INTRODUCTION.
British Engineering is in a very grave position.
The sales of its products are declining and with increasing
rapidity. Unemployment is high and is still mounting. The
outlook is as dark as the present.
For lack of employment skilled men are leaving the industry.
Some leave the country altogether, others seek municipal
employment, because in such employment work and wages depend
not upon the ability of an industry to pay, but upon the power of
the municipality to raise rates to meet their expenditure.
No industry is so dependent as Engineering upon skill, and
skill, however great, deteriorates for want of practice.
It may be of advantage to give an appreciation of the field
covered by the term “ Engineering”. It may not be fully realised
that the Engineering industry covers a variety of distinct industries.
The main sub-divisions may be taken as being Marine Engineering,
Electrical Engineering, Agricultural Machinery Manufacture,
Machine Tool Manufacture, Textile Machinery Manufacture,
Motor Car, Commercial Vehicle and Motor Cycle Manufacture,
Locomotive Building, Boilermaking, Foundry Working and
General Engineering.
These facts are plain enough to those actively engaged in the
industry, They are not so evident to others.