1934-07-28 — Page 2

Page

STEEL AND CIVILISATION

11

Trade price index, listing 28 irón and steel items, stood only' §.4 per cent, above the 1913 level, and 5 per cent lower than the 1929 figure. The advance was much less than that of raw material, which was due to the improved emciency of the works. The Fe- deration was interested most in increasing its business, and ob vously the best way to do this was to keep prices down, so that consumption would go up. A toir price was undoubtedly best cal culated to result in prosperity and expanding consumption.

We have frequently heard it stated in presidènilal and other addresses that the engineer, and more particularly the mechani- cal engineer, is responsible for the system on which modern cl- vilisation, rests. We have also heard it claimed, and with good far as the argument reason so "goes, that the prior credit is due to the tool maker, who undoubt- edly anticipated and is still essen- tial, to the development of all engineering ideas. But we think a claim that can scarcely be dis- puted. however much others may" regret it is that made by Sir Wit- Ham Larke at the luncheon, last week, to the British Engineers' Association. that Our present mode, of life is wholly dependent upon the iron and steel industry. If this were eliminated, Sir Wil- lam justly remarked, civilisation would crash, and all Industries with it. SI: William was speaking on the changes which the indus- try with which he is só promin- ently connected has gone through In recent years, and showed how. after passing through deep wa- ters, it is now much better plac- ed to face the future,. 'Before the war, plg-iron was regarded as an index of prosperity: to-day. how- ever, steel is a much better index. In 1929 Our steel production amounted to 9,600,000 tons, and n 1031 this had fallen to 5.200.000 Cons: Until the end of 1932, pro- section had no effect, because it had been impossible to get Gov- ernment to realise that forestal- ling by foreign producers would occur. The duties imposed were therefore not effective in increas- ing production until January, 1933. By the end of that year, however, our production had gone up to 7,000,000 tons."and there was an increased consumption of at least" 1.400.000 tons that year wolch had nothing to do with the deciesse In imports which only amounted to 600,000 tons. The present rate wus 9.000.000 and employment was greatly improved. The recovery had beeh' remarkable, and it showed that the supporters of protection were amply justified. Imports had now gone up again,.. and Sir William considered this to be due to the anticipation by foreigners that sooner or later we would wish to join international cartels, when i would be argued that the basis of participation should take such exports, by them to this market into account. They" had. It was known, been faced in this counɛry with competitive prices 40 per cent. below the cost of the foreigner's production. In some sections our exports were in- creasing, although many other countries had shown a decrease. As regards prices, Sir William

the mentioned that

Board of

4

GYROTILLERS

Make Interesting Exhibits

►

HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1934.

ENGINEERING AND

EMPIRE PLANS TO

SAVE SHIPPING

British Flag For British.

Freight

(Special Air-Mail Service)

London, July 11.

An Imperial policy for British skipping, a world policy when Mr. Runelman sketched his plans for these large purposes he made the debate to-day of the first tm- portance and won the hearty ap- proval of the House.

Before he rose there had been

close discussion of she details of the new subsidy for tramp, ship.

ping and its conditions and the scrap and build" ofer to ship- Mr. Runciman made it clear that all these measures. im- portant in themselves, were only parts of the Government's "plan. means to an end far greater than the particular effect.

Of particular interest to Over- seas visitors to the Royal Agricul- tural Society of England's Show was the range of Gyrotillers, ex- hibited by John Fowler & Co., of Leeds, the Implement and

owners. These are Machinery Section. Liesel-engl..ed crawler track machines having twin oppositely rotating tluer rings and bodies at the rear end. revolving in a hori zontal plane. The tillers pulve- rize and aerate the soil to the full working depth, which varies,ac- ecrding to the size of machine and, in the ease of the 170 hp. type, is as much as 20 inches.

Once over the land with 2 Gyrotiller is equal to ploughing. cross ploughing, cultivating, sub- sailing. Harrowing, and if required, a ridging. The output varies. of course.

and is approximately 1 acre per hour with the 170 h.p model. The degree of tith can be varied by alteng the ratio be tween track and tiller speeds.

