THE TRADES OF FAUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5635, 8 December 1879, Page 6

THE TRADES OF FAUCKLAND.

-♦ Within the past five years the trades and industries carried on in an 1 around Auckland havo increased iu number, and now give steady employment to a large number of persons. Auckland, indeed, possesses special advantages for being the seat of manufacturing industry. It haß two splendid harbours, giving it access to both sides of the colony, to Australia, and to the multitudinous hhnda of the I'acilic. From the many harbours of the north-eastern coast, ami from navigable rivers such as the Thames, plentiful supplies of raw material. used in some nianulV.ctims maybe brought. Within the la-it few years also coal lie da of great extent have been opened up within easy distance of the city. Ihe position and resources of Auckland as a seat of manufa;'.urin« industry, is lnrbed superior to that of any <-ity '« N'ew/'ilaud, and indeed of any city m th: Australian colonic?. Wellington has a splendid oommercal positio i, but as a srat of manufactures it is simply nowhere :\i compared to Auckland, while Lyttelton or Chriatchnreh can never bav..- the necofsa-y natural facilities. Duncdin has I'ceii happily placed in rrnnv respects, as for instance, in having a lariro goldmines; population dependent upon'it for supplies and it is also fortunate in the enemy aud enterprise o: its people. But oven 'Dunediii cannot crpal Auckland in all tho r rpifites for a manufacturing town, and our superiority will tell in tho long run. This is but the day of small things, l>.t it must not be despised for that reason, and therefore we are always glad to n,,t:cc progress. l:i writing of the manufacturing induttri-* which' have bseu commenced iu AuckLml, vre shall stat • what ttio.-o engaged in the particular tiv.do think ought to be done, by alterations in the tariff, to-v.vds cucour.-.girg it. In sornt-.;;!ses those chanjes would involve no prin. ■■n'e. and mi.,ht at ones be acceded to : in others they raise the entire question of pr-t-xtion or tree trade. \\ e shall make at p.esent no remarks on the views and arL-mnei.ts addncid by the manufacturer!?, sinr.ly statin;; the plain fact ■whereon they l>a-e their t'esire for protect'., n for locil iiidiiatries. We comnieuce our notice* of the An kland industries with THE BOOT AND SHOE TKA.DE. It is onlv .ibout 13 yea-s ago since the manufacture of b.'otj .and shoes was comnicnced in Auckland. In lSOli, -Mr. (ieorge Hemus, whose factory is situated iu Upper Queen-street, was the lir.'t to start the manufacture, and whin he showed the firvt good 3 ever put into tho wholesale market here, although at a lower price than the imported article, he was met by the universal prophecy tiir.t h : .s venture wou'd bi certain to be a failure, and tint it would be impossible for h : .m to manufacture the geods and hope to coniiX-to uith the old country, lie persevered, 'however, a:.d ao.m proved that he could. 11 ii example was very shortly after followed bv other manufactures, and the business steadily advaussd in growth, until at the present moment there ar3 no fewer than nine wh.-.ksale manufacturers of boots and shoes in V;h city. They are as follows : —Mr. George Hsmii?, Messrs. Parker aud Green, Mr. W. Trenwith, Meesrs. Girrett Bro=., Mr. G-or»e Fostsr. Messrs. Prince and Davy, Mr. "A. Black, Messrs. Wilkina Bros., Jle.=sr3. J. J. Austin and Co. To Mr. George He:nus be'onjra the cr-dit of having been the first to introduce rnachiutry in the manufacture of boots aud shoes into Auckland, -which he did about the year ISGS. Since then many of the most modern and costly machines used in the trade have been imported from and America, an! all of the nii-.c lirms named have a full plant ; consisting of such machines as sewing, blocking, eyelettiug, perforating (for toa caps), splitting or ehass skivers, toe-cap pressor, and eccentric aud screw presses for cutting soles. Two manufacturing firms, Messrs. Parker and Green, an 1 Mr. Foster, have each a Blake sole sewing machine, made iu America, the cist of which ie £300 Mr. Heinus has, in his factor.y, a magnetic lasting machiie, by means of which a magu-tic hammer picks up and drives in the tingles in a most marvello'is and ingenious manner. Steam powtr is employed by Messrs. Garrett Brothers and Mr. Trenwith in driving thi-ir machinery, the others driving theirs by manual labour. We mention all this in order