Second North of England Show.
Page 5
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The industrial Exhibits at the City Hall, Manchester.
"It were black as t' fleet" during the major portion of the preliminary days of the Commercial Motor Show which is now open at the City Hall, Manchester. Manchester's habitual wetness would even have been preferred by exhibitors, stand fitters, early visitors and Press representatives alike. The task of securing well-defined detail photographs, with such an atmosphere as that which prevailed in Manchester on Thursday, Friday and Saturday last, was one which called for the employment of all the wiles of even the most professional of photographers. We are happy to be able to present to our readers reproductions from a considerable number of photographs which were taken on the stands at the Exhibition. They number no fewer than 55.
We have, it will be noticed, concentrated upon the principle of illustratin many of the interesting constructional details which we should like to advise visitors particularly to inspect, and this we have done in preference to the photographing of general stand effects, illustrations of which kind, although very often more decorative in nature, are certainly less informative. We have also, with the same general idea in our minds, aiTanged our Show notice on novel lines, We have, so far as possible, something to say with regard to each complete machine which is staged, and we have arranged that such notice shall appear under its nearest load-capacity group heading. Our idea is that those who visit the show personally, as well as others who familiarize themselves with the exhibits, invariably have in mind some one or more special class or classes of machines in which they are particularly interested. Our method of classification is designed to assist our readers in that respect.. For instance, it will be seen that we group the whole of the one-ton exhibits together, and similarly all the other well-defined classes.
Our treatment of the accessories and components stands is, as is always the case, exhaustive. We have, so far as possible, endeavoured to give some idea of the specialities which are ranged on each stand. Owing to the varied nature of the exhibits which are shown by the makers and factors of specialities, it has been, it will be seen, impossible to treat this section of our report in the same way as that in which we have dealt with the vehicles. We need say little on this occasion with regard to the general classification of the various models. The exhibition, on the whole, is most representative, and, accustomed as the Editorial staff of this paper is to displays of this nature, the impression was conveyed to it that the Show at the City Hall, Manchester, is a capital one. There is, where exhibitors have been wise enough to secure sufficient space, ample room for the display of machines, many of which are of cumbrous proportions. The unfortunate circumstances which necessitated the Lacre Co.'s putting up with a side stand under one of the galleries has caused this wellknown maker any amount of trouble in regard to staging. The struggles which were preliminary to the putting into position of the exceptionally-long Lucre char-IL:banes were observed by art interested crowd during the day before the official opening. In most instances, exhibitors have done all that is necessary in regard to decorative effect, although there is one notable exception in the middle of the hall, where certain high-grade machines are staged in a not quite adequate manner. We have not the space, did we think it necessary at the present time of writing, to endeavour to convey to our readers once again a r6sume of the capacities for employment of the various classes of machines of which examples are shown at the City Hall_ We will proceed at once to give in this report our impressions of the exhibits which have been acquired during a careful detailed examination of every machine in the Show.
Considering the abnormal weather conditions, it is remarkable that there were not more late corners. The five-ton Stoewer and the three-ton F.I.A.T. did not arrive until Saturday noon last. We shall probably, after a further visit, summarize our conclusions with regard to the many mechanical developments, which are evident in this latest display, in our next issue. It is interesting finally, in this introduction, to compare the numbers of individual machines with those which were shown last year. At the City Hail, this year, there are 28 vans and lorries, 17 chassis, 30 chars-a-banes, 2 ambulances, 2 fire-engines, and 4 steam wagons. Last year, there were 45 petrol-propelled examples, and 4 steam wagons.