INVITATION TO CRITICS

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22767, 20 July 1939, Page 10

INVITATION TO CRITICS

$ Public Works Repair Workshop MINISTER’S INSPECTION AT TEMUKA By operating its own workshop at Temuka, where all mechanical equipment used on the big undertakings in Canterbury is repaired, the Public Works Department is making a saving of £25,000 annually over the cost of the parts which would otherwise have to be imported. This was stated yesterday by the Minister for Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple). Ninety men are employed there. Only four were skilled fitters when the workshops were opened two years ago. Apart from the saving in actual money, an unassessable amount is saved by the workshops in enabling repairs to be made without delay, giving continuity of service of all machines. All except the finest precision spare parts are being made, the Minister was informed yesterday. From rollers for the bulldozer tractors to yard-and-a-half buckets for the draglines is the range of the workshop’s production. Many of the spare parts would be thrown away if the workshop was not operating. Most of the plant has been used on heavy Canterbury country for which it was not specially made and, by experience and using better materials than the makers, the department is giving the plant an economic life much longer than the builders expected. Steel which is indented from England at a cost of £ll a ton is being made into plant which would cost as high as £ 100 a ton if imported as rea'dy made spares. “It makes me sick to hear people say, ‘We can’t do it in New Zealand,’ ” said Mr Semple after an inspection of the ■workshop. “It makes me bilious. There is nothing we cannot do and I cannot stand people decrying their fellow citizens and their capacity. New Zealanders who had no hope in life have come into this workshop and they are now fitted to go anywhere to take their part in the world.” The workshop was making better material than the Americans were making, said Mr Semple. His engineers knew that, because they had tried out both products. Within two years, navvies had been turned into mechanics and fitters and now, with a trade at their hands, they could earn their money anywhere. In time, they would be very valuable to industry. Moreover, there had not been a single dispute, grumble, or growl from the men. These men, Mr T. G. Beck informed him, were full of gratitude for being given a chance to show their aptitude at a skilled trade. “I invite any critic—politician, mechanical engineer, or Nosey Parker—to visit the workshop and see what is being done,” said Mr Semple. “Besides keeping all plant working at full pressure—once plant stops costs pile up—the men are making a contribution of £25,000 in hard cash annually to the funds of New Zealand by making imports of essential plant unnecessary.” Mr Beck told the Minister that he had the greatest faith in the men, who could carry out any engineering repair job.. The workshop had established a reputation in South Canterbury and a number of outside mechanical engineers had applied to it for advice.