to show that no expense has been spared by the wholesale manufacturers in fitting up their establishments with the very latest and most improved machinery which can be obtained from abroad. Every year, sine? Mr. !lemr.3 first commenced business, some new brand of goods never before attempted has been started, such as the lighter fancy article?, and now he is making Cashmere and lasting goods. The number of hands at present employed by the nine wholesale manufacturers is 32u, and the aggregate amount of good 3 turned over per mensem is about £0500, or £114,0n0 per annum. When it is taken into con. sideration that the of manufacturing boots and shoe 3 has attained such proportions in the face of all the difficulties that it ha; had to encounter, viz :—(I) The great scarcity of skilled labour, and the necessity of training hands ; (2) the heavy duties (ad valorem) on soms articles used ■which it has had to contend against, and (3) the limited demand for such gooda in a small country like tbis—when all thi3 is considered, the manufacturers now ask what may not be expected if the industry were fostered and encouraged with protective duties when the demand becomes greater, as it will become a3 the colony grows. Notwithstanding all the disadvantages under which the trade has laboured, and the universal depression that has prevailed in almost every branch of industry, this branch has been steadily on the increase, and, it it urged, needs only judicious protection to compe"e successfully with imported goods. About a month ago a meeting of all the boot and shoe manufacturers was held in Auckland for the purpose of taking into consideration the whole subject of their industry, especially with reference to the matter of some articles of raw and maun factured material used in connection with their trade that, i their opinion, should ba exempt from, duty, so as to enable them to compete successfully with the manufactures of tho old country. The universal opinion was that all the articles used in their trade, which cannot be manufactured here, ehould be admitted free, and that, on the other hand, any of which the manufacture ha 3 of late yeara been initiated, and is being carried on in this colony, should be fostered and protected by a light protective duty. What seems to be the opinion of all those interested in thi< wholesale manufacture is that, when the mating of any particular line of gooda, or j,uy material used in their business hitherto never before attempted, is initiate I in the colony, the local industry should be protected just sufficiently to enable it to be started here under some encouragement; and also, that all articles that cannot be manufactured here should be admitted duty freo. This is the broad principle oa which they all agree. Take, for instance, the one item of raw machine silk and thread, very largely used in the trade, and which is not and cannot be made, at any rate, for yeir3 to come, in this place. Last year Government was petitioned to remove the duty off this item, and another, elastics, both extensively empleyed in the manufactuie of bo its and shoes. The latter item was admitted free, but on the former, viz., silk, not only the former ad valorem duty has been retained, but an additional 5 per cent, ha? been now imposed on its importation. Linings are another very important item, entering as they do so extensively into the manufacture. Properly speaking, this item should come, it in claimed, under the tend of grindery, on which the duty has been taken oif; but there i-. no Hoe drawn defining distinctly what in included under the term "grindery." Brown d<. ill is made for HO other purpose and used for no other purpose than £or boot and ahoo linings, and as it is not and cannot bo made here it should be admitted ree. It may be urged that vvvre this done, it would leave open a door for drapers to bring in free other artioles-auch as cs.li.-oe3, linens, and drill, which are also used for liuiusa under tho head of boot and shoe linings; but against this objection is brought the fact that "coachmakers'cabcoe," have but only about one-bixth of the entire quantit/o£ calf that is used here can be, aur, plied in'colonial calf, that being about the proportion that is grown m the colony At present the duty on all kinds of leather is Id per lb., and on sole leather Jd per lb. What the majority of these firms now desire is, that all imported leather of any kind whatsoever that is not manufactured here should be admitted free,* anc

