There are still some sleepy hollows as far as fire-brigade
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matters are concerned. I was much interested recently to have a chat with Mr. Fred. Morris, of John Morris and Sons, Ltd., of Salford, the wellknown motor fire engineers, who informed me that there is one Lancashire town where they possess a steam fire engine, and quite casually one of the brigade mentioned to him that one of the road wheels had become jammed and would not go round, adding the information that it had been like that for some
weeks. Another fire-engine gem comes from a large Lincolnshire
town. Mr. Morris was visiting there and thought he would like to see the town fire engine. By dint of patient. inquiry he discovered the building where the engine was located, and securely locked up ; but the superintendent had gone off to Manchester and taken the key in. his pocket.
One of the principals of a leading solid-tire concern and I were talking over the way in which prices are now cut, and all the rest of it ; it was all of interest to me, and I expressed an opinion that some of the mileage contracts on the good country roads must be more lucrative than those OD London streets, some of which, in the East End particularly, are very rough on tires. Somewhat to my surprise my friend plu taped for London, and gave as his reason that, because of the traffic and the police supervision, pace is infinitely slower, and, in their experience, it is pace more than had roads that wears out tires. Some contracts for country districts were mysterious to them in the way the tires wore out until they discovered that oftentimes 25 m.p.h. was being covered, and that, too, with heavy loads.
One cry that has reached my ears, from several influential quarters, during the past week, has been that principals cannot find the right men for certain positions which are vacant, or likely to become vacant. Prolonged interviews are often given, only to discover that something is lacking. Second-rate men in plenty can be found ; men "who have had their chances and have missed them," as one managing director put it to me, can be.
found readily enough, but small wonder that the astute principal passes them by. It all confirms an opinion I have held for some time : that never were there more openings in the motor trade for energetic and resourceful salesmen. "Opportunities are of no use to an idle man" I read somewhere the other day, and I think that homily might be thoroughly digested by some of the younger brigade. To my mind the well-known saying with which I conclude this paragraph is especially applicable to the motor trade, and I have many chances of observing it closely—" There is plenty of room at the top."