Shifield's Dilemma.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1440, 5 October 1899, Page 12

Shifield's Dilemma.

t- FOSC- 1) TO IMPORT LABOUR o-V OR LOSE ORDERS. .':. = ; ' . _ ••:>'■' A syndicate- cf -bneSeld .joaanafketirers -:ri(Writes a./-Laader. coTreepoßdent).- are, •prosecuting inquiries in Sweden as to thet ..possibility of their obtaining Swedish. -workmen skiilecJ in the iron and steel ■trades. .... ■nd'ilie ever - increasing activity since .--last has brought into, iull ern- . pioyment every hand possessing &ny prac- : tical- acquaintance with the manipulation •of iron and steeh But the supply of labour lias entirely failed to keep pace with, the demand ior the manufacturers of the heavier trades ox Sheffield . ;. :< , At all .iiie other British centres cf the -iron trade there has been no such thing . as surplus labour for many months new, ■ and employers have, been driven to the . expedient of casting about for foreign labour. . - ' The fact of the matter is that the '.gloomy predictions to which the going. of big engineering contracts,tp. America . and Germany gave rise iver© the work ... of most superficial observers, who entirely failed to note the one material . fact that only the inability of workshops in England to take on heavy, orders for delivery within any fixed period accounted for the orders going abroad. ; The Swedes, of course, have some experience of tne iron and steel industries, and the Sheffield manufacturer would far rather get workmen from Sweden than 'see Orders going to America and Germany.