MADE IN GERMANY.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 17, 20 January 1909, Page 8

MADE IN GERMANY.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —At the last meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board there came up for discussion a matter that is of vast importance to the whole community. 1 allude to the electric cranes that the Board intend to instal upon the new wharves. Through the medium of your paper, I learn to my surprise that the Board's engineer has recommended the acceptance of the tender of a German firm.

I understand that the Harbour Board authorised their engineer, during his recent trip Home, to cail for tenders in London for the supply 'of these l cranes, and that the tender of the Geri man firm mentioned is lower by £300 than that of the lowest reputable British i maker. There is no reason to suppose that the German cranes are in any way superior to those of British manufaejture, rather the reverse. It is generally | admitted that for durability, solidity, and excellence of design, British built 1 machinery leads the world. This is a fact that is not overlooked even by the most pessimistic Little Englander. lis it wise, then, for the small I matter of £300 for the Board to deliberately pass over the claims lof British firms, and give a pre- | ference to German manufacture. And there is another more significant point of view from which to regard this matI ter. There is no denying the fact that German interests are altogether antagonistic to those of the British Empire. The signs of the times prove conclusiveily that Germany Is oent upon crippling the ejommerical power of Great Britain whenever a. possibility to do so presents I itself. TjO prove the truth of this con- ' tention, it is only necessary for mc to refer your readers to the recent utterjance of the Berlin correspondent of the London "Times." Among other things, this gentleman says: "Some of the German naval enthusiasts urge the necessity of having a strong fore* of battleships ready for 1911, on the ground that British commerce will by that time have suffered so much from the constantly increasing competition of German shipping companies and of German exports, that the. English Government will be seriously tempted to attack this country as the -sole means of -ridding England with one blow of the intolerable rivalry of the German navy and mercantile marine."

' Again at Berlin on the 6th. of the current month the Kaiser is reported to have said that Germany's commercial and industrial progress made Britain an unforgiving enemy. Leaving this fact out of consderation altogether, however, it is clear that Germany is doing her best to wrest commercial supremacy awayfrom Great Britain, and it is equally clear that if the Auckland Harbour Board accept this tender from a German firm, they will be deliberately contributing their quota to the commercial down- ! fall of the British Empire. Are they then prepared to accept the responsibility of on action that may in the evolution of Time's revenges, recoil upon the heads of the inhabitants of this Dominion? This is o. question that it would be well for them to weigh carefully. There is another important point which it would be well to adduce. If we take the details of the estimates of the German navy for the financial year 1909 we find that of the seven million pounds fhich have been set down for this year's new construction, nearly : four and a-quarter million, as compared with three million two hundred thousand pounds last year, is estimated to be made out of loan. Therefore, it Is clear that if the Harbour Board accept this German tender they will have raised the loan for this work in England simply to spend it in Germany, thereby not only swelling the coffers of tiie German manufacturers but also contributing towards the decadence of British trade. Will the Germans spend their loan money in England? Hardly. It is time that the Auckland people shook off that apathy for which they are unfortunately, becoming notorious, and took a little more interest in such an important subject as this. On no account should they allow cranes of German manufacture to find an abiding place on their wharves. If the members of the Harbour Board are wise, they will do' nothing to assist the Power that doing its best to cripple and nullify the commercial power of the British Empire. It is for them to choose whether they will give preference to aliens or to their own kith and kin. If they are wise in time, they will support British industry, by which the port of Auckland has been built up, and allow foreign manufacturers to look after themselves. —I am, etc.. AUOKLANDER. January 19th, 1909.