LETTERS TO OVERSEAS READERS
Page 37
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No. 6.—Exhibitions and the Royal Show in Particular.
T MUST NOT be imagined that exhibitions, con I . sisting of or comprising motor vehicles, held in Great Britain are necessarily merely of local or national interest. In nearly every case, specific enk. deavour is rnade to render these exhibitions particu. larly interesting and valuable to the resident in the Empire Overseas, who is for the time being a, visitor to the mother country. The majority of our Overseas readers are, naturally, not in a position to attend in person at the exhibitions held here and it is partly for this reason that the exhibits are reported at length in the responsible technical Press.
It has always been the custom, in Great Britain, to make our exhibitions connected with the motor industry international in character, so as to widen interest to the fullest possible extent. The British manufacturer is not in favour of confining the exhibits to, the products of his own country. He prefers to show his goods alongside those of his foreign competitors, thereby inviting comparison. This is natural enough when we recognize the basic fact that the appeal of the British manufacturer is grounded mainly upon . quality. Ai appeal based upon price may be very effectively made on paper, because its strength is obvious and its weaknesses 'do not become apparent unless the product is carefully examined.
I do not suggest for a moment that eyery manufacturer who appeals upon the price basis is a specialist in goods of inferior quality. On the contrary, it is quite possible for machinery fo be both good and cheap, providing the circumstances connected with its output, sale and use are favourable. The point is, however, that if one depends on a more indirect appeal on the grounds of quality, ocular demonstration becomes absolutely necessary. The study of mere descriptions of specifications, accurate in themselves, but not combined with expert criticism would very often lead to the conclusion that there is no inherent difference between two machines offered at prices which differ very materially. ' Those who are able to attend shows can see for themselves where these differences lie. Those who are unable to attend are compelled to depend upon expert criticism. • • The intelligent utilization of a technical report of exhibits, at a show is in itself something of an art. The wise man will read such reports rather as he will read personal testimonials, less for what is contained in them than for what is omitted. If, for example, a man produces a testimonial which merely states that he is punctual and sober, one inamediately notes that nothing is said about his honesty or intelligeuce. Just as an employer will hesitate to say much that is positively damaging in a testimonial, so a responsible journal will equally hesitate to indulge in strong destructive criticism of engineering products exhibited. The more a man knows the more fully does he recognize that he, is not omniscient. He feels that it is conceivable that his opinion may be at fault and he is reluctant, by publishing a strongly adverse opinion, to injure those who may perhaps not fully deserve injury.He is, moreover, influenced by the existence of the law of libel. But despite all these difficulties one may, by reading between the lines, learn much of the opinion of the man who has' reported, even from a report which appears to contain little oa no criticiam. • The •Royal Show has always been popular among visitors from Overseas, of whom a. very large proportion are, in some way, interested in agricultural progress. There is. however, rather -too strong a
tendency for these visitors to focus their attention upon the show animals and to neglect the machinery exhibits, on the assumption that the latter are iotended prituarily to interest British farmers and are, therefore, probably unsuited-. for use in other countries. In poiat of fact, many of the exhibitors of machinery do the greater part of their trade Overseas and exhibit the products which they build primarily for the Overseas markets. The Royal Show is also extremely interesting as indicating the trend of design of farm tractors, the manufacture •of which has not as yet reached that stage at which the products of different factories differ only in minor details. Up to the present, the British market has, mainly, owing to difficulties connected with the war, been largely dependent upon imported tractors really built tor use under conditions very •similar to those operating in many parts of the Empire Overseas. The presence of.. these machines has influenced British design and, for that matter, British manufacturers themselves recognize that their future is dependent more upon the Overseas than upon the home demand. The case is quite different from that of the road vehicle. If the roads of a country are, generally speaking, up to a certain standard of excellence, then the normal product of the majority of manufacturers of road vehicles will be primarily suited for use on those roads. Here we have a case in which conditions are at least fairly similar throughout a country.
The case of the farm motor is entirely different, inasmuch as we have farms large and small, flat and hilly, open and broken up into small fields.. We have, moreover, in Great Britain agricultural land of all classes from the lightest to the heaviest. The only conceivable tendency of the British manufacturer which may not appeal to the Overseas farmer is the probability that he will reckon that many of his clients will use their tractors in small fields and he may, therefore, over-rate the importance of sharp taming and 'ease of manceuvrel These qualities, however, are not faults, but must always be positive merits, provided that their inclusion does not lead to the sacrifice of other qualities still more desirable. In this connection, we may expect to find the British machine somewhat smaller and lower in power Than would appeal, at first sight, to the man who wishes to cultivate very large tracts, of open land. It is, however, noticeable that even where such open land 'exists, the tendency all appears to be in the direction of the use of tractors of moderate size and power. .
The ordinary commercial vehicle exhibition in this country should appeal to the Overseas visitor from a somewhat different standpoint. It gives him an exceptional opportunity of comparing all the best chassis of practically' every nationality. It also gives, him the opportunity for talking to and getting useful advice from a large number of people of great experience in the operation of motor transport. Furthermore it affords. an admirable demonstration of the variety of uses to which motor vehicles can be put. Bodywork is often instructive, particularly from this point of view, and there are many instances of men who never realized what the motor vehiele could do for them until they happened, by chance, 'upon a vehicle fitted with the body which was just the-thing for their requirements. We realize, of course, in principle that the Motor vehicle is adaptable, but, in practice, we often • do not realize its possible adaptations until they are brought to our notice by being congregated on the stands at great exhibitions. WANDERER. B31