Out and Home.—By "The Extractor."
Page 15
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"Are you a 'Man of Kent ' then, or a Kentish Man' " I inquired of Mr. W. A. Stevens, and, when
transpired that he saw the light first at Maidstone, then it was plain that he is included in the fermer category, because, as is widely known, an ancient cnstom decrees that Kent sub-divides itself. Those born on the east side of the Medway are Maids of Kent and Men of Kent : those born on the west side are Kentish Maids and Kentish Men.
It is interesting to know that the site occupied by the Stevens factory at Maidstone was in the possession of his father 40 years ago, the commodity dispensed being English timber, at which business Stevens put in a considerable time. Electricity was his bent, however, and before long his mind was obsessed by its absorbing intricacies. -F(w LO years he worked as teacher at Madstone's fine Technical Schools, being in charge of the Physical Laboratory. Good opportunities were thus afforded him of probing his favourite study, and b:ifore long he was appointed consulting electrical engineer to the proprietors of the great Imperial Paper Mills at Gravesend, and also, later, in the same honoured capacity to Maidstone Corporation.
Stevens began to " paddle his own canoe" in 1897. I can only give a brief résumé of his progress, hot it may be said that the beginning of the experiments in petrol_ electrictransmission date from about 1006, and within a year of that date a touring ear fitted with this transmission was put upon the road with entirely-satisfactory results. Next., Thos. Tilling, Ltd., became interested, and an omnibus was conjointly designed by Mr. Stevens and Mr. Percy Frost Smith ; this also proved highly satisfactory. Matters now moved apace. Police regulations as to weight were conformed with, and low cost of upkeep—primarily because of smoOth running-led Messrs. Tilling to replace other vehicles with petrol-electric chassis ; subsequently, this interest took the form of a considerable expansion and increase of capital of W. A. Stevens, Ltd., members of the Tilling family joining the directorate, of which Mr, W. A. Stevens is chairman and managing director.
Turning again to the personal side, Mr. Stevens had one short spell, many years ago, in the cycle trade. Ile remembers with pleasine his connection with Humber and Marriott and Cooper, for he was always a cycle enthusiast. The tricycle was his favourite meunt, and he had many lively bouts at different times with A. J. Wilson and Percy Letchford. Incidentally, too, he held the " trke " charm pionsliip of his native county. A real Dickens lover, and living, as he does now, in Dickens's Land with a son .,growing up in a business which has fairly established itself, lire roust. have begun to have its best charm.
It is settled that there will be no Commercial Vehicle Show at Olympia next year, so there is only the Manchester Exhibition in front of us for some time to come. Thank goodness we have no new season's models in the commercial-motor business, and, moreover, no seasons. Autumn is usually a busier time for the heavy vehicles, because the coming winter brings home to horse users the disabilities of their stock. The real business results of the Olympia Show are filtering through by now, and some newcomers into the industry do not hesitate to say that the immediate result was nil. I was in Scotland a fortnight ago, and one maker said that, althorigh sales at Olympia. were nothing to speak of, business as a, result has been coming in ever since. One newcomer, a French maker, made no actual sales at the Show, but he told me„ with a laugh, that he had sold some pleasure vehicles as a direct result. Most of the old-established makers did very well. One of the steam-wagon people, with a long experience of Shows behind them, assured me that Olympia was far and away the best Show they have ever had.
You cannot speak to a tire man without being assured that business
is in a parlous, 'state. There is plenty of it, and it is difficult to realize the great volume of trade transacted in solid tires, but there is most unholy price-cutting going on, and it would appear to be gettingworse. It is -doubtlessall to the immediate advantage of users, hot looking forward a little it is a ray to my mind that prices cannot be !int CM a. sound commercial basis. It is only by combination that this can be done. One leading, maker complains, too. that. tires last toolong. I am afraid he will
get little sympathy en that score, but another view which is of in terest is that one or two makes are so hoard-hard that, although their life is long, there is no resilience
whatever in them, and the wear and tear to the chassis is enormous. So the. t,vo questions remain nearly as complex as ever.