they would be willing to pav even an increased duty of 2d or even 3d a lb. on such leather as is manufactured here—such an colooial calf, kip, tweed'; also, on no e leather, of which a supply can be g"t here. By the new tariff, mon ceo, roan, japanue 1, and enamellel kaf:cr, and tanned and dressed sealskins :.nd goit-kma have b en admitted free, but these are all us.d hy coaebmakcre, an 1 do not affect the trade of b.mt :>n I sho; manufacturers. The imported leathers, which cannot and are nnc attempted t> bu manufactured here, are English and French calf, German and American kid, Levant, patent leathers. A linn in Sydney, to lie sun;, has c'inincucel the manufaoturj of patent lea'her, but ic cannot compete in quality with the iinpirteii article, anil, :<» boot luauufjutur.-rs uiust have the very best article, it is n it much used by them. Snould the manufacture be. attempted here it would then be time to move for some provision to prut.'ct aud foster such a losal iudustry. U'pm au average' takinc the business done by all the iiruis in m.v.iufacturin:.: boots and shoes in Au.-nhud. fully on■: hall of the out turn li:ids a maiket wilhm tuo province of Auckland, anil uf the o'.i.er half, the- greater portw, goes t> the South ialaud, -villi a sin dler supply to ihe South Sea I*Uuds. We are intoruicd that the making of boots an 1 shoes is cairied on more largely in Audi land than in all the rest cf the colony put together, and if this be so, it bears out what we have already stated, that we po-s-.-s *uj> -lior facilities us a manufacturing pla <.-. 'lbere are four tiruis in Auckland engaged in the manufacture of uppers, viz. : A. it. and F. Goodacre, Jon s & Co , W. Hylaud, Messrs. Kattorns and Shepherd. The number of hands employed by the four linns, amount in all. Ac the pres-.-nt, to about -10. 'J'hese four tirms, at the present time, turn out about 300 pars per week, or 1200 pairs a month. Kiyhteen months n,'o, there were not less than GOO pairs a wci k made. Tliero are several reasons for t!:o falliuy-off of the buiiuesa. Oa« was th ■ duty having been taken oil' the timber ; and, as many of the m> u employed in the buali wore tho c lonial-nuulc uppers, t -ing tlirjwn out of employment t>y the saw-milis being shut up, they came into the towns and bought other boots. But the principal cause they attribute to the duty at preient on imported uppers not being suliiciently high to give the local industry protection. They contend that, if their busuuss w.is protected, s> that they could have a change of competing, with any hope of. success, with the imported article, they could easily employ three or four times :is many hands. The same quality i>f goods that cost litre 7s :S.l.cost ouly u< 3d in tli« old con. itry, leaving a il tl'erence of ~ 5 as a margin t>> compete agains;. To give the manufacturer a chance of competing with imported goods, what they desire is to have the duty on uppers, at present 15 per cent., raised to 25 per cent. They also coincide in the desire of the wiuicsale doot and shoe manufacturers to have all articles of raw or manufactured mat-.rial used in connection with their particular industry, that cannot he made here, admitted free of duty, and t> put a protective duty on any that can be. manufactured here, as before spjcilied. The average import of uppers into Auckland is. about 2750 pairs pc- annum. With reference to the foregoing, and as au intimate connection one industry with the other, Messrs. Ireland Brothers, tauners, of Vuleau Lane, state that in their opinion I which they hive urged on Major Atkinson only rcry recently) the following articles should all be protected by having a duty of at least 20 per cent. ad valorem placed upon them. These can all be nude in the colony :—Sa Idlery and of all descriptions, boots and shoes, boot and shoe vamps and uppers, leather straps of all kinds, leggings aud gaiters of all kinds, leather hose (suction and delivery), leuhtr tire-buckets, millbelting, leather laces of all kiuds, leather cut int) shape, rosettes of leather. On all the above, with tLe exception of millbelting, there is at present a duty of 10 p-r ceut In addition, Ireland Brothers advocate that on sole or kip leather, Id p-r lb. should be paid instead ot Oh I as at present ; on kips, 2d per lt>., instead of Id as at present ; on all other kinds of leather, 2d per • b., instead of Id, as at present.