On Relating With One's Public
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D EMINISCING on the early years of his career at an IN-Institute of Transport meeting in London last week, Sir John Elliot. the ex-London Transport chairman, related an amusing story of how he came to be appointed as the first public relations officer in this country (his claim, not my statement).
Having vented a different point of view from a certain newspaper proprietor, Sir John was "resting" after his Fleet Street experience. Subsequently he was interviewed by Sir Herbert Walker (of Southern Railways fame) and offered a job, but there was the minor difficulty of what his precise designation should be.
No One Would Know
AT that time an American underground railway system had just created the then new position of public relations officer, and Sir John suggested a similar title. This was readily accepted by Sir Herbert on the grounds that no one would understand what it meant and therefore none of the existing staff would be jealous of Sir John's appointment.
Had the ebullient and forthright Sir John remained in that profession he would, I fancy, have been a worthy example with which to deflate those of us who occasionally still wonder (only, I hasten to add, of certain " fringe " relaters with the public) what it is all about.
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Smoke Pack?
ASOMEWHAT drastic method of dealing with the smoke problem has been adopted by the parent Cummins Engine company, of Columbus, Indiana, U.S.A., to meet the stringent anti-pollution regulations of Western American States. Smoke is virtually eliminated by using a smoke pack, comprising a low-cost " undersized " turbocharger and special manifolds which give an excess of combustion air without materially increasing the output of the engine.
A marginal improvement in fuel consumption is obtained, and it is confidently expected that engine life will be appreciably increased. The turbocharger operates at a relatively low speed, and the light weight of the parts gives freedom
acceleration lag. This suggests that there could be an iportant future for an economy smoke pack.
Many operators might be prepared to purchase such a pack it improved fuel economy by, say, five per cent. and did not ipose extra stresses on the working parts of the engine, partilarly if the cost of the unit were substantially lower than at of a conventional turbocharger system.
tuck 'ND the ordinary hazards and frustrations of obtaining A and • B licences was recently added an additional obstacle in one iffic court . . . this time, seemingly by the Ministry of Works, ough the person who told me suggested (with tongue in eek) that it could be a conspiracy between that Ministry id the objectors.
The chief witness for an applicant was trapped in the lift!
tuck Again 4Y mind turns to other traffic courts where lifts form an important service to the licence-seeker and his witnesses, id contemplate with the utmost horror the possible conselences of this practice becoming contagious.
The London three-lift system is, however, nearly foolproof this respect. One dashes from the two lifts in front to the le at the back, pressing bells for the former and Shouting up e lift shaft for the other, and often missing all three through combination of breathlessness, being in the wrong place at e wrong time, or the general inactivity either of the lift tendants or the lifts themselves.
All that, cross-examination by counsel, and no certainty ' a licence, is a great discouragement to any applicant. . . .