CUTLERY AND PLATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16497, 24 March 1917, Page 8

CUTLERY AND PLATE.

« c EFFECT OF WAR CONDITIONS. J The great war demand for cutlery,' the t effects of which are felt in the New Zea- c land as well as the Home markets, has t cone on during tho greater part of the last I year. An extract from the annual trade 1 review of the London Chamber of Cora- t mcrco, received by an Auckland firm, is as < follows:— 1 Many millions of knives, forks, razors, * and spoons.were required by tho Govern- t ment—so many,' in fact, as to cover the c entire output of the trade for months, t Early in the year 'an arrangement was t made, whereby . every maker was required a to supply 80 per coat, of his output* to l the Government. The remainder was en- t 1 tirelv insufficient to meet the, ordinary a Homo and export trade; which has been a excentionally brisk. When tho Govern- o ment contracts were completed in Sep* o tember very few of them were renewed, e but this fact did not help the manufac- ( hirers to turn their attention to.private t business, as the military authorities took i advanta-e of the opportunity to debadgo cutlerv and plate workers, of military age, a and enrol them in tho army. Hence .pri- j, vate orders had no better chance than c , thev had had of execution in the previous - six to twelve months. The export trade . had taken practically air the limited out- k put. the Homo trade having been left almost alone. Hundreds of shopkeepers had no cutlery on. their shelves except a few odd patterns. For the medium and cheat) classes of electro-plate there is a brisk demand, but inability to get the « metal rolled prevents manufacturers from, doing a quarter of ,tho trade that they have offered to them. ..'.■'■ "The' price of '*■ stainless and rustless steel for table cutlerv has gone up 50 per N cent. Tho full development of this 0 material is not possible during the war, hut when normal conditions are restored : it is sure to progress in many directions. a ' 'At the close of the year the'cutlery, and a electro-plate trades were placed in diffi- w cult positions by the Government restric- I] tions on the use of, steel and copper, the rj latter f. being ': an ■■' essential' ingredient in p nickel silver, and the outlook in both a j branches at the. time of writing is dis- D quieting.; If the regulations are carried out hi their present form they will prob- i ablv result in the closing down of a large • part of both the trades mentioned." -~ ','[ 1 . ■ *" ■ ai