Value for Money.
Page 4
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By "The Inspector."
I am not very sanguine of the possibilities for good of the forthcoming efforts of the new select committee, which, at the time of writing, the Government propose to set up with a view to Examining the expenditure out of monies provided by Parliament, and to report what economies may be effected. The result, judging by similar ambitious efforts and their ultimate achievement, may very well be a voluminous report recording the decision to use postage stamps two or three times over, or a 1407V regulation that hardworked officials are henceforward forbidden to use any but candles stuck in gingerbeer bottles for the illumination of their more or less useful labours. I feel perfectly confident that if scandalous waste of public money be peradventure discovered, the men responsible will -suffer nothing worse than advancement in their official careers.
"The Daily Chronicle" entitled its record of the birth of this new committee the "Value for Money Committee." As to whether the committee itself will prove to be "value for money" we must wait and see. "I hae ma doots." That there is scope for their labours is self-evident ; that there is need for our good wishes, the committee itself will know 'after its .first sharp tussle with official irresponsibility. It has to be remembered that the principal and most-valued asset of a real permanent Government official is the infinite capacity for putting the responsibility on to some other chap's shoulders. Government system directly discourages the assumption of responsibility by anybody, from Lord Harding° down to the head messenger girl.
Be the results of this newly-initiated national hunt for value what it may, it will inevitably focus public attention on the real economic meaning of "value for money." I surmise one would need to be an economist of some erudition to table a true appreciation of the inwardness of "value for Money." It certainly is not mere cheapness, for it is a commonplace to record that the cheapest things are generally the dearest. Rather does value for money" imply the lowest possible price for the utmost possible suitability. It is even no economy, as a rule, to buy something that is a lot better than necessary at a lower price than an inferior article ; the latter may be vastly more suitable, and, in the end, better value for money. The better article may last too long for example. So also is it no economy to make a very low-priced purchase of a very inferior article ; it may involve constant replacement and corresponding waste of time, to say nothing of its correlative effect of repeated and frequent failure.
No! The whole question of "value for money" is one which has to be settled analytically for each individual case. All the circumstances must be taken into account. And such inquiry is one which has to be made, or at least should be made, in connection with every purchase and every sale of commercial vehicle, spare part and accessory. In few cases is it likely that anexact "value for money" balance would be reached. Thera are many artificial restrictions which unavoidably prevent the automatic attainment of true economic levels. Price, maintenance is one ; war conditions are, and after-the-peace conditions will be, others.
The maker, the salesman and the buyer alike have to settle in their own respective minds what is the best all-round value for money in respect of type, design, equipment, reputation, science, longevity, nationality, and many other attributes. I, personally, consider that, "value for money," there is on this British and Overseas market of ours at the present moment nothing to touch the Ford chassis for pleasure or business purposes. There are many better chassis, there are very few cheaper ones. I am not out to sell Fords, they sell themselves. But I am out, if I can, to warn the British motor trade that, unlese we are prepared to give equivalent value for money, in all ranges from 5 cwt. up to 5 tons, we are going to get left. Some of our productions are too good, some are too bad. And it is just the same with others of Uncle Sam's products.
What is true to-day of the Ford, will be true tomorrow of at least four other great American factory products. We have either got to revise Our figures and improve our material, or go out of business as serious competitors for all but the Rolls-Royce kind of proposition. If people could see what the ,Forcl is doing at the Front for little more than the price of a good piano, they would wonder why seven times the "value for money," is not to be had, say, for the price of a British three-tonner.
To cut a long story short, peace must bring with it new models and new prices. We've no guarantee that Fords, and others from over the Pond, are not going to have a particularly favoured entry into our markets after the war. Now is the time frankly to face the position. Now ! when nothing is being made for or sold but to the Government. Now is the one time when it can do no harm to shout it from the housetops, that American tin-can body and high-grade back-axle shafts are good methods on a "value for money" basis. Now isthe time, while we oorselves and our competitors are tied as to delivery to formulate peace-plan designs and specifications. For there are thin times ahead for those who think afterthe-war expenditure by certain buyers will be compar
able with the necessitous purchasing of Governments, with unlimited resources and requirements alike.
Buyers are going to look at both sides of a penny after we are through with this ghastly oattle business. We've just got to sit down and face the Ford. If we don't do it now, we don't deserve the chance to do it later. The Ford—and others to come—has its lesson for the parcelcar man and for the five-ton as for the 10-cwt. van man, and it applies with added importance to the spare-part and replacement question and to the makers of accessories of all kinds.