SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 139, 19 June 1901, Page 3

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

The following are from American flies bv the San Francisco mail ;-— ■ .AUCKLAND, June 18. Approximately 50,000 machinists throughout the United States struck on Maw 20, and are still idle. Their demand w&a for nine houra a day in place of ten, a scale of wages equal to the present 10 hour a day scale,, and other concessions. The strike thus far as not extended to allied trades, except in a few instances. No machinists engaged in Government work are implicated owing to the fact that on sucb work the eight hour aay already prevails. The railroad machinists are not as a rule .mvolved, though the machinists on severarof the roads are out. The strike order does not apply to railroads. It was issued by the Nirtional Order of Machinists. Since the beginning oi the strike large numbers of tbe employers bave acceded to the demands of fcbe men. Others, and among these ar© numbered most of the great iron aai steelworks, have expressed a determination to hold out, and are firm in the opinion that the employers must eventually win. Only turmoil is m the breasts of men who see tbeir yards empty of toilers, tbe while contracts are lapsing and cargoes are waiting for ships which are not in sea-going condition. A number of steamships were undergoing repairs when tbe metal strike was ordered to the effeot that these must remain idle along, with several uncompleted vesaels which cannot go into commission as won as was expected The Oceanic Company is affected by the strike as the steamer Alameda is at the Risdon Ironworks, wbere she was undergoing repairs amounting to 200,000 dollars. The Sonoma, due here on a slow •voyage*' from Sydney, was to have undergone extensive repairs to one of her gngines before resuming her run to .AuS" tralia. Several steamers which were to have been put on the Alaska run have beeu compelled to abandon tbe plan of making early trips north, and the steamer Harda, whidh put in here in distress a few weeks ago on account of having been damaged by going on the rocks at Hunter's Point, Drodocks, bas had the work on her machinery suspended. The Bureau of Foreign Commerce of the State Department bas just made public advance sbeets of the " CommerciaLßelations for 19O0," which deal with American trade with Scotland. Tt-fi tide oi American imports into Scotland it is stated ateadily rises. This is true not only of food products, which are in j almost universal demand but of a variety of manufactured artioles. Growing preference for American goods is noted everywhere. Social and economic conditions have not, ft is said, been affected by the African war, but it is feared fthat depression in the iron and Bteel trade, resulting from the bigh price of raw material and fuel, and from Ameri(Ln German, and Belgian competition, Uffsoon be severely felt in industrial oSbmunitief O! the great number of Mtieta PWtWt to SwWi -thegreateet

increase after foodstuffs is in hardware. Woodenware has secured an important position in thia marketalso, and American furniture, boots and shoes, rubber goods, machinery and wire goods, leather, oil, clocks and watches, paints, drugs and chemicals, organs, glassware, confectionery, and a number of other articles are among those rapidly gaining a strong foothold in Scotland. There has been a growing trade in fruits, meats, and nearly all articles of food.