JJ

Due to the thorough aeration and disintegration of the soil and the fact that drainage is, also, considerably improved. germina tion is rapid and Increased crops follow as a natural result: in many cases these have been phenomenal..

The Fowler crawler type Liesel tractors, which were exhibited for the Arst time, are entirely new machines and bave only just been put on the market after ex-. haustive tests. The Liesel engines are designed for continuous full load service, and are capable of standing up to most arduous con- ditions: their comparatively low working speed is a large factor in reducing wear and tear to a mini- mum. Both 70 h.p.. and 25 .p. models were shown at Ipswich,

They are to be the basis of com- munications and negotiations first with the Dominions and then with foreign countries.

가

To-day statements are going out to all the Governments of the Em- pire.

EMPIRE LINKS MENACED

The Immediate danger which has

to be averted is that inter-Imperial" communications should lapse tnts the control of the foreigner, Al- ready liners under foreign flags, by the aid of subsidies from their Governments, which enable them to offer luxury and speed beyond any economic possibility, are cap- turing trade from Empire country to another,

one

"If that were to go much fur- ther," said Mr. Runciman the. links of Empire would be broken." We are not going to submit, he told the House. The first step is

to ascertain how far the Dominions are prepared to co-operate in ea- suring that the cnnections of In- ter-Imperial trade shall be main- tained under the British flag. Di- meulties were frankly admitted South Africa's contract with an Italian line, the special problems of India.

Agreement on effective co-oper atton would not be simple or easy.

For Constructural Work of Every

Description

Use Green Island Cement

TWO REFLEX TYPE ROTARY KILNS HAVING AN OVER ALL

LENGTH OF 264. FELT.

THESE KILNS ARE

USED TO

MANUFACTURE' GREEN ISLAND CEMENT.

Issued by the

GREEN ISLAND CEMENT CO., LTD.

2ND FLOOR.

EXCHANGE BUILDING

But the House was left in no doubt of the determination of the Govern- ment.

"

BUILDING

AGRICULTURAL SHOW

The Advance Of Mechanisation

A

This year, for the first time in Its history, the Royal Agricultural Show was held at Ipswich, the East Anglian town which is, so to speak, synonymous "with the manufacture of practically "all classes of agricultural implements and machinery. as being "the home of Ransomes, Sims & Jeffe- ries Ltd. The varied range of this firm's display covered horse and tractor ploughs for general pur- pose and digging work, ridging. potato, sugar

and beet lifting draining ploughs etc.."as well as cultivators, horse rakes and po- tato diggers. Many visitors in- deed expressed surprise when other nations would not hear of they found that so many different

types of plough were made.

Then he passed to the still wider" problem, the "ngha ngainst subaldis- ed shipping in-world trade. He re- called the deadlock which was rea- 'chèd when shipping subsidies were discussed by the World Economic Conference last year.The.Scan- dinavian countries and Holland

were in agreement with us that subsidies should be abolished, but

It.

"We are noë in the same help- less position now as we were then." he said, incisively. The announ cement of a subsidy for British shipping has made all the differ- ence.

He did not propose to use the subsidy as a weapon but as a lever

to show "foreign countries that we mean business. Now he hopes for progress.

This statement of vigorous po- licy was prefaced by a justifica- tion of the plans" already announ- ced. His first point was the 'scrap and build" offer. Excess of ton- nage meant a slump in shipping. In the past our fleets had been built up out of surplus profits. Withouts that resource the reju- venation essential to their wel- fare was impossible.

14

PROMISES OF SUPPORT

The Government were thinking, and were bound to think, noz only of shipowners' but of shipbuilders. We were now in danger of losing some of the best skill ever produc- ed through unemployment. Or- ders could not be placed at a more opportune moment.

So, in spite

of objections by shipping organis- tions, he declined fiatly to drop the "scrap and build" scheme, de-

claring that in some quarters it had been already, favourably rece-

ved, and that the interest aleady shown by individuals was “sure" to go on."

