EMPIRE PREFERENCE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 153, 14 June 1932, Page 9

EMPIRE PREFERENCE

A LEAD BY ENGLISH BODIES. LONDON COUNTY’S PUBCHASES. (From a Correspondent.) London, May 11. A clause stating that quotations for Empire produce must be made whenever possible has been added by sixtysix borough councils and thirty-six county councils to their forms of tender, according to an inquiry just made. As a result, 1250 institutions are now following the rule ‘ ' Empire first ’ ’ whenever adequate supplies are available. This follows on visits recently made by the Empire Marketing Board’s officers to 143 local authorities and 87 mental hospitals. The London County Council provides for over 100,000 patients and staff and for the requirements of over 90,000 teachers, students and children. It is one of the largest bulk purchasers in the world, and has given a preference to British goods for the past 25 years. The council is now finding it possible to buy a larger proportion of Empire goods than ever before. Out of nearly 1,400,0001b5. of apples consumed, 1,100,000 were Empire. New Zealand mutton and lamb is purchased to the tune of 105,000 stone. Australian and New Zealand butter, East African coffee, Australian beef, and South African fruit are also bought in large quantities. EMPIRE TIMBERS. The London County Council and other local authorities have also adopted the policy of using Empire timbers wherever possible. The Falmouth Harbour authorities, for instance, recently decided to use Australian turpentine piles for the new wharf at Falmouth docks. This decision was made after prolonged comparative trials with American “greenheart.” British Columbian timber is now being used for harbour works at Belfast, Grimsby, Falmouth and Southampton and for housing schemes on many of the larger undertakings at Coventry, Liverpool, Glasgc ,v and in London.

Empire timbers (mainly Canadiangrown Douglas fir) have been exclusively used in 45 out of 47 of the major w-orks for which the London County Council has received tenders during the last two years. Other woods used by the London County Council are East African teak, which has been accepted by the council as a fire-resisting timber and is said to be unequalled for windows and outside doors; podo (the strongest known soft wood); African olive, and Australian hardwoods such as jarrah, karri, Tasmanian oak and Queensland walnut, which have decorat many of the banks and public buildings erected in London during the last few years.