ENGINEERING INDUSTRY

Evening Star, Issue 22086, 20 July 1935, Page 22

ENGINEERING INDUSTRY

“ RISEN FROM THE'ASHES " NEW ZEALAND INITIATIVE TRIUMPHANT [Written by A. E. Mander, for the 1 ‘Evening Star.’l Of all industries, both primary , and secondary, affected by the slump, probably there was none other so severely stricken as that •of manufacturing engineering. In 1933 the greater part of the market for products of this industry suddenly collapsed; and within a year the value of its output had shrunk to less than half, while more than, half of the industry’s 15,000 workers were thrown out of employment. Very soon, in every city and large town, the foundries were empty, the furnaces cold. In scores of. engineering works all over the Dominion the wheels and bejting ceased their droning roar; the clatter of machinery was stilled; rows and rows of costly machines stood idle in dark, almost deserted shops/ while thousands 1 of highly-skilled and intelligent Myotkers, the very cream of the working class, fitters and turners and toolmakers, were sent to waste their skill on ,pick-and-shovel relief jobs. •It was a thoroughly dispiriting experience,; in 1932 or 1933, to walk through so many silent, gloomy, almost deserted' foundries and engineering •hops, full of idle machines swathed like mummies in sackcloth and oily rags, or else standing cold and uncovered except by dust and greyness. One visftbr,' at least, _ several _ times fbund himself involuntarily lowering his ▼oice -as though entering a place _of death, when he entered the; echoing stillness-of one of "these “dead’' factories. Even in those establishments where production was still-going on it' was depressing to see so many machines’gaunt and idle, so few workers employed. COURAGE AND RESOURCEFUL-- ’ NESS. How comes it, '-'then', that now. only three years, later, roost of these engineering factories are again scenes of intense industrial activity? The wheels are whirring once more, and thousands of workers, so lately unemployed, are once again bending intently over the machines. Electric motors are humming; keen eyes peer into the circle of brilliant light on a machine where the whirling tool pares and shapes a casting—to the required accuracy of a two-thousandth part of an inch.. In the assembly shoo there is incessant clanging, and orderly, careful haste. .In the foundry men stand before the dazzling glare of the furnafce, while flashing white molten metal pours into the moulds prepared for it. Interested faces everywhere, and quick, strong hands at their own tasks again. Yet a short while ago the factory was like a morgue, and the workers were out on; relief: To what is this transformation due? It is a result of one of the most enheartenipg developments that have emerged from the slump. In most cases,;these factories are working now on entirely new lines of production , ■ —new. that is, to New Zealand. When found that the slump had ruined their former business, destroying the market for the kind of goods they had hitherto produced, what did they do? Did they sit down and squeal about hard times? They did not. Many of them—most of them—promptly looked around to see what new kinds of goods they could start to make,, to take the place of their old lines. “ Difficulties,” it is said. “ are opportunities.” Certainly, in this case, they have proved to be both the test of New Zealand resourcefulness and the opportunity for many of our manufacturers to show what stuff they are made of. As a result, in “the engineering industry, as in others, an astonishing number of new developments have taken place during , the last few years. Old firms have started ‘ new enterprises;’ plant and manufacturing methods have , been completely modernised; a considerable degree of specialisation has been achieved; and scores, of new lines of production have been successfully undertaken. VICTORY SNATCHED FROM DISASTER. , Strangely enough, most of these developments have passed unnoticed by the public. It is evident, even to-day, that the great majority of people have no conception whatever of the way in which New Zealand industries have progressed, or the manner in which they have increased their efficiency, or the number of new lines which they have, in the last few years, commenced to manufacture, or the success which has been achieved. /It was only a few years ago, for instance, that we were importing from overseas all our porcelain-enamelled ba,ths. Nowadays they are nearly all made here in New Zealand; 'over 70,000 have already been produced and sold, baths of the very highest quality, made in Wellington and Christchurch of iron from Nelson province. Most people, perhaps, have a notion that wireless sets are “assembled” in the Dominion, but the truth is that, in addition to :'iocal 'assembly workshops, there are nearly I,ooo'workers employed in three large factories in Auckland and Wellington, -not merely assembling, but actually nfanufadturmg complete radio sets (except; the valves), which number two-thirds of all the sets sold! in New Zealand. A gain, it may surprise some people to learn that 35 per cent, of all the picture theatres—including some of the largest—are equipped with “ talkie ” plant made in Wellington and Auckland. _ Almost every gas stove sold in New Zealand for some years past has been made in Dunedin or Christchurch. Electric ranges, the production ! of Winch was not commenced in earnest until '1932, are now being made—of a quality and finish to compare with the best from overseas—at the rate of ■ a year. So one might run on through a very long list—electric petrol bowsers (according to certain overseas experts ,probably the best in the world, both in design and in workmanship), orchardists’ spray" pumps, gas. meters, chromium-plated streamline .water taps (six million of taps have been .made), steel furniture and filing cabinets; lawn mowers (manufactured, not merely assembled), electric jugs and kettles, irons, toasters and radiators, milk and cream cans, dairying equipment and machinery, tobacco tins by the million. ... NEW ZEALAND BRAINS AND LABOUR, Considerations of space will not permit here any indication of the variety of lines now produced by our engineering factories in New: Zealand. My chief point at the moment is that the majority of these industries have : been established and have grown, to their present size only/ during the last few years. They were started, mostly, during the slump; and ire can be proud to know that they ’represent the initiative and the courage of New Zealand-

ers confronted—as the men in this engineering industry were confronted only a few years ago—with the ruin of all that they had built up in the past. One other section of the industry should be mentioned before wo close. What most people. understand by the “ assembly ” of motor cars is probably something very simple- and unimpressive. For them it would be a real “ eye-opener ” to see the amount of worfc involved, and , the perfect organisation of it, in the factories where such work is done. The largest, for instance,, employs 450 men under one roof, engaged in the complete assembly and finishing of cars at the rate of one every 20 minutes—which means that the work performed is equivalent to 150 men (and goodness knows how many power machines) working for one hour on each car. When one has seen this one no longer speaks slightingly of the industry as one of " mere” assembly. Finally, if anyone has still a lingering doubt as to what New Zealand engineers can do let him call at the nearest railway station to ask when the next train will arrive drawn by one of the new (K) locomotives. Gazing at that superb embodiment of throbbing power, no one can fail to pay tribute to the New Zealand brains and New Zealand' labour which have achieved its design and construction. Those who still persist in disparaging New Zealand industry should go and look at a “ K ” before they speak ggain.