1922-1923

1922 found me spending more money than I was earning, in general expenses, advertising, travelling, and so on, but with every encouragement from Messrs E C Brittan & Co to carry on and not be scared of being short of capital, and so long as progress was being made we did carry on, all the time making progress, but of course, at a loss. Towards the end of 1922, one, D T R N Lewis advertised he wanted to buy a Partnership in a profitable business. We came together and we decided that we could get on better together than apart; he put in a matter of £300 (it lasted about a fortnight) and he started to be a very interested salesman. He quickly agreed that the premises had outgrown their utility, and secured the front premises of Messrs. Petherick's in Lower Tory Street, at a rent of four guineas a week - rather a jump from 8/-, and other than we continued to make bigger and bigger sales, we had nothing but the consequent harder work and more of it, during 1922.

Early in 1923 we added to our Sole Agencies the Hardy Universal Joint for motor cars, manufactured at the time by Messrs. E J Hardy & Sons of Witton. At the time there was mightly little demand for replacements as only three or four English cars and trucks were fitting these as equipment at the factory, but it seemed reasonably obvious that their popularity would grow, and although it was quite a few years before replacements became appreciable, it has been a continuously growing line with us, and right up to this date, is still going strong.

A very brief visit from the principal of this firm, Mr E J Hardy, soon after we had gotten the Agency, assisted us greatly to appreciate the potential value, and his enthusiasm and our efforts were by no means misplaced.

About February or March 1923, I opened a mail from our London Office, and out fell a leaflet headed: "What are the Air Waves Saying?" - and underneath those words was a picture of a little crystal wireless set in an oak cabinet. The price was £5 5s, and the lies (at that time we thought so) that were printed on the back of the leaflet were really more than anybody could stand, except to have a great laugh at. However, seeing that we had never had any pamphlets or any reading whatsoever from E C Brittan & Co that hadn't been well worth reading and thinking about, we didn't throw it away, and eventually thinking that our friends L M Silver, who had the premises above us, being Electricians, and so on, would know something about it, we took the leaflet up to them, so that they could also enjoy the laugh. To our great surprise, they eventually convinced us that it was not lies, that it was possible to get this little box and a pair of headphones and listen to speech and music from the air outside, and with nothing but a strip of aerial hung on to a garden post.

We were still sceptical until one Burnett invited us to his home to listen to the wireless. His home was at Seatoun, his wireless set was in a back shed, and why it was called 'wireless' we don't know; but after forty minutes of sitting and listening intently with the 'phones on, Mrs Christian and myself did actually hear speech and music, but we didn't hear who it was sending it announce the fact, and I think we came away only half convinced that it was not some music and speech we overheard from a nearby house.

However, we were eventually convinced, after which I couldn't get the thing out of mind, and again consulting Silver and Burnett, they agreed that there could be no harm done if I got a few of them out, because one or two chaps were starting little Broadcasting Stations - so I ordered fifty.

Strange to say, about this time I had a letter from a friend I had made in San Francisco when going and coming the previous year to England. This letter also told us about the wonderful things in wireless that could be done and all the wonderful things that were purchasable to do with it, and actually asked us if we would like him to act as our Agent over there, and send out what he called "Memorandum Bill" - pay for it if you take it, and send it back if you didn't want to pay for it - various gadgets that were coming out daily in the radio business. Again, head over heels in love with the thing, I cabled friend Harkness to send up to a limit of £100 those things he would deem readily saleable for that business, and he surely did.

The result was, we were really compelled to employ somebody that knew something about Wireless. I advertised, and in response came one, Wilfred Burgess, a very fine young man enthusiastically knowing his job. He quickly made up an order for America - bits and pieces with which young men and old men could make crystal sets, and as quickly got exclusive Agencies for some excellent lines.

In the meantime we had cleared our front window, we had done a bit of advertising, and when the goods arrived we made a good display, and within a week we had one constant stream of school-boys coming in and purchasing from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock every night, and in fact, it was very difficult for Burgess to get away before half-past seven - if he didn't close the door. This went on for a long time.

Meantime, the Sets arrived, with which Mr Burgess was delighted. We were able to get some headphones. We advertised to give anybody a demonstration that cared to come in, and I suppose that after that advertisement for a long time we sold at least one Set per day with a pair of headphones, and I won't tell you what an excellent profit we made on it.

In the meantime, of course, Ferodo, Hardy, and other things were not forgotten. That was my baby, and I left the whole of the Radio to Mr Lewis, Mr Burgess, and later Mr Dick Long, who joined us late in 1922. Arthur Tinney was still fulfilling on his own all the previously named functions on a very much increased business. Ferodo turnover was going up very nicely and the Trade, the Retailers, were quickly finding that we were in certain things, such as Clutch Facings, and so on, giving a service to New Zealand that had never been previously enjoyed - hence the pricey feature of our goods was not much in mind.

The 'Remarkable' Sunbeam known throughout New Zealand as 'Queen Ann.' Driven in New Zealand well over 100,000 miles by Dick Long. The engine and transmission was eventually fitted to a 21-seater bus, and for four years averaged 460 miles per week.

Also in 1923 Ferodo Ltd introduced Spring Interleaving, and to demonstrate this as an aid to sales, we imported a 60 h.p. Sunbeam with a Cabriolet body of 1914 vintage, which on arrival we had fitted up inside instead of the upholstery at the back, as an office with two occasional seats. At each side of the desk was drawers of samples of various lines, and the outside was painted like a circus-van, it really was, as intended to be, 'remarkable' for advertisement purposes. Nobody had ever seen anything like that out there in that type of a car, and certainly nobody ever saw anything plastered about with advertising to equal it.

We found we had the very man to use this Sales Car to the best possible advantage in Dick Long, so he loaded up with bits and pieces of wireless and Ferodo, and during the year 1923 he drove it at least 50,000 to 60,000 miles, the length and breadth of New Zealand. The procedure being to drive into a garage and instead of going into the proprietor's office, he would invite the proprietor into the travelling office to make his purchases, which for a considerable while was very successful. At the same time Long was busy selling wholesale to small wireless dealers all over the country, the bits and pieces that we were now importing in large quantities, through friend Harkness, in San Francisco.

At the end of 1923 our wireless business was such that it almost demanded a depot in Auckland, and this our old friend Tom Shean took on, with periodical assistance from Mr Long, Mr Burgess and Mr Lewis, when available on the territory.