£500 Fine for Sending Lorry to Hungary
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A LORRY which was adapted to corn.1-1-pete in performance with a military Tank was exported to Holland from this country but eventually arrived in Hungary, it was stated at 'Essex Quarter Sessions, last week. Nicholas Straussler and Co., Ltd., London, W., were fined £500 for exporting the vehicle with intent to evade export bans. Nicholas Straussler was given an absolute discharge on a similar charge, but was ordered to share £78 15s. costs with the company.
Mr. Sebag Shavt6 prosecuting, said the lorry had been adapted to carry one of Straussler's inventions, the Lypsoid tyre. A lorry fitted with it could do almost anything a Tank could do, and might become a valuable military machine.
Straussler arranged a demonstration of the tyre for Dutch military authorities, and subsequently the vehicle went from Holland to Hungary, where it was demonstrated. It had since been returned to this country, but by N.A.T.O. agreement there was an absolute embargo on the -export of such goods to countries in the Soviet bloc.
Mr. Percy Lamb, Q.C., defending, said Straussler had been responsible for hundreds of inventions, including the D.D. Tank_ used on the Normandy beaches on D-Day. He had tried unsuccessfully to sell the Lynsoid tyre to the War Office, but Russia and Hungary had given him large orders. There would have been no offence if he had exported the tyres without the vehicle, so the breach was a technical one.
Announcing the decision, the chairman said the security of the State had not been menaced. Straussler had perhaps been too impatient of the restraints which had to be imposed.
EMPLOYERS MUST COMPROMISE WITH UNIONS "INDOUBTEDLY there would be a
%-) great deal more confidence if the threats of labour troubles were removed, but I believe that this presents a great opportunity to the employers' organizations, and particularly those covering the engineering field, to meet the trade unions concerned and thrash out an agreement to cover at least another 12 months," Mr. John Brockhouse, chairman and managing director of J. Brockhouse and Co., Lid., states in his annual report.
. "An entirely negative attitude," he Continues, "is not producing the leadership which is demanded, and 1 believe that the trade unions would welcome a constructive approach from the employers.
There are, of course, hound to be differences of opinion as to the amount or extent of any concession that could properly be offered, but we must believe that our general rate of productivity will increase, and I am sure it is in the interests of all .concerned to pledge our faith in the future, rather than destroy the future by constant recriminations Of the past."