WATERSIDERS’ STRIKE

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26605, 15 December 1951, Page 8

WATERSIDERS’ STRIKE

EFFECTS ON TRADE IN SPENDING POWER” -The Press" Special Service AUCKLAND, December 14. There could be no doubt that direct and indirect losses arising from the waterfront strike had caused a substantial reduction iri the spending power of the community, said the chairman of Reid New Zealand Rubber Mills, Ltd. (Mr A. M. Seaman) at the annual meeting of shareholders to-day. The effect was still being felt by the company and other trading organisations. While it was not possible to assess the cost to the company of the dislocation of business by the strike, said Mr Seaman, production had to be curtailed severely for some months, and the company was involved in substantial expenses that otherwise would not have occurred. Continued high prices for raw materials made the financing of an expanding business a difficult matter, and there were growing problems in securing actual supplies and importing them without undue delays, he continued. Qn top of the Dominion waterfront strike, irregularities and uncertainties in shipping movements had been suffered. price control continued to be one of the company’s greatest difficulties, said Mr Seaman. The machinery of control was still too slow in operation, and the official approach often an unrealistic one. The effect was that price movements in the rubber trade in New Zealand occurred about six months later than overseas —a fact that in some circumstances i.iight place the company in a very disadvantageous position. Although the company, in common with moist undertakings, had been hindered by causes beyond its control, it had had a great volume of production in both its tyre and general goods factories, he said, It had now been definitely proved that within the range of tyre sizes manufactured in New Zealand. three tyre factories could readily meet all the Dominion’s needs. The managing director (Mr G. C. W. keid) said the waterfront strike had reduced production enormously at a time when the company could have sold a lot more of its products. The company would suffer for a while from the accumulation of cargoes in English ports.

Mr Reid said the tyre shortage in New Zealand had now been overtaken. to a shareholder, he said that the production of tractor tyres, ur “tubeless” tyres was not contemplated in the near future.