Aug. 13.
Ir one thing more than any other is to-day seen in relation to the machinery requirements of China, it is that low-priced plant intended to work for a very few Years and then to be scrapped in favour of something of a later pattern is unsuited to the peculiar genius of the country. So much has been greatly in evidence dur-' ing the present year, when there, has been seen a distinct return} on the part of the Chinese to machinery of the type to which! they were previously accustomed. It is, of course, recognized that low initial costs naturally make a strong appeal to the Chinese, but once such plant is installed the inevitable tendency occurs to work it to death. Not only is overloading a commonplace with Chinese engineers, but very often the.efficiency of the engineer fall far below what would be considered, essential in Western! countries. This being the case an undue strain is undoubtedly; placed upon machinery in a great number of cases, and when this happens the lightly-built plant intended for short service inevitably has its life curtailed. The; maker of this particular type of: plant never intended that its term) i of duty should be extended for) more than a very few years, his! idea being to produce a low-priced article embodying as many, modern improvements as possible, and then by the time it had run! for perhaps only three, or four' years it should be replaced by. something which carried these! improvements a step further.: But as events have shown, this, practice does not recommend itself to the average Chinese.
This particular type of machi-, nery came into" vogue in China during the war largely for the reason that the long-service plant to which the Chinese had been accustomed was not to be had.
Sufficient time has elapsed for it to be tested in the light of Chinese requirements and ideals in machinery, and the result is now being seen in a return to the style of plant in general use before the war. It is here that British machinery hag had its chance, and in recent months representatives of engineering firms in the country have been able to report a considerable degree of success. The industijalization of the Yangtze Valley continues uninterruptedly, or rather would do so if all the Tuchuns and their followers were banished, for they seem to be the only factor blocking progress in these days. Addition. al cotton mills have been planned and contracts for the work al-loticd; extensions to electric light and power plants are in progress and a striking movement is seen in the establishment of cement factories. All these have called for machinery, and we understand that for the mills and electric plant British tenders have largely been accepted, while as evidence of the strong competition now to be faced, the cement factories have principally gone to German firms. The factors operating towards this end are especially important for the engineer selling his goods in China. The margin of safety, the capacity to take an overload and stand rough usage are greater in British machinery than probably in any other prod: iced. Britich firms have long a.opte] this as a principle in their work, end the efficient service to be obtained over a great number of years is what the Chinese call for. German machinery does not allow anything like so great a margin, but still it is there to a certain extent, more so than in the case of several other countries. There is a further consideration namely, that the Germans have specialized largely in machinery for cement works.
The trend of purchases of machinery extending now over several months seems to show the lines on which engineering in China will proceed in the future. Nor is it likely that with a better understanding of plant and a higher efficiency on the part of her engineers the particular type in favour will tend to change. Much more likely is it that the future will see a vast extension of its use, halted only by the political feuds leading to pseudo-military operations such as those now afoot on the Hupeh border. It is extremely difficult to get at the exact effect of these outbursts on a business such as machinery, For instance, up to 2 month ago orders for plant were being given freely, but then the whole trade seemed to collapse right throughout China, and prices offered were severely reduced. No doubt this is partly a temporary natural reaction after a period of fair activity, but at the same time it coincided with the first rumblings of the Hupeh storm. Uncertainty undoubtedly was created ever deepening in this case, and, if not the principal cause, it undoubtedly gravely aggravated the—situation. Worse even than the cessation caused is the fact that in a business such as engineering a very long time usually elapses before trade picks up again and returns to the normal. For instance, few people expect any noteworthy resumption of ordering until the close of the year, now that something approaching almost a slump has shown itself. The year opened with business in machinery very nearly at a standstill, but almost immediately it reached a state of activity which was maintained until a month ago. Now the course of events has again brought dealings to a close, and the ultimate prospect is that more than half the year will have been wasted, largely, it appears, as the outcome of political bickering.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.