Out and Home.—By "The Extractor."
Page 13
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The Miesse Pctrol Car Syndicate, Limited, of Pelham Street, South Kensington, has sold six delivery vans to the proprietors of Oso.
" The African World " announces that the Government of Southern Nigeria will spend 44,333 upon motor tr:insport during next year.
understand that Mr. Raikes has 1E:ft the active management of the Safety Non-Explosive Reservoir Co.. ltd., although he remains a director of the company; a new general manager has been appointed in the person of Mr. I tumid Da w son .
" Taxibus " spirit is the latest coined
ord which purports to convey that the fuel indicated is specially suitable for public-service vehicles; it is introduced by the Anglo-American Oil Company. It occurs to my mind that Gladstone, when trying to galvanise his supporters into electoral 'usefulness, used to say there were three things they must not fail to do : the first was to organise; the second was to organise; and the third was to organise. I venture, with the greatest possible timidity, to suggest to the Anglo people that there arc three similar courses open to them to get this " Taxibus " word popular, and The word is in the same syllabic category as organise, and even rhymes with it. I am not offering any prize For a solution.
The dinner to celebrate the advent of the pleasure-vehicle show at Olympia, went off, on Wednesday of last week, with what is known as éclat. The speeches were, like the curate's egg, good in parts, and. if some of the speakers did ingeniously drag in the names of their own commodities, it was only, as one of the vice-chairmen said to me, preaching to the converted. Amongst the commercial-vehicle people present, I had some talk with Mr. Edward Lisle, of the Star Co., and Mr. Joe Lisle was in evidence also— both in good spirits over business prospects. Mr. W. H. Willcox was as entertaining as usual, and Mr. Gasmine, of Armstrong-Whitworth's, who is always keenly interesting in the Society's,doings and is taking his full share of the work, wore his customary bonhomie air. Mr. H. G. Burford, of Milnes-Daimler fame, fitly occupied a vice-chair, whilst Mr. G. H. Smith, of United Motor Industries, looked grave. The Bosch magneto principals, Messrs.
A. Stevens and A. E. Bennett, who at near me and were very cheery table companions, kept me entertained between the speeches.
Mr. J. D. Siddeley, of the WolseleySiddeley Company, presided at our particular table, and looked alternately concerned and indulgent, as the buzz of conversation ebbed and flowed, because we were in a sort of annexe, and only portions of the speeches reached us. Mr. Sidney Straker, of Straker Squire, Limited, in his vice-chair, had an easier task. It was, altogether, an enjoyable evening.
It is an inter( sting fact that one of the artists who contribute solely to our group of papers, and who does most delightfully delicate tracery, the man whose impressions of ingle nooks and village inns discovered by the ubiquiLuis tourin,.r car are so realistic I refer Lo Frank Patterson--is a farmer. He sees to the cows, he tends the turnips, and he fills in the " edges and fringes of time " in drawing, for the unceasing interest of thousands of admirers, those enchanting Surrey commons, and the old-world rustic scenes and corners abounding in his native Sussex. 1 am led to these pleasurable reflections by the fact that Mr. Albert Brown, a managing director of Brown Brothers,. Limited, and the subject of our sketch this week, is at the foundation a farmer. I understand he is a co-trustee, controlling over 1,000 acres, and, apart from securing a big contract and taking care that his firm advances year by year, his keenest pleasure is in driving his 3oh.p. Brown car down to
Braintree, in Essex, with some friends, for a day or two's shooting, for Albert Brown in his leisure must have friends round him. He is no recluse; he is just a live, brisk, far-seeing man who secures real pleasure in communing with callable men, and, like Thomas Carlyle, he does not " stiffer fools gladly," His interests, as will be gathered from these introductory sentences, are highly diversified; but, like all men who are thorough and genuine workers, he excels in all branches. It is, of course, a " far cry " from the
ramifications of the huge establishment in Great Eastern Street to the vocations of a farmer; yet, I foresee the scope for agricultural motors and even railway-inspection cars.
I will not attempt, in this column, to sketch out the career of Brown Bros., Limited, although it would be instructive. My present mission is to give a brief—and, I fear, inadequate- impression of one of its managing directors. To approach it chronologically, Albert Brown brought to England the first Darracq car, a single-cylinder of 8h.p. He took part, personally, in the first long-distance reliability trial
Thiswas the t,000-mile run of two, by a circuitous route beginning and end ing in London, and his particular in
strument of torture was a Brown-Whitney steamer : the trial extended over a month. It is enthralling, at this period, to listen to the difficulties of this pioneer run; how they and many other competitors coaxed and even pushed their cars to their night's destination. Their difficulty with a steamer was, as everyone will appreciate, al ways to get water, and the climax was reached when, on arriving at Droit wick, they unwittingly filled up with the native article impregnated with salt. I won't vouch for this—I haven't watched him—but I have been told that Albert Brown has declined to take salt with anything since; anyway, they reached Edinburgh, and that is characteristic of the man.
He joined the A.C.G.B.I. (now the R.A.C.) in the first year of its exist ence, and he is also a member of the Motor Club; he was a founder of the Cycle and Motor Trades' Benevolent Association, a founder of the Motor Cycle Trades' Association (1 was, by the-bye, the humble Chairman of the latter), and he has been for some years on the Council of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. In fact, wherever anything is formed for the good and advancement of the motor trade, Albert Brown is to be found giving valuable time, and not stinting ad vice gained by unique experience and successful dealing. He helps to control some 3so employees, and a turnover of nearly half-a-million sterling; from this will be gathered some notion of the extent of his business and its responsi
bilities. Finally, Albert Brown is in all motor circles a striking and popular figure : he indelibly impresses one as havin<,s' a tremendous capacity for work, and lie is withal essentially human, natural and congenial.