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APRES LA GUERRE.

14th October 1919
Page 8
Page 8, 14th October 1919 — APRES LA GUERRE.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

By "The Inspector."

FORTUNE HAS dictated that I am in. Paris on business at the time of the Salon de l'Automebile—the fifteenth and originally planned for October 16th to 26th in the fateful 1914. Fortune has so ruled, and it is a fortune almost that makes it possible. Many will be the tales brought back this year of fearful and wonderful prices charged for everything from a porteurks pomboire to a clean collar., To those who were in the French capital during the war, on business or for such pleasure as it could afford in those dark and anxious days, the leap upwards of all charges is almost as bewildering as to those who only knew it in its happier but still costly pre-war days. France appears to have made up its mind—its republican and its private mind alike—to do what it can to collect the "siller" from all and sundry, particularly from those who are not French. Spaniards and Roumanians, of wham there are many here, with plenty of money, for some reason. undiscovered by me, are certainly being let off more lightly than are the English, the Americans and, perhaps, the Italians. And this, too, is the attitude towards those seeking to' establish business relations as much as these who are here for their health only—shall we say?

No facilities are discoverable that will tempt the Britisher to sell his home manufactured goods in France. Offices and works are difficult if not impossible to come by. To-day, only, I heard of a Britisher wanting to establish a considerable staff of stenographers in Paris who was asked 0 each for typewriters worth not a penny more than .C28. The rate of change for the English sovereign appears attractive and invites a certain laisser aller in the matter of expenditure, but, so far as international trading is concerned, it is illusory. No one knows from day to day what the rate may be, with the result that none will do business other than on the basis of payment at the rate ruling when payment becomes due. The result is that much good business, which might be done, is being postponed to steadier. days.

There is little likelihood of lorry sales by British firma in France, for some time to come at any rate. Early deliveries are impossible, and to that factor one must add the uncertainty arising from the chaotic conditions of. the country's railway good-s service. It is not only extraordinarily difficult to get stuff into France, but it is equally uncertain the getting of it out. The tariff against import is very nearly prohibitive for anything that it can be argued can be made in France, and that means most things. But, it even extends to the purchase in the country of second-hand British-made stuff already in the country.

It remains to be seen, after a very careful study of progress in design and production, as revealed by the exhibits at the Salon, whether French models are U22 going to challenge our home-produced chassis any more seriously than they did previously. I am firmly of opinion that they will not. The French have done a lot of spade work in things automobile, it must be remembered. They nearly smothered us in the early days of. the touring car ; they taught us how to make better machines ourselves. They gave us a lot to think a-bout, when flying was in its baby clothes, and they should, by right, have led the world in aeronautical construction, but, of course, they do not. They took the agriraotor very seriously long before we had begun to think of the whole thing as anything more than an eccentric development. And, in this Year of the Lincoln Trials, we find British and American agrimotors being introduced here in .some num bers.

We have a remarkable faculty for letting someone else do the spade work, in many ways. We did not try to be soldiers until after the Hun had given us an idea of what an army really meant. We did not get busy on submarines until a little whisper reached ua that they were quite useful weapons. When we wanted a. bus service for London, we only had the German Mercedes to fall back upon. But, as a setoff, we can certainly beat almost any other nations at their own game, if we are really put to it—whether it be dyestuffs, .optical glass, or camions.

It has always seemed, to me remarkable that the steam wagon industry has remained so conspicuously our own. Here, in France, the Foden and the Clayton and Shuttleworth have achieved remarkable work and examples are still to be seen all over the country. The French must be convinced of their superiority for certain classes of work, but the unique Purrey is the only model of it kind as yet known to me that .is' practical competitor. I hear rumours of intentions to build British steamers in. France and, indeed, of active inquiries from quite a few British concerns for manufacturing facilities in this country, but, in all eases, I am told it is only believed to be possible to build for French consumption. For export to ether countries manufacture'must be in the home shops.

In any case, it is good to have tie. fortune to attend, once again, a great gathering of the automobile world. The new order of things was considerably evident in Cardiff at the Royal Show. There._ should be mach that is instructive in more ways-than one to be gathered at the Salon when the exhibits arrive. As I write—two days before the opening— there are but three eamions staged in the whole vast building. There will have to be some hustle if the official opening is to be complete. I hear to-day of one very prominent British firm (with French interests) which, having paid many thousands of francs for space at the Salon, expected, owing to shipping and railway strike troubles at home, to have nothing, or next to nothing, but a label or two to display. 'We shall see. No doubt there are others.

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Locations: Cardiff, Paris, London

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