After reviewing the difficulties of obtaining unanimity of opinion in an industry so diverse as ship-. ping he appealed to the owners to co-operate to help the country and themselves. There had been objections to the conditions attach ed to the subsiby, but there must be conditions to a grant of public модел,

He had promises of support from important centres and groups, and in evidence he read out a letter, which obviously impressed the House, signed by Lord Essendon and representatives of the P. & O., Union Castle, Orient and Ellerman Lines, Finally, he promised that if the owners could come to agree- ment, legislation should be one of the first tasks after the recess.

។

120,000 PHOTOGRAPHS A

MINUTE

That the kinematograph has other uses than the provision of mere amusement is now generally recognised. There has recently been a demonstration of a high- speed camera which should have many scientific and industrial applications, since It is capable of Laking over 2,000 pictures - per second. Moreover, the actual time, which any part of the event occupies can be seen in the pro- fected picture, since an electrical clock is photographed simultane- ously with the phenomenon and an image of It appears on each "picture,

In practice, excellent pictures have been secured at speeds up to 2,000 frames per second, and when projected at the normal 'speed the movements seen are about one-hundredth of the speed of the actual movement of the Ebfect, this being about 30 times slower than the ordinary · Blow- motion pictures of the kinema- tograph theatre.

"

At the demonstration above referred to a film showing a mar- ble dropped into a bowl of mak

of sugar-

For the agriculturist from Over- seas there were Implements of particular interest. Possibly the most remarkable was the "Shuga- dise" TD9A, which is a veritable glant among ploughs. Designed- primarily for the use cane growers and others who have to plough-in large quantities of surface growth, this massive Implement carries four 30 in. discs mounted on roller bearings, and weighs nearly 3 tons. In spite of this. however, the plough is ar- ranged so that it forms

a one- man outfit with the tractor

A new plough embodying seve- features was the ral unique

"Magic" TD4, à 3-furrow rever- sible disc plough for tractor or animal draught, which is capable of working on the steepest poss- Ible hillsides. For extra deep.. work a single furrow tractor share plough was shown, and this was fitted with a digging body cap able of working to a depth of 18 in, the width of furrow being the

same.

This company also markets the well known Hornsby harvesting machinery. seed drills and plougha. Two new tractor bindera were shown, one being fitted with pneumatic tyres. Another inter- esting item was a Hornsby-Leake precision drill which was entered for the Silver Medal of the Royal Agricultural Society.

2

Completing the agricultural section of the exhibit were number of ploughs and imple- ments formerly made by J. & F. Howard" Ltd, of Bedford, whose agricultural machinery business was taken over by Ransomes. Prominent among these were fine selection of harrows of both rigid and flexible patterns..

Safe Scaffolding

a

BUILDING-DESTROYING

COAL

It is some thirty-five years ago since the Arst steps were taken led to the inception of the Nat- lunal Smoke Abatement Society. The Boclety was not the outcome of a "bright idea"; it was the culmination of dissatisfaction with the atmosphere of large cities extending from as far back as the days of 1306, when a man was executed for disobeying the ordinance of King Edward I pro- hibiting artificers from using "sea-conle"

their furnaces. through the times of the late

· Tudors and early Stuarta, who imposed duties on coal to mini- mise its use; down to the Nine- teenth Century, when there was still a tax on coal brought into London. Those who have the curiosity and the leisure to bur- rowamid the technical literature of the "eighteen hundreds" will And that as the industrialisation of the country proceeded and cosi. came more and more into use. the dissatisfaction with the re- sulting atmosphere conditions be-

There' came ever more voluble. can be little question that the efforts of the National Society with 'some have met

degree of success. To-day, the Coal Utilisa- tion Council, a body created for sole purposé of encouraging the use of coal, lays stress not on in- discriminate burning of the fuel," but upon appliances with which smokeless combustion is possible. The national conscience has been awakened

The "Bulletin" of the New York State Department of Dabour mentions that orders, have been Issued enjoining upon manufac turs the need for safe scaffolding. That is, the writer says, all to the good, but it is not the whole story. Unless the worker does his part, accidents, will continue to happen. The employer may.pro- vide the best, equipment possible, but it will fall unless it is proper- ly used, "Here," it is pointed out, "Is where the workers. come into the picture. It would be difficult for the foreman to insist"on, men using the scaffold safely, because they will have occasion to use it when he is not around. There- fore, the workers must accept the responsibility of being safe and working safe. They must, in fact, get the habit of safety-a most valuable asset, in their working career. A safe-minded workman' will see that everything is in or- der."

