Observations at Olympia.
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Ey Henry Sturmey.
I spent a good deal of time at Olympia last week, v. hen I had a particularly good opportunity of observing the Show, and the visitors to it, especially during the earlier part of the exhibition, at which period the latter were conspicuous by their absence. After the continuously packed gatherings which have been so characteristic of the pleasure-car exhibitions at Kensington, things fell rather fiat on the two opening days ; the gangways were, at times, as clear as they were at the earliest pleasure-car shows, and, as one \yeaknown exhibitor put it, " if we saw a passible customer at one end of the Show, half-a-dozen exhibitors could sprint for him from the other end and not knock anylmtly over." In spite of the sparsity of the attendance, however, those who did attend were much more heat on business than on sight-seeing, and I should say that a considerably larger proportiona very considerably larger proportion—of the show visitors were potential buyers of vehicles than is the case with the crowded gatherings at the autumn shows. What particularly struck me about those with •whom I conversed was that a very large number of those present, whilst not immediate buyers of motor vehicles, had come there with the object of investigation, with a view to ulti mate purchase. The leaven of the automobile, in fact, was beginning to work, and the attention of users of horse traction, it was plain, was being seriously drawn to a consideration of a new era of procedure. Over and over again, in reply to the enquiry as to whether an apparently interested observer was looking for a van, or delivery vehicle, the exhibitor was met with a reply to the same effect, viz., " Well, not just exactly. At any rate I have not come to buy a vehicle now, hut I cannot close my eyes to the fact that the motor conveyance must eventually supersede the horse, and I have had about enough of the horse, so T am just looking round a bit." In other words, a serious commencement of a study of the problem which., with absolute certainty, must, inside of a twelvemonth, or earlier, lead to the purchase of a motor vehicle and the supersession of the horse in that particular visitor's business. This is a good augury for the future, and a show such as that just concluded must do an immense amount of g,cod in opening the eyes of such enquiring persons to the position of the industry, and in giving them a fair general idea of what the manufacturers are in a position to do for them, quite apart from whether the volume of orders actually taken at the show is satisfactory or otherwise. Indeed, I feel satisfied that there will be a larger " aftermath " of orders, as the direct result of the exhibition, than can be traced to displays made at the more largely attended pleasure-car show. A further matter of educative interest was to be found in the very varied wants of the user. J think no exhibitor could leave the exhibition with any more settled idea as to " what the public wants " than was the case with the other show. One could not say with any amount of certainty, or assurance, that the one particular type of delivery vehicle for which the strongest demand existed was either a 5-ton or a ;cwt. one, or at any particular intermediate point between these two extremes. The needs of the enquirers seemed to differ with almost every one of them, all of which shows the large scope there is in the industry for variation in design, capacity and power. This variation of requirement was, really, very amusing at times. For instance, one exhibitor showing a light wagon carrying about half a ton told me that it was no uncommon thing to find one enquirer assuring him that the vehicle was not large enough for his wants, and the very next one who followed asserting, with equal positiveness, that it was much too large.
Although the attendance during the early part of the exhibition and on most mornings was so thin as to be depressMg, interest in the affair increased as the show grew older. and, by the end of the week, the " gate " began to assume quite respectable proportions, particularly in the afternoons and evenings, whilst on Saturday last it was quite crowded. Orders, too, began to come in, and many exhibitors, who were at first inclined to be pessimistic, later on expressed themselves as very well satisfied with business done; this, curiously enough, being more the case with firms supplying the heavier types of vehicle-3-ton to 5-ton wagons—very possibly because users of this type of vehicle have been looking seriously into the question of motor traction for commercial purposes longer than those whose business requirements are not so great, which latter class of buyer, and especially the smaller tradesman, only seem now to be awakened to the idea. Some few exhibitors, as is always the case at shows, went away with thin order books, but the general consensus of opinion seemed to be that the show had about come up to expectations, and had been a success : the opinion was freely expressed that it would be a much greater success next year, and that, then, the entire building would be required for the commercial vehicles, and the difficulty would be what to do with the boats, One thing, however, was clear, and that was that the exhibitors in the gallery had a cold time. As one of them put it to me, " we are like the people who, cast on a desert island, were reduced to the necessity of taking in each other's washing." They had a good opportunity of inspecting their opponent's goods. One reason for this is that many visitors don't know there is a gallery, or, if they do, they don't know how to get there. The Committee apparently recognised this fact about the middle of the week, when they hung a couple of direction boards in the middle of the hall, but these were hung much too high, and quite beyond the line of sight ; moreover, one should. have been hung in each gangway. Another time, perhaps, both in the pleasure car as well as in the commercial vehicle show, this will be done. It will, I am satisfied, be appreciated by all gallery exhibitors.