 The Export
Company was also active in Poland and Russia. From Poland a £2,000,000
contract was obtained jointly with the English Electric Company in
1933, covering a 3000-V electrification scheme for the main Warsaw
railway junction and adjacent lines. In Russia the extensive work
done in the past had won the Company a high reputation with the Soviet
authorities, and in 1927 a six-year technical assistance agreement
had been entered into with Machinostroi, the only Russian turbine
works then existing; here turbine manufacture to M-V designs was established
on a large scale under I. R. Cox, the Company's chief mechanical engineer
in Russia. In 1931 another agreement was entered into with the State
Electrical Trust, covering large turbines and electrical equipment
of all kinds. This lasted for seven years during which the Company
trained large numbers of Russian engineers, thus contributing to the
industrial development that proved so valuable in the last war.
It
was during this period of close association that in March 1933 there
came the dramatic news of the arrest on charges of sabotage and
espionage of six M-V engineers employed in Russia. These were Allan
Monkhouse, L. C. Thornton, W. L. Macdonald, J. Cushny, C. H. de
Nordwall, and A. W. Gregory. In due course the trials took place
in Moscow with Vishinsky as prosecutor. Gregory was acquitted, but
various degrees of guilt were found against the other prisoners.
Shortly afterwards however, they were released and allowed to return
to this country, later to resume their work in less exciting fields.
MANAGEMENT CHANGES
A number of important changes in the higher management of the Company
began with the resignation of McKinstry, the sales director, at
the end of 1930. He had had twenty-eight years' service and was
for most of the time associated with export business, eventually
becoming chairman of the Export Company; was one of the first to
realize the value of overseas trade in providing a base load for
the factory even though it might not show a profit on paper. McKinstry
was an extremely popular figure whose direct method of approach
and friendliness with associates were responsible for much of his
success in business. He became deputy chairman and managing director
of Babcock & Wilcox and was knighted in 1943.
The
general management of the commercial departments was taken over
by the chairman of the Company, Sir Philip Nash, but in November
1931 he also resigned. On joining M-V as chairman in 1922, Nash
had found the electrical industry a new experience, but his administrative
ability enabled him to take an objective view without being immersed
in detail. His charm of manner made him an attractive personality,
and his experience in transport matters was a commercial asset in
the settlement of important contracts in the traction field. Though
his duties kept him mostly in London he became well known at the
works, not only by business visits but also by frequent attendance
at social functions. After leaving the Company he was chairman of
a large multiple stores until his death in 1936.
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