RAILWAY ENGINES PLEA FOR LOCALLY-MADE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 74, 24 September 1914, Page 2

RAILWAY ENGINES PLEA FOR LOCALLY-MADE

FIRMS WILLING TO UNDERTAKE WORK. The Industrial Corporation of New Zealand has long advocated the encouragement of local industry in every manner possible, and is urging upon the Government the desirableness of having all railway locomotives built in the Dominion. It was entirely owing to the action of the Corporation that the first order for Dominion-made railway engines was placed with Messrs. Price Bros., of the Thames, this being the outcome of the representations made by a deputation which waited upon the late Mr. Seddon, then Prime Minister. In a letter written to the Prime Minister to-day, Mr. H. F. Allen, secretary of the Industrial Corporation, says :—: — "With further reference to the Corporation's plea that the^ railway locomotives required be built Within the Dominion, I now have the honour to inform yon that I have this day received a letter from Mr. J. B. Laurenson, Christchurch, who is president of the Corporation this year, statingthat the Canterbury Industrial Association has made an appeal to you on similar lines, Mr. Laurenson concludes his letter by saying : 'Andersons, Ltd., and, I believe, Scott Brothers also, are prepared to tender for the engine, but have not been asked. ' I have the honour to say, sit, that the members of the Industrial Corporation of New Zealand and the members of the respective industrial associations in our Dominion feel perfectly justified in appealing to you to assist our aims and uphold our principles which are embodied in our memorandum of association, among which is : ' To 1 generally promote, foster, and encourage the Dominion manufactures.' We hear a lot just now, and rightly 50, about the desirableness of purchasing British goods and those made by our own people, and we claim that that sentiment should be carried out first and foremost by the people of New Zealand in New Zealand. . . . The Customs tariffs have been such as to allow the country to be flooded with German and other foreign articles, from toys to machinery. If true patriotism is shown and practised by our people there will assuredly be less talk about Customs tariff revision, and _we know that no Government or Minister likes handling so contentious a. Bill. I, on behalf of the industrial associations, and on behaJf of the manuI fackirers and workers of this Dominion, confidently appeal to yon, sir, to do all in your power to ' foster and encourage Dominion industries.' " A shorter letter, couched in similar terms, has also been forwarded to the Hon. W. H. Herries (Minister for Railways).