M.I.R.A. Fails to Reach Income Target
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D1SAPPOINTMENT at the lack of support given to the Motor Industry Research Association was expressed, at the Association's first annual luncheon in London last week. Sir Harold Kenward, president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said that the Society was bearing the lion's share of the cost of running
although every manufacturer of accessories and equipment and every oil cornpany indirectly benefited by the work of the Association. Warning manufacturers of the acute competition that would come from abroad when world conditions became stabilized, Sir Harold declared that the industry must show an interest in the needs of the consumer by trying to produce a better product. He advised manufacturers to take noteof the Government's interest in industrial research. He added that competitor' in the future would not be of the "jungle" variety experienced between the wars, and that M.I.R.A. should co-ordinate the efforts of manufacturers. Mr. E. C. Ruffle, vice-chairman of Ist.I.R.A., said that domestic research could solve some problems, but, was limited in its scope. He foresaw a greater measure of standardization in the future.
A Generous Gesture
Mr. Brown, who read the speech of Sir Edward Appleton, G.B.E., K.C.B., F.R.S., secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, referred to the failure of the motor industry to subscribe the minimum of £40,000 a year necessary for the Association to qualify for a Government grant. He said that last year the Department, in fact, made a grant in proportion to the amount of money subscribed, but it might not be so generous on another occasion. "I cannot see," he said, "that' there is any advantage whatever in each manufacturing company itself attempting to carry out the basic research which must form a stock of scientific knowledge upon which the whole industry can draw. I believe that the kind. of work require&can be much better done
co-operatively."
M.I.R.A. has drawn up a programme including-76 items, and proposes to set up a proving ground where vehicle performarice can be tested under road conditions. Other plans provide for the installation of a wind tunnel for the investigation of ventilation, wind noise, and water-tightness, using full-size vehicles. It is also proposed to install equipment to examine the performance of gearboxes, right-angle drives, brakes, and clutches.
Mr. F. G. Woollard, president of the Institution of Automobile Engineers. thought that the industry did not differentiate between day-to-day experiment and long-term research. Manufacturers, he said, supported M.1.R.A. as a matter of duty, but regarded their own research departments as business propositions. The work of the Association could be even more profitable to the individual manufacturer than his own research organization.