Silver Jubilee of Henley's Tyre Company
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!TOcommemorate its silver 'jubilee,
Henley's Tyre • and Rubber Co., Ltd., staged, on July 1, a happy lunetion, in the form of a luncheon to the Press, which was presided over by Sir Montague Hughman, chairman of the Board.
Sir.MOntague, in giving the toast-of
The Press,”. said that he would use the title recently given to its members by His Majesty, viz., " The Gentlemen of the Press." . In referring to the expreSsiOn, " power of the, Press," he said this was a misnomer, and, in fairness, it would bemore apprppriate to refer to the " restraint Of. the Press.'-' In the same way, owing tp tt* rubber shortage, the company had tothink of the supply of, this material in terms of restraint, also of restraint from abuse' Of the finislied article. A Na.tion.wide recognition .of the seriousness of. the rubber position was rnall important. Reports from the U.S.A. showed that the newspapers there were treating the rubber situation as headline news.
Since these are days Of Mobility and speed, there is no doubt that, ip time, the story will be told of the very important part which has been played by the tyre industry in reaehing the victorious conclusions on which all of us firmly pin our faith. There was much talk of planning. It may interest the Press to realize that this small company had already in operation a scheme in respect of the education of its young ' employees. It also had under clime consideration the planning of the • return of its staff and workpeople from the Forces.
Continuous Record •
of Progress
Following a response by a representative of " The Times," the Editor, of " The Commercial Motor" proposed the toast of Henley's Tyre and Rubber
Ltd. He pointed out that steady improvement in tyre manufacture had brought us to a time when tyre trouble was one of the least of those exercising the brains of makitenance engineers. The company had shown a continuous record of progress and had played an important part in the evolution of the rubber tyre both in the solid and, later, the pneumatic forms. This must have involved considerable expenditure on research, for a tyre is not a simple structure, but one of many component parts and materials, upon the quality and design of which, depend its economic wearing life and freedom from skidding., which are. such essential factors in both commercial and private road transport. After all, the tyre is
to the motor vehicle even more than the boot to the foot; we can run barefooted, . but we cannot run tyreless.
It is not going too far .to say that progress in vehicle design and size has depended to a , major extent upon the production of suitable tyres, and the fact that it has not lagged for lack of this is due -.entirely to the painstaking efforts of the tyre makers, who have had to overcome 'what might have • -appeared to be almost insuperable difficulties, not the least of which has been -the education of vehicle operators. With many of the .latter, tyres have been the last consideration. Tyre producers are frequently blamed for failures entirely out of their, province to prevent. Fortunately for them a used tyre can tell its own story to theexpert; it constitutes an almost infallible proof of treatment—goOd or bad.
Mr. W, C. Gibbs, general manager of the ccrimany, in his reply,. said that he considered the pneumatic tyre was, without exception, the most ill-used and. abused article marketed to-day. Few people seem to realize the importance of the rubber :situation, if the shedding of glass on our highways, which was a tetrible. habit; could be taken as Proof. The results of this procedure could be seen eveiy, day,