MUSEUM SHOWCASES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19718, 18 August 1927, Page 10

MUSEUM SHOWCASES.

ORDER TO ENGLISH FIRM. LOCAL ENGINEER'S CLOSE BID SMALL DIFFERENCE IN PRICE. PROTEST AGAINST DECISION. The tender of Messrs. A. Edmonds and Company, Birmingham, England, for showcases for the Auckland War Memorial Museum has been accepted, the price being £20,964, f.0.b., England. The showcases, of which about 350 are required, are to be of glass in bronze frames. It is estimated that it will cost about. £6OOO to land them in Auckland, bringing the price up to £27,000. A protest against the contract being given to an English firm when the work could have been done in Auckland at about the same price has been made by the Manufacturers' Association. It' is pointed out that the tender of Mr. Thomas W. Parsons, of Mount Albert. Road, was £27.183. or about equal to the English price, plus insurance, freight, etc. The association, therefore, considers that the contract should Jjave been let locally, thus encouraging local manufacture, providing work for Auckland artisans, and keeping the money, for labour at least, in New ' Zealand. It is estimated, that the contract would require the constant employment of 20 skilled workmen for 18 months at an average wage of £5 10s a week. Statement by Curator. When this viewpoint was placed before the curator of the museum, Mr. Gilbert Archey, he said that the council, after taking all things into consideration, decided that the tender of Edmonds and Company was the best one to accept. The firm had specialised in the construction of museum showcases for a t tber of years. Very few of the other tenderers had so specialised. Besides the two mentioned, other ten- ; ders received were.:—Parnoll and Sons, England, £26,396. f.0.b.; Tonson Gailick Company, Ltd., for Pollards, England, £37,557, c.i.f.; Frederick Sage and Company, London, £30,263, f.o.b. ; Waring and Gillow, London, scheme A, £32,663, scheme B, £38,218. both f.0.b.; Library Bureau, United States, £45,394, c.i.f.; Van Dorn Ironworks, United States, £49,000, c.i.f.; Holland, Hanen and Cubitts, of London. £52,000, c.i.f. Birmingham Versus Auckland. Complete confidence that he could deliver as good a job as Birmingham, or better, was expressed last evening by the unsuccessful Auckland tenderer, T. W. Parsons. He said he had wide experience of the class of work required. Some of his metal work had been done for Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. His old firm, the Bromsgrove Handicraft Guild, had won a silver medal for exhibits in the Paris Exposition. It i was not an exaggeration to say his metal work had gone to all parts of the world, an instance being orders by the Canadian Pacific Railway for their hotels throughout Canada. Because of his experience, he had been able at various times to advise Mr Archey about the showcases. The showcases were to be of all sizes, but their construction was largely an eri- . gineering job. They must be air-tight and dust-proof, and to ensure their life over hundreds of years, if needs be, he had favoured a framework of bronze The job was really one for highly-skilled engineers and he believed Auckland workmen could make them as well as, or better than Birmingham, artisans, llie Auckland engineers were .used to such a wide variety of work that they could adapt themselves better to the require ments of this particular job than could the Birmingham men with then very restricted experience It was seldom a museum job came along where great accuracy was essential, but the Auckland workmen could do it as they had shown, for instance, in various refrigeration jobs. Efficient Workmen Available. Mr. Parsons said he had no doubt he could assemble the necessary experts to complete the job on time. In fact, he had entered into a substantial bond to do so. He mentioned as a further advantage in having the work done locally that any amendments to designs could be carried out as the contract proceeded. Such changes could not, however, be made with a Birmingham contractor, and the con signments would simply have to be accepted without amendment. Moreover, the museum authorities could exercise close supervision over the work in Auckland—and he was willing to submit to reason able supervision—but no such oversight would be practicable if the work was done in Birmingham "My final contention." said Mr Parsons, "is that from Birmingham the museum will get £21,000 worth of cases, plus packing cases, insurance and freight, bringing the cost to about £28,000. By buying from me, they woulo net £27,000 worth of showcases without these heavy added costs. I am sorry their decision will keep a score of good men out of a long job and I am sorry, of course, that I am being deprived of the chance of profiting by the contract.