A SMITH'S LAMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 60, 8 September 1934, Page 26

A SMITH'S LAMENT

WANING OF THE TRADE Plciisant sounds Mint used in pass as unnoticed at t.ho ticking of the household clocks—the tinkling of hammers on anvils and tho rhythm of trotting horses on tho ' cobbled streets —have censed. And now their absence is attracting notice. A blacksmith returning from tho funeral of one of his follows (Mr. A. Davidson, a deceased master smith), of New Plymouth, on Wednesday presented a graphic glimpse of progress, or tho decline of romance, when he spoke to a "Taranaki Daily News" reporter about horses and the changes that huvo taken place and aro taking place. "About ten years ago, no more," he said, "Micro were iivo blacksmiths' shops in New Plymouth. Now thero are two. In those days my shop used to carry fivo men ... all going hard . . . and we used to shoe on an average 15 and 10' horses a day. On Fridays there would be as many as 2G. Now thero are not 16 a week . . . and the farmers como in in their motorcars ! "There's nothing in the business now," lie said. "There aro only two. horses left in the; town. There are a few in milk carts, but they are outside tho borough. The racehorses now are our only source of work—there aro about thirty of them training here. Without thorn there would be nothing. Tho jobbing has fallen off a lot, too. Electric welding has accounted for a big share of the business Ave used to get." The competition of machinemade products, too, had its effect, not so much in forcing lower prices as in giving to prospective purchasers what might be called tho "ready-made complex." "Nowadays, if people want n pair of hinges they go to a shop and buy a pair—they don't think of us," he instanced. "Aye, the trade is dying rapidly," he went on. "There is no one learning it now. I've wanted a boy in the shop to give me a hand, and I cannot got one. I have had only one boy here, and he didn't stay long. I have four sons, but none of them want io take on the work. "You hear a lot of talk about horses coming back again, but we are not seeing it. It is home-separating that is killing us. The farm horses go no further than the gate with the cream now, though they used to go right to the factory. Yes, the bitumen roads do wear the shoes more quickly, especially in the winter, when they aro hard, but there are not enough horses on the roads for that,, to make much difference." People were afraid to take steel-shod horses on the roads in these days, he said. He had tried rubber shoes, but they were very expensive.