MAKING MUNITIONS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2537, 11 August 1915, Page 3

MAKING MUNITIONS

SHEFFIELD .CUTLERY ADVANCING. With more than, half the factories of Sheffield engaged in turning out munitions of war ordinary everyday lines for which that city is famous throughout the world, have to-take: secondary consideration. .This has been the case for some months past, and will continue' so, for some time to come, and in consequence the prices of steel goods, and, particularly all classes of cutlery, are advancing steadily, l.ie New Zealand representative • of one of ' the _ biggest Sheffield cutlery firms has received the. following interesting letter from his principals:— . "We regret to say that we, have now to advise you of a further advance on all our goods, and endorse a circular herewith.' You' will notice that we cannot any longer undertake to give any advice of those as we do not know from one week to another what the goods are going to cost us. You can have no idea of the state of things in England now. Manufacturers 'are.all overwhelmed with orders,, with only, about half tlhe usual number, of men available to do tho work. This means that the men are able to demand unheard .of wages, and . that all. material is exceedingly expensive,"Regarding pocket cutlcry, the letter says:—"We.regret to sa.y that the pocket cutlery position gets worse and worse, and it is almost impossible to get any hut Government knives made by the men. ; They are very well paid for the work, and we suppose they also fancy they are patriotic when they are making them. Even men who at ordinary times make -the highest class of three and , four-blade knives are, insisting 'on working upon Government knives. This.is playing havoc with our ordinary -pocket-knife orders, But wo cannot help it."