Was exhibited among many others. This was particularly in- teresting, A.6 after the Arst splashes from the crater appeared to have subsided, a long tapering column of milk shot up at a high speed to a height of several in- 'ches, later breaking up into drops and baiding. Doubtless, high- speed machinery and electrical phenomena could be investigated with interesting results by this.

הממת!

to the serious, fact that, according to the estimate of a former Director of the Fuel Research Board, some 10s-worth of damage is done by each ton of raw coal consumed, and that in London the extent of the damage is double that astonishing figure. The scaffolding that for so long has hidden and disfigureð the.' House of Parliament is elquent testimony to the cost we pay for burning coal; it might have been well if this fact had been blazon-. ed upon the tower in Neon lights. in order to bring it home to John Citizen, the principal offender.

If, however, we regard smoke as" comprising all the products ex- hausted through chimneys. there

is one problem more serious still than that of black smoke; we refer to sulphur. Each day Lon- don discharges into its atmosp here, sulphur equivalent to 1,000 tons of sulphuric sold. Smoke": may be the cause of the blacken- ing them unsightly, as well as of bad health, but dirt can be clean- ed from buildings. Sulphur is the cause of corrosion and of real damage to property. There is at present no method of dealing with the sulphur resulting from the. consumption of fuel by" smaller users; the only obvious method, of tackling this problem is by first " washing the coal very thoroughly before turning it into coke and then adding to it some substance which will retain the sulphur in the ash.

More Wages In 1934

In the industries from which statistics are regularly compiled by the Ministry of Labour, the changes in rates of wages report- ed to have come into operation in May, resulted in an increase of nearly £5,300 in the weekly full- time vages of nearly 104,000 workpeople, and in a decrease of about £900 in those of about.. 32,000 workpeople. The principal groups of workpeople whose wages were increased consisted of steel workers in various districts "in England and Scotland and of workers employed by various electricity supply undertakings in Great Britain..

The principal groups of work- people whose wages were reduced were coalminers in North Stai- fordshire and most classes of rail- way employees in Northern Ire- land. The changes so far report- ed in the five completed months of 1934 have resulted in a net increase of nearly £24,000 per week in the full-time rates of wages of 325,000 workpeople, and in a net decrease of nearly £11,- 500 in those of nearly 188,000 workpeople.

METAL WINDOWS

MANUFACTURER:

MADE IN "HONGKONG

FROM

IMPORTED

BRITISH®* MATERIAL

95% BRITISH.

THE TAI YING STEEL WINDOW MFG. CO.

TELEPHONE: 27482..

SHIPBUILDERS, SHIP REPAIRERS, BOILER MAKERS, FORGE MASTERS,

Orrick 89/85, CHUN YONG STREET. FACTORY-NORTH-POINT, BONG KÔNG.

OXY-ACETYLENE AND

ELECTRIC WELDERS,

MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL

ENGINEERS.

THE TAIKOO DOCKYARD &

OF HONG KONG, LIMITED.

ENGINEERING COMPANY

Salvage Tug “Taikop”

600 MATERS

WIRELESS CALL --

BUTTERFIELD

-DRY DOCK.

Length 787 Feet Length on Blocks 750 Feet. Depth on Centre of

SIN (8.W.0.5.T.) 34 ft 6 ins. THREE SLIPWAYS.—

Capable of Handling Ships Up

to 4,030 Tons Displacement

Grane at Sou'Wall, Capable of Lifting 100 Tons

at 70 Feet Badius.

& SWIRE, Agents, HONG KONG, CHINA & JAPAN.

TEL. ADUERSS: TAIKOODOCK, HONG KONG. TALINONE: 30211,580

„Cali. Puisi “NUMURAL ONE” OVER "ATE; PANWANT