GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1927, Page 11

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.

POSITION AT THAMES. The Thames branch of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers Union stressed the fact at the last meeting of the borough council that the majority of I its members were dependent on Messrs. A. and G. Price, Ltd., for employment and. as the present contract for the building of railway engines for the Govj eminent was nearly completed, without apparently further orders forthcoming - , it meant that the majority of the union's members and also the members of allied trades would be out of employment. If /this happened, many members and their families would have to leave Thames and the union asked the council to seriously give the matter its earnest attention and urge the Government to place further orders at Thames. In supporting the request, C'r. Allen mentioned that Messrs. A. and G. Price, ! Ltd.. had told their employees that the | prospects for further orders were unI favourable, and regretted that it would j | be necessary to dismiss a large number jof employees. It had been reported that there was a shortage of rolling stock in the railways, and the fact that many workshops were in a transition stag« was another reason why work should be given to a New Zealand firm well capable of carrying it out. He moved "That the Thames Borough Council views with alarm the prospect of a large addition to the ranks of the unemployed on the completion, within a few weeks, of the Government contract at Messrs. A. and G. Price's ironworks, and it earnestly urges the Government to avoid such an unfortunate occurrence." The resolution was favourably received by the council and left in the hands of the Mayor, Mr. T. W. Rhodes, M.P., to take the matter up with the Prime Minister immediately. The council feels that the appeal is a just one, especially in view of the following ■ facts: — (I) That the Railway Board recently announced the necessity of securing new rolling stock and also that much repair work wa9 needed; (2) : That the Government workshops were , in a transition stage and not ready to ; manufacture locomotives for two years. I T ~