STEEL ORDERS DELAYED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16499, 27 March 1917, Page 6

STEEL ORDERS DELAYED

. EFFECT OF WAR IN CANADA. ■ " ~' " .1 . j ALL TRANSPORT CONGESTED. life The inroads of the German submarines / upon ; our ,shipping . resources is telling , more: and ■:; more upon Now Zealand's import trade, and on no branch of it more seriously than that with the eastern ports of ' Canada, which this Dominion greatly t depends just now i for its supply of niaiiu- j « factured ciron' and rsteel.'; One Auckland j :,, firm alone has at present orders placed j .*. with Canadian; houses; for steel ■; :ind ; ron i ', work' to the 'value of £250,000, which '■ are largely blocked 4 by- the shortage of shipping and the-congestion on the Cana-! '. dian railways. . - ;. 8 «/Tho/sinking;' of the Otaki will accentuate " the difficulty, for she -was to have none ;, about this time to St./ John 'to load -New. | 7 Zealand cargo, though' l it: was, • according j I to one correspondent, doubtful whether I the ; state .of/railway-traffic; would -enable 1 sufficient goods to come forward to make ' up a full lading,-and whether, therefore, 5 her sailing would not be ' materially de- • layed. A letter from one Canadian' > house, : dated February 17, : says :— Ow- .; ing to considerable coneestion on our rail- { roads, a freight 7 embargo Von: all export i material has been declared. The conges-j ) Hon has been : accentuated by the submal rine menace starting on February 1. The I j New Zealand . Shipping Company advises j j that it is powerless /to; get / any .' license, - and unless the embargo ceases to be very - soon, .we are.; afraid /very little stuff fur • New Zealand can go forward."/ The same i writer mentions that the Ohiki wa» to be i the. February steamer -from St. John, but , that it was doubtful.at. the time of writI ing whether enough cargo would be forth- : coming -, for her sailing.-. -'• ': ;'. ; ; Another Canadian - firm .writes': •-'' Ow- • mgj to the embargoes now existing on all , export trade,; everything is tied :up here, . and there is .no possibility : of - moving ( freight; whatever. , :> The railways can give ; us.• no idea as to when'the- present situation will be relieved, so that far as , we : *° : concerned .'we are' absolutely at a , standstill. "7.:/ //-/ ;•■■ 7 ' ~ ..- J - [ Yet another firm, says; writing on Feb- : ruary 13, "Our own output of steel is required for munitions, so we are com- • pelled to purchase our'raw material in the open . market, 7 principally in the United . States. 7At present . there exist embargoes on all . tho : railways : to ;Montreal.. and district, • .unless..:- the goods are required for ■ munitions, so that we are entirely at the - mercy of the" railroads until:' they have relieved the congestion that exists nil . along railway systems, and, 'although the embargoes have been in -".existence-for the past three weeks, there does not seem to /be much... sign ■< of any improvement. I i Apparently the railways are short of roll-1 big-stock,' both cars and locomotives, and,■ j of course, the shortage of labour makes it j I impossible to, repair quickly any damaged ] engines that come into the shops. As a result, we; find ! : ourselves. to-day / short of rods, bolts, coal, oil, spelter, staves for j J kegs, and a large variety, of other. articles | that;- are 'i needed to ,; keep our plant in { operation, _ Scrap iron is delayed in arrival./ affecting •; our rollin? mill programme | pipe strips that have been in transit 'for 1 sis weeks or more are not here yet; wire rods are very difficult to obtain, and; any J falling-off . in the output of our" rolling wire! mills i naturally ; restricts . operations in our!' subsidiary plant,' - such - as s wire nail and cut nail factories, bolt works, horseshoe j works, etc. A general survey of the situa-1 tion makes it very clear that until some iraDrovement takes' place in transport con-! ditioris ■ wo \ are ' riot. fair to ourselves' arid ' our customers if wo make predictions with : regard to our output /and- deliveries of. goods that are • apt ; to prove over-optimis-tic." •/•/ '~:,:' 'I/-: '=' ,:- . . '-/Then a Pittsburg firm wirtes on Febru- : ary ,21 about the effect of the winter, cold j upon I the supply of gas, for both domestic j and manufacturing j purposes.;; 7" Many of:. the industries," says the writer, " have l been obliged to 'close. Tlie- river has been', low and frozen, which prevented tho free , movement of coal to our different plants.*' Car transportation has been bad, power for ■ the movement of trains has been inadequate; 'j in,fact, . everything : that. could , retard the . manufacturing and shipping' of I steel has been developed this winter." j