AUSTRALIAN STEEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21114, 23 February 1932, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN STEEL.

AN INADEQUATE MARKET. OPINION OF AMERICAN." EVIL OF BASIC WAGE. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON, Monday. With some of the finest iron ores ir* the world, Australia has all the facilities needed- If) manufacture steel of highest quality, in the opinion of Mr. Thomas M. Jewell, a Chicago consulting engineer, who is a through passenger by the Monowai from Sydney to Sun Francisco. Mr. Jewell has spent Hip lust* two years in a professional capacity,-at the Broken Hill Proprietary's Newcastle steel works, where he has been advising the company upon mill practice. He regards the basic wage in Australia as detrimental to industry, Mr. Jewell stated. Australia had some of the best ores in the world and prospects were very good, but the industry had not developed sufficiently, nor was the demand large enough, to warrant production on a really profitable basis. IF New Zealand were talking now, as lie understood it to be, of building automobiles, it would probably have to to Britain for its steel. In Australia they had not got the industry to a stage at which they could put their high-pro-duction steel mills on to a paying basis. In the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge about 50,000 tons of steel had been used, of which perhaps 11,000 tons had been made by the Broken Hill Proprietary and the Australian Iron and Steel Company. Nevertheless, thev had facilities in Australia for making just as good steel as was made anywhere else. All the tinplate used in Australia came from Britain, but they were making for themselves a good proportion of the iron they required. "One of the greatest curses over there in Australia," said Mr. Jewell, "is the basic wage set up by the Government. It shuts out all individual effort. I should not be anywhere if I had been raised in a country liko that. I am only a practical man; all my life has been spent in steel plants. On my last job in the United States I had charge of 750 men. Tho trouble about the basic wage is just what I have stated. A healthier condition is created when capital and labour realise thaft their interests are identical, and when capital is always (ready to pay labour its worth: That is the way I feel about it." HIGHER DAIRY YIELD. NORTHERN WAIROA RETURNS. LARGE PAY-OUT TO SUPPLIERS. [ill' TF.r.FGltAl'ir. —OWN' CORRESPONDENT.] DAItGAVILLE, Monday. The monthly and seasonal returns from the Northern Waiioa Co-operative Dairy Company show that a good season is being experienced with a larger pay-out anil production than for the corresponding month and season of last year. This season has certainly been the best dairying season experienced for a very Jong period. Plenty of feed and just enough rain at the right time keep the pastures growing. The increased production has more than offset the low prices, with the result that (he suppliers' returns for the season to date are just under £20,000 more than they received last year. Although the peak has about passed, present indications are that the increase in output and pay-out will continue and that all previous records will bo broken. Including the returns for the neighbouring factory at Ruawai, the dairy farmers of the Northern Wairoa district have received just under £3<J,OOO more this season for butter-fat than for the same period last season. The judges at the recent shows held in the district who have come from other dairying districts in the Auckland Province have been much struck with the quality of the dairy stock and the suitability of the land and climate for butter-fat production, one judge going so far a s to say that he had seen nothing better in the Dominion. The returns are as follows, tho figures for the corresponding month of last season and season to date being given in parentheses:—Butter made in January, 1932, 396Jr tons (354§ tons). Butter made during present season to January 31, ISl2£ tons (1651 tons). Butfer-fat received in January, 1932, 728,900.911b. (650,266.921b.). Butter-fat received during season to date, 2,491,7131b. (3,022.9511b.). Pay-out in January. 1932 ( at BJrd a lb., £27,064 14s (£26,839 lis 2d). Pay-out during present, season to January 51, £144,946 6s lOd (£126,917 16s 2d).

DAI BY riiODUCE EXPORTS. SHIPPING SPACE ALLOTTED. LARGE AUCKLAND QUOTA. Shipping space for 741,171 .boxes of butter and 239,019 crates of cheese lias been allotted by the Dairy Produce Board on steamers leaving New- Zealand for the United Kingdom between February 26 and April 23. Of these amounts the Auckland province '.will export 514,107 boxes- of butter,- about 69 per cent, of the Dominion total, and 34,858 crates of cheese, or approximately 14 per cent, of the allocation for the whole of New Zealand. In the following tablo the allocations for butter, in boxes, are mentionod first, and those for cheese, in crates, second: —

The final ports of the various vessels aro as follows: —Auckland : Westmoreland, Otira, Kent, Taranaki, Piako, Port Alma. Wellington: Karamea, Otaio, Bemuera, Mahia, Raiigitiki, Port Hunter, Port Brisbane, Tamaroa, Tongariro, Cambridge, Ruahine, Kin, Ora. Lyltelton: Coptic, Maimoa, Port Wellington. Port Chalmers: Pi rt Napier. "Wanpanui: Port Tirie. Napier: Huntingdon. Bluff: Somerset, Zealandic. The shipments by the Karamea, Port Pine, Somerset, Kent, Cambridge and Maimoa are partly for West Coast ot'the United Kingdom ports.

Steamer. From Dom. Pails. Due U.K. Akld. Totals. Karumeii .. ieb. 2G Apl. 1 31.746 50,000 Otaio 3.8S1 17,500 Feb. 26 Apl. 1 — 20.000 Hemuora . . 7,000 Feb. 27 Apl. 2 29.500 SO.ooo Wesl'land . 5,500 Mch. 1 Apl. 7 4'.mo 50,000 Hutit'don . 5.000 15,600 Mch. 2 Apl. 8 25.080 40.171 Otira — 15.419 Mch. 7 Apl. 1G 59.500 60.000 Mahia . . ! . 6,677 7,000 Mch. 8 Apl. 16 15.431 16,000 P. Pirie .. Mch. 8 Apl. 19 20.750 5,000 25,000 Coptic 2,300 G.Soo Mch. 11 Apl. 1-1 20,000 , , 12,700 Somerset . Mch. 1G Apl. 22 13.000 _ 17,450 Zoalandic . Mch. 20 Apl. 26 9,000 Kent 11.800 Mch. 22 Apl. 2S 51.000 51.000 Rangitiki . 9,000 19,000 Mch. 24 Apl. 27 29,000 35,000 P. Hunter . Mch 24. May 7 20.000 P, Brisbane 6,600 Mch. 31 May 12 — 20,000 6,800 Tavarinki . . Apl. i May 9 42.500 46,000 6.000 7,000 Tnmaroa . . A pi. G May 9 20.000 20,000 Tongariro . Apl. G May 1G 4'.000 — 20.000 Piako Apl. S May 18 46,000 46.000 Port Alma Apl. 9 May 17 44,500 50.000 Cambridge . Apl. 9 May 19 20,000 30,000 2,500 11.400 Muimoa Apl. 14 May 23 — 14.000 19,850 P. Well'ton Apl. 15 May 25 — 16.000 — 20,600 P. Napier . Apl. 19 May 30 31,500 40,000 Rualiine . . Apl. 23 May 29 18.000 — 5,200 Kia Ora . . Apl. 23 May 31 — — — 7.200