HARDWARE SCARCITY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 101, 23 January 1920, Page 6

HARDWARE SCARCITY

DIFFICULTIES IN ENGLAND. Tho cause of some of the diffifcultics encountered by Auckland hardware merchants, who cannot get sufficient supplies from Britain, were explained (says the "Ilerald") by Sir Georgo Kenrick, of tho well-known Birmingham firm of Archibald Kenrick and Sons, Ltd., who is paying n short holiday visit to the Dominion. ' Sir George stated that the output from tho homo factories would probably not reaeli its pre-war standard for years. The reason was two-fold. In (lie first place, there was a. great shortage of labour. Many workmen had been killed or maimed in' (he war. while others had not returned to the trade. In l:iie second place, during the war the supply of apprentices and young men had been entirely cut off, with the result that thero was a great gnp in the ranks. The employees were mostly old men, whose output was less than that or younger men, the output being further reduced by the fewer number of hours now worked. He quite approved of an attempt to secure the German trade of pre-war days, but lie failed to, see how it could be done in these circumstances by the majority of manufacturers in tho llnited Kingdom.' Incidentally he mentioned that a portion of Britisb-ma,de goods coming into New Zealand were undoubtedly made by German machinery in use in the United Kingdom. Sir George Kenrick gave the assurance that manufacturers were not profiteering, but that, on the other hand, many of thorn had only the narrow margin of 5 per cent, profit on tlieir capital. Prices were .still rising, owing to the increasing cost of raw, materials, higher wages, and heavy freights. Business was coming in briskly and most factories had plenty to keep them busy for _ many months ahead, the difficulty being to copo with the work. He saw little prospect of large supplies coming into New Zealand for a considerable time to come.