BRITISH STEEL TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19217, 5 January 1926, Page 11

BRITISH STEEL TRADE.

A STATE OF DEPRESSION. DOMINION ORDERS WANTED. CONTRAST WITH AMERICA. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] WELLINGTON. Monday. A general air of prosperity was noted in America by Mr. C. J. McKenzie, assistant engineer-in-chief of the Public Works Department, who has returned from a nine months' trip abroad during which ho studied modern methods in engineering. Canada, too, appeared to Be fairly prosperous, but the picture was wholly different in England. The general engineering and steel industry in Britain, said Mr. McKenzie, was in a very bad state, and the firms were at their wits' end to get orders to keep going. " They can do with every order we can give them from New Zealand," he remarked, and added that if they desired to help the Mother Country through her difficulties New Zealand firms could not do better than place orders for their requirements at Home. British industrialists recognised that New Zealand had helped Britain a very great deal, and for this they were grateful, but they were never more in need of our practical support than at the present moment. Numerous inquiries were being received at tho High Commissioner's Office from British engineering firms as to the prospects of getting orders from the Dominion. They wanted all they could get. As an instance oT the stagnation in the iron and steel Industry Mr. McKenzie mentioned that one large firm which turned out steel rails was only running with three out of its twelve roller mills. Matters were not so dull in the motor and electrical engineering trades, and both appeared to be doing fairly well.