RAILWAY ENGINES.

Grey River Argus, 9 April 1927, Page 3

RAILWAY ENGINES.

PRICE AND CO. TO MAKE NO MORE. RESULT OF NEW ORDER. AUCKLAND, April 6 Two years ago last month the public at the Thames were considerably excivised with regard to the question who ther the firm of A. and G. Price were to get further orders from the Government for the construction of railway engines, otherwise the company wuuid have to shorten hands. The firm of Messrs A. and G. Price have turned out some particularly line jobs for the New Zealand Government Railways, and in confident anticipation of the further contracts, subsequent to the completion of the eight W.S. locomotives’, Mr George Price went home and placed orders for some thousands of pounds v. orth of up-to-date machinery. A great deal of this has been installed, and some is in course of erection. The second last of the eight engines last ordered for the railways is now being finished, and the last one’s parts are being assembled. The Government has not ordered any more engines from the firm, and consequently twelve expert men were put off on Thursday, and it is probable that twenty more will be giver, notice that their services are to b° dispensed with this month unless the Government reconsiders the position. As the Thames sewerage works are about completed the ranks of the unemployed at that place will be ..iirther augmented. Some Significant Pacts. In 1924 the Royal Commission, con sisting of Sir Sam Fay ami Sir A iu cent Raven, to report on the Nev Zealamt railways, stated in para graph 28 of their summary of recoin mendations “that, in addition to pel pet uating the A, AA, AB, AB, and WS classes, a powerful type of shunt-ing-engine with three cylinders, also a main-line, express engine having sft 6in driving wheels and three cylinders .should be designed for taking goods tiains of heavier weight over stec] incline:,’. For this purpose it was stated that a suitable Garratt engine should be utilised,” Clause 29 is the more pertinent, however, and here is where local industry is hit. It states “that new locomotives be purchased from outside, rather than built in ex- 1 isting shops, which arc not laid out for doing this economically.” Experts have declared, and even the Royal Commission said, that Price’s foundry could turn out engines as good as any firm in the world. One eminent engineer has remarked “the\ turn out a job right down to the last split-pin.” The Government’s own shops at Hillside and Addington also turn out a first-class engine, if this work can be done in this country the question might well be asked why gc Engines Designed Here. Some vtais ago an engineer in the employ of the Government Railways, designed a shunting engine which waeminently suited to the work it was called upon to do at that time. Since then, however, the whole poll*/ of the Government as far as the rails an concerned has been 'changed. A Rail ways Board of Management has been installed, and several highly paid railway experts have been imported from overseas. Workshops of every description arc being abolished, and others involving an expenditure of him

deeds of thousands of pounds are i>emg constructed. One result of this change is that the Petonc and Addington workshops will in future deal with the whole of the locomotive requirements in both is lands. Otahr.hu workshops when com pleled will be occupied with all cai and wagon Hcpaij’S and construction for the North Island. During this transition stage the mechanical branch of the railways will be, and arc being hard put to keep up repairs ami execute new work. The general consensus of opinion of those who should be in a position to express an opinion is, that if the Government cannot sec its way clear to give A. ami G. Price, Limited, any more engines to construct, then surely, seeing the firm has the necessary new plant, repair jobs should be given them. This would give their employees work which would keep them employed for some time. Incidentally it ‘might be mentioned that there arc certain well informed men who hold the opinion that if a sum of £25,000 to £30,000 was expended on bringing the Newmarket workshops up-to-date they could be made able to cope with railway requirements for the next twenty years. This would have the effect of saving the railways in one instance alone, several hundreds of thousands of pounds outlay.