ALUMINIUM WARE.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18552, 30 November 1925, Page 10

ALUMINIUM WARE.

BRITISH INDUSTRY HAMPERED. PROTECTION SUGGESTED. (MtOM OUB OTTK COBBESPONDENT.) LONDON, October 20. The enquiry into the application of the aluminium trade lor protection under the Safeguarding of Industries Act has been opened at the Board of t Trade. The application is made by the British Aluminium Hollow-Ware manufacturers' Association (represented bv their chairman, Mr R. C. Rodgers), and is opposed by Service Supply. Limited (who were represented by Mr N. L. Macaskie). The applicant Association submitted that by reason of the nature of the goods they produced, which were articles of utility in use in millions of houses in this country, as well as by reason of employment, actual and potential, the industry was of substantial importance. The aluminium hollow-ware industry was one of the only five trades in the country which succeeded in establishing a case under Part If. of the Act of !!>-'!. and in demonstrates the unemployment occasioned by the unsatisfactory competitive conditions then prevailing, a state of affairs which again existed. Lower German Wages. Mr Rodgers said he represented twentythree manufacturers, whose works were widely scattered over the -Midlands. The application was in respect of all domestic utensils made of aluminium, and of parts thereof. He gave figures showing that imports from Germany had increased since the protection granted under the 1»2:> Act, and the indications were that unless the application u ere successful the market would again he flooded with dumped German goods. The highest wages paid to worker:- in ihe industry in Germany were 7d ]-er hour, while in this country skilled operatives received from Is -)d an hour upwards. They submitted that, in the heavier .gauge goods Germany had a basic advantage of I rj per cent., while in the lighter grades the advantage was 50 per rent. They estimated that there were about 20SO people, employed in the industry at the present time in this country. The proportion of males to females was approximator/ fire to three. All the manufacturers, whether members of their Association Ar not, were, ho believed, sympathetic ,to the application. So far as his firm was concerned, seven-eighths of the goods they produced would come within the lerms of their application. For six months they had been working three-quarter time, which they considered a better way than working three weeks full time and closing the factory for one. week. In the ten firms from which they had figures, there were 1300 people cmploved in 1020, while now there were only 890. The British Problem. He could employ 200 to 300 people in normal conditions, but he was now able to find employment for only 100 men and women. There were 63 per cent, of skilled workers among the male employees, and of the female workers 50 "per cent, were skilled. Fully skilled male workers were paid Is CJd per hour, and unskilled Is 2d to lljd, while female skilled hands had a rate of pay of'Bd per hour and unskilled- 6d per hour. Tho bulk of the aluminium used by firms in this country was British produced material, and they could produce practically unlimited quantities. Practically every other countrv in the world had a tariff against British aluminium hollow-ware; only Australia and New Zealand gave a considerable preference. The duty on such goods entering America had recently been increased from 20 per cent, to 40 per cent. "The demand for aluminium ware is increasing all over the wo '' ,(l ' but we are not holding our own in it. n e cannot hold our own in this market, so howcan we hope to do so in the markets where there is a tariff against us. The only place where we are holding' our own is in those markets where they give us a preference, and I may add that they show signs of getting tired of sheltering an industry which we ourselves do not shelter." He agreed that 1920 was a very good year, and that they exported 327 tons of their produce, and sold 1050 tons in this jountrv. In that year the imports of Ger ; man aluminium hollow-ware were 351 tons, 272 tons of, which was in the first threequarters of the year. In the first threequarters after tho duty was taken off imports from Germany totalled 304 tone. He regarded the latter figure as abnormal. Mr W. H. Bnlpitt, managing director of Messrs Bulpitt and Sons, Ltd., of Birmingham, submitted samples of German articles of aluminium hollow-ware, together with com. parable British Bamples, and gave evidence in reference to prices, weight, and capacities. In the case of a two-pint German Uapot the wholesale price was 2s OJd, and the retail price was 3s 9d. The wholesale Jirice of the comparable British article was 3s lid. .

LONDON LOANS. j Loans can now be raised in Lonfion by the Dominions and by foreign nations, but only on conditions which did not formerly obtain. The issuing houses have agreed to be bound by a roster. The loans will go in a certain rotation, and loans for conversion purposes must take their turn as loans for new money. Further, the issuing houses will not consent to float a loan for a State if instalments of previous loan of that State have not matured. The whole object of these restrictions is to ensure that there -will be no over-lending; but if they are continued for any time they will defeat their purpos%. Whether the British investor has money to lend abroad oan only be ascertained by trial, not by regulation and restriction. Nor is it possible to stop lending abroad, if such lending should prove profitable. All that can be done is to prevent the issuing of loans in London; but, as the "Economist" points out, there is nothing to stop the issuing of a loan in New York, and the subsequent selling on the London market j of the securities representing that loan. If New York issues a loan to a Dominion and sells the securities on the London market, the money flows from New York to the Dominion, and then from London to New York. Or, if the money is required to pay interest in London for previous loans, there may be no transfer of money at all across the seas. The loan is raised in New York, thf securities are sold in London, and so the money from the sale of securities in London is available to pay the interest in London. London loses on the transaction. It loses whatever profit there may be in raising the loan. That profit accrues to New York. As to the amount which Great Britain saves for investment purposes, the amount is put by the "Economist" at £450,000,000 a year, and if the requirements of British industry for new capital were the same as before the war those requirements would absorb £325,000,000, leaving £125,000,000 for foreign investment; but as British industry is not expanding as it did before the war, and as plant and machinery are more adequate for present production than in 1913, it is considered that much more than £125,000,000 is available for lending abroad. EjORROWING FROM AMERICA. ■When Sir Mark Sheldon was recently in New York he found Australian bonds in that centre sailing on the market at a discount. The fall took place immediately the syndicate which had been supporting the loan sold cut. The bonds w?re selling at 4 per cent. less than Canadian bonds of a similar nature. American investors, Sir Mark explained, knew .all about Canada. They could go and see their security if they wanted to, but could not do this eo readily in regard to Australia. Americans looked upon Australia as a big potential borrower, but the average American was* Tery critical of State ownership. He looked upon railways, for example, as a matter entirely for private enterprise, and was somewhat perplexed at the idea of money being borrowed to build Government railways. Another point was that Americans had a habit of taking the total indebtedness of a borrowing country and working out the burden per capita. They did not take into account very largely thei assets which capital expenditure was supposed to represent. They saw in Australia a large debt, a =mall population, and no wholehearted effort to increase I tho population. Sir Mark concluded by sayI ing that he was sure the moment population in Australia was seen to bo increasing in reasonably large numbers the credit of Australia would be materially strengthened both in Great Lritain and America. WOOL FOR FRANCE. France has been a large buyer at tie Australian wcol auctions lately (says the Sydney "Morning Herald"), and French operators also bought keenly during the September sales in London, with both Germany and Switzerland, as well a3 Belgium, liitias big- weights of wool. Many people wanted to> know why Franco was such an active buyer. French buyers in -London admitted that they had to buy more wool than they anticipated, because of the non-arrival of I their oversea purchases, due so the shipping i strike in Australia, and in South Africa in particular. At tho earn© time, however, the Continent or Franco provided the largest operators in Australia. One explanation is that French . manufacturers appear to have received such a largo amount of orders for i next spring that they have been compelled I to cover extensively in yarns, and this has been reflected in the wool market. It is reported that Bpubaix-Tourcoing firms have i secured, as they did last year, the bulk I pi the asms txide. in- -dress jpoda*