CRIPPLED BY STRIKES

Evening Star, Issue 25700, 25 January 1946, Page 6

CRIPPLED BY STRIKES

AUSTRALIAN STEEL INDUSTRY STOCK POSITION GRAVE fN.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent.) (Rec. 10 a.m.) SYDNEY, Jan. 25. Though the position in New Zealand as regards the supplies of pig iron and steel will be eased temporarily by the arrival of the Waipon, which leaves here to-day with 2,104 tons for Wellington and other centres, the position in Australia for all industries which depend directly or indirectly on steel supplies is not healthy. A survey covering stock positions and the needs'of nearly 150 large* organisations reveals a working margin which in many cases has been cut to well below the normal minimum. In many cases the stock position is so grave that intermittent closing of plants and retrenchment are considered inevitable this year. The position is attributed to the recent Communist-provoked strikes, which have clipped stocks on hand until now many firms have only enough for two weeks' operation. It will be months before the supply of basic steel approaches normality. Coal production figures are tumbling, threatening further unemployment on a large scale. The Newcastle steelworks of the Broken Hill Proprietory Company Limited have not yet returned to pre-strike production. The modern blast furnace at Whyalla, capable of producing 650 tons of pig iron daily, has been idle for two years merely because the shortage of coal meant insufficiency of industrial coke to run this costly plant. The net loss to Australia on this project alone approached 500,000 tons of pig iron. This shortage of industrial coke is also serious to New Zealand, as it occurs at the source of supply. New Zealand foundries are urgently in need of coke, the nonappearance of which may close down some plants within a fortnight. Endeavours are still being made io get small quantities aboard the Waipori before she sails. The Karetu, which' is involved in a short stoppage of work due to the Hatoomba dispute but which is now working again, will endeavour to load 100 tons of coke as well as the main cargo of pigiron and steel after she completes discharge here. The Australian authorities agree that exports of steel and of manufactured goods for which steel is the. raw material will have to be restricted to inescapable commitments. This is one of the main reasons behind Australia's apparent lack of interest in overtures from the Chinese trade delegation. It is also the secondary reason for the loss of trade with the Netherlands East Indies, the primary one' being, of course, the decision of the waterside workers not to load Dutch ships. These markets and others which the fortunes of war have placed within the grasp of the Australian industry, have to be disregarded simply because suicidal strikes have crippled the capacity of that industry. The strike of the iron workers cost over 250,000 tons of steel and vast quantities of pigiron at a time when Australia needed these commodities perhaps more than at any other time f in her history. _ The internal industries affected include housing, water, sewerage and drainage works and the manufacture of stoves, refrigerators, electric appliances, motor bodies, automobile parts, railway rolling stock, rails and fishplates, fencing wire, and other agricultural, requirements. Immediate rationing is considered inevitable, and months must elapse before special qualities, shapes, and sizes will be available in even limited quantities. A sour note is struck by the announcement by the Coal Commissioner, Mr Mighell, that coal production in New South Wales in 1945 showed a substantial decrease. The figure of 10,176.254 tons was 865,685 tons less than the total for the previous year and 1,297,245 less than for 1943. As the open-cut production was included in the totals, this increased greatly the actual fall in- the underground output, which over two years was 1,760,153 tons.' *■ To-day the same old story is being told. There is nothing remarkable in the fact that six mines in New South Wales are idle for reasons ranging from disputes to the death of one employee and a lodge meeting which did not end-until late in the morning. Indeed, it would be first-class news if one day it could be reported that all the mines were working. That, however, is a news story that never seems to break. Meanwhile manufacturers who are unwilling partners in the industrial suicide pact must_ helplessly watch the open markets being eagerly picked up by the United States.