" HUMILIATED."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 45, 23 February 1937, Page 5

" HUMILIATED."

PROTEST BY CONSUL.

GERMAN FIRMS' TENDERS. ! NOT FAIRLY TREATED ? (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY. February 17. As 1 .have already explained, the Sydney County Council. reversing its i previous decision, resolved to purchase 3000 r.p.m. turbo-alternators for the Bunnerong power station. This decision resulted in the acceptance of a tender sent in by the well-known British engineering firm of C. A. Parsons and Co. The amount of the tender was £414.892) (in Australian money), and ae soon as the facts were published the German Consul-General, Dr. Asmus, made a public protest against the council's decision on the ground that the German tenders had been unfairly treated. The evidence compiled by Dr. Asmus on the point is certainly worthy of some public attention. When tenders were first called for in regard to the equipment of the Bunnerong power station, the German Consul-General made it his busines* to inquire officially whether if German firms tendered their firms would receive the same consideration as all the other competitors. He was assured that this would be the case, and on the strength of thie assurance Dr. Asmus induced three of the greatest European engineering firms to enter —Siemens, the A.E.G. and Wumag. These firms went to very considerable trouble and expense in preparing their tenders, for it must be remembered that the costing and drafting in such case may easily absorb ■ £1000 or more. One firm sent an electrical engineer of high et&nding to

Sydney to get a personal view of the situation, and as his time was too valuable to s[>end on a *ea voyage he came; by air. Now. when the tenders have been examined and the council's decision i taken. Dr. maintains that the council has broken the promise made to him by its official*. The highest (ser-| man tender was fHo.OOO below Parsons'l figure, and the lowest German tender wa« £110.000 below it. Twenty-five Per Cent Lower? Of course, the total expenditure in- , volved is very great, but if, as Dr. Asmus insists, the lowest German tender was more than 2."> per cent le*s.s than the successful British tender, the council's decision certainly seems to require some explanation. Naturally the members of the council have felt it incumbent on them to make some defence against this attack. The general manager. Mr. Forbes Mackay. who was the storm centre of the recent controversy, told the council that he had written to all the foreign tenderers explaining that every tender had received the same consideration, irrespective of its origin—except that the "prescribed additional percentage" would be applied to foreign tenders—in other words the preferential treatment for British goods would, up to a certain point, be observed. Councillor CnMiier. who had been largely instrumental in securing the acceptance of the general manager's proposals, , holds that the statement made by Dr. Asmus "has no grounds to justify it." Councillor Gardner, while supporting this view, made a significant admission when he upheld the decision to give the contract to a British firm, at least partly on national and political grounds. The position was made a little clearer 1 by Councillor Lloyd, chairman of the s council. He denied that the German r tenders had been treated unfairly. He admitted that they were considerably lower than the British in actual amount, ' "But." he said, "we bHsed our decision 1 on annual charges, including depreciation ..and interest, and on flit* basis the successful tender was ftiOOfl lower than some of the foreign propositions." N'f dmrbt there i< something definite am ' valid behind Councillor Lloyd's remarks i but they are hardly explicit or fill . enough to satisfy all his critics, ant until more facts and figure** are dis closed, a good many people will eontinui ' to believe with Dr. Asmus that the Ger > man tenderers were not fairly treated

i Lom Predicted. Naturally Dr. Asinun has seized thi* ' opj)ortunity to emphasise the injuries i and losses which the Australians may ; inflict uj>on themselvee by refusing to i enter into fair and amicable relation* ] with the Germans. He declares that if he had been told in the first place that the order would lie restricted to British firms or British Empire firms, he would have bad no excuse for feeling offended. i Now, however, the Australians seem to J have gone out of their way to repulse ,!and humiliate a nation which desires J only to he friendly with them. i This determination to drag all ca«es ! j (if disciisMion or dispute into the arena of international {xilitice is one of the most strongly marked peculiarities of . i Dr. AsiiuiH. Moreover, Australia will lose. , 1 in the financial sense, through rejecting j the (iermau offers. "We had undertaken to put the money in the Commonwealth Hank and-to use it for the purchase of J wool." Naturally he enlarges on this i congenial theme—"Hundreds of thoil- , (sands of pounds paid by Australia for I the plant would remain here mid he used •to get wool for (Jernialiy," he says. But , I Dr. Arm us rather spoilt this argument ' by insisting that the greater purl of the £41.-»,(H)0 paid to persons will leave this J country, apparently forgetting that much of it would probably l>e used to purchase Australian produce at Home. ] Dr. Annuls is on grmer ground when . he argues that such unjust discriminar tion "will strengthen the claims (Jerj many is at present making for the a return of her colonies. Here the (ierman t |Conetil-(>eneral becomes a little hard to '; follow, for he admits that the chief arguIntent in favour of the return of oversea possessions to (iermany is her need of raw material. "And bow can we get " ! materials if you will not buy from us ei oii a fair competitive basis r" he asks. v This is merely a variant on the old •; theme that we must buy from (iermany n if we expect her to buy from us, and it " its just as falhiceous as sucli "universal , " '"principles always are. unless and until n !they are adjusted to special circum- " stances. However, in spite of his •I: defective logic. Dr. Asmux has made '•■out a case which seems to Ilirequire further investigation, and d "Truth" has probably found many people *• to endorse its opinion that the Federal ie ! (iovernment should look into the matter, r- with the State Government and "eee i.' that Germany gets a fair deal."