Passing Comments
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Welcome the Stranger pARTIES given in the course at those Cocktail A of business are not
Parties generally intended merely
as enjoyable functions at which the guests eat and drink at someone else's expense, but are designed to permit the people concerned to get to know each other in circumstances away from office routine and in an atmosphere suitably mellowed. Some of these functions appear to achieve all that is required from them, but others, particularly where large numbers of people are present of whom many may be comparative strangers, fail in some important respects. We have, at various times, attended such functions and have noted a certain lack of appreciation of the need to bring people together so that they do not feel neglected and, as it were, left out in the cold. Visitors from our Empire or elsewhere abroad may be a little shy of breaking in upon groups, the members of which are obviously old acquaintances, and unless they be taken in hand by the host or his representatives they may form a poor opinion of our friendliness. This may even result in important orders being lost. At every party of this nature we would like to
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see knowledgeable people, preferably " badged," allocated to the pleasant task of rounding up the " wallflowers," discovering their interests and arranging for them to meet the right people. We are sure that this would be mutually beneficial.
Dewar Trophy Again p ECENTLY the Royal Awarded for Notable " Automobile Club decided Feat that the " Dewar " Challenge Trophy, presented by Sir Thomas R. Dewar, M.P., in 1904, should again be awarded annually for the most outstanding technical achievement accomplished during the year under the Club's competition rules. The trophy was awarded for the first time in 1906 and was then won by Dennis Bros., Ltd., with a 20 h.p. Dennis car for the most meritorious long-distance trial of the year, in which event it covered 4,000 miles. Last time it was awarded was in 1929, in connection with the 30,000-miles trial.. going to Miss Violet Cordery. For 1950 the trophy goes to the Rover Co., Ltd., for the production and performance of a vehicle equipped with a gas-turbine power plant.
An Unexpected Result of Raising the Petrol Tax
Q1NCE the tax on petrol was "raised by 9d. a gallon, the increased number of horses
and carts on the roads has been most noticeable. Several market gardeners in particular, who before the last Budget ran lorries on their visits to markets, have returned to the method of transport which they favoured many years ago, because of the added expense of mechanical transport. The effect upon early morning traffic is sometimes drastic. A member of our staff who passes Brentford market on his way up to the office each morning, is frequently held up in a long stream of vehicles slowed down to the jog-trot of a poor old nag pulling its master and cart along at the head of the procession. The raising of the fuel tax was surely one of the most incredibly stupid pieces of legislation that has ever been passed, striking as it has done at the very foundations of our domestic economy.
Such an outcome as the one described here has, in addition, worsened the already appalling congestion problem and unquestionably increased the roadaccident potential.
A Coach Chases a EROM an unimpeachable Bus on 'an cy I source comes an interest
Road ing story concerning an inci dent which occurred during the recent frost. A bus was proceeding cautiously up-hill towards a blind bend on a narrow road when it met a coach. The coach driver braked, but as the road was icy he could not pull up completely. With most commendable presence of mind, the bus driver stopped his vehicle, reversed it in a moment and proceeded down-hill with the coach only a few inches away, thereby avoiding what might have been a serious crash.