duty lorry manufactured by this company has an all-metal cab, which incorporates a sleeping couch for the driver, and the seating and positioning of controls are comfortable and convenient. These lorries have 12-in. by 20-in. tyres, eight speeds. pneumatic brakes and 16-ft. by 71-ft. platforms. They are priced at pesetas 270.000, which really works out to about £2,700, and is not at all fantastic. The management of E.N.A.S.A. informed me that the company has produced 340 8-ton lorries during the current year.
I agree with Mr. Champion that Spaniards of every type feel nothing but the utmost friendliness and goodwill towards Great Britain, and that Spain could be an important market for British vehicles. I very much doubt, however, whether Spanish readers of "The Commercial Motor" will appreciate your contributor's brand of humour, and I am sure that Catalonian bus conductors will resent being described as "picturesque brigands." There certainly are many popular misconceptions in England about Spain, but I feel that Mr. Champion's article, far from dispelling them, will only add to the confusion.
Let me add that I am in no way connected with the Barcelona Tramway Co. or with E.N.A.S.A. I have been inoved to protest because I sincerely believe that in so doing I am rendering a service to British industry, which has a great future over here. E. F. S. TURNER.
Madrid.