COUNCIL TIP-TRUCKS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11302, 30 August 1922, Page 5

COUNCIL TIP-TRUCKS

EMPLOYMENT LOST TO GITY CONTRACT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOCAL. WELLINGTON FIRM’S VIEW. By request, a “Times” representative again met Mr Janies Cable, of W. Cable and Co., one of the firms which tendered for the 16 tip trucks required by the City Council. After a brief conversation in reference to our previous article, Mr Cable made the following state men t: — LOWER WAGES, LONGER HOURS. “I read with great interest your article appearing in Saturday’s ‘Times’ re the above. “T. raised this point in the Conciliation Council for the purpose only of proving to the union assessors that unless wages could be reduced and longer hours worked than those at present ruling, employers could not successfully compete in very many instances against the imported article. ‘‘Tenders for those trucks were advertised for, but on applying for a copy of the specifications I found that no copies were available, and it was not until nine o’clock o? the day the tenders closed that I was able to get these necessary documents. Manifestly there was no time to get a reply the same day to any cable sent Home ie the price of steel rails, but as separate prices were asked for the rails and trucks I was quite in order in not submitting a price for tbo rails. “I was interested indeed to learn that ‘local trucks would be a much inferior article,’ and I give this statement a point-blank denial. New Zea-land-made goods are quite up to the standard set by older countries, and in many respects better; hut it seems the correct thing by some people to order their requirements from the Old Country or America instead of supporting local industries. “ ‘New Zealand’s work for New Zealanders’ should be the policy adopted by the Government, civic authorities, local bodies, etc. “The specification reads, 'local wagons to be similar in every way to sample wagons at present in use by the City Council to be seen at corporation yard, Clyde quay.’ “My firm tendered in conformity with this clause and it was for the city engineer to see that he received a thoroughly workmanlike job when he was inspecting the trucks had they been made at any of the local works. He would not be asked to pass any ‘much inferior trucks.’

“If preference is shown towards imported trucks with ball-bearings, why the stipulation that locally-made trucks are to be made to a sample truck with ordinary bearings? NO TIME TO SEND HOME.

Regarding difference in costs. Local tenders for tbese trucks were based on stocks held in this country, and as a tenderer was required to state time of delivery, naturally it was taken that, the trucks were required in a hurry, consequently the matter of obtaining the material from the Old Country at considerably reduced prices was not considered, especially as the quantity of ball-bearings required was not procurable within the colony. “In speaking yesterday with members of the other three engineering firms, Mr Morton’s remarks re ‘bolstering up local manufacturers at such a high cost’ were strongly resented, and the opinion was expressed that this was a contract that should have been placed locally, irrespective of price as employees of certain firms have been on half-time for the past ten months owing to the scarcity of work. In my case on receiving notiro that my firm’s tender was declined (indolently I received by the same tnai’. the usual half-yearly demand for rates) I dismissed ten men, there being no work for them. Some of these men are married, and as far as my inquiries go I understand they have not had any work to do since. “I would now ask whether it is a better policy to send work overseas and institute relief work for local unemployed men, or whether the work, such as the manufacture of tip wagons, should be carried out in the city even at a higher cost.” A WRONG INTERPRETATION. Mr Cable quotes part of a remark made by Mr Morton “local trucks would be a much inferior article,” but the sentence concludes “and not ballbearing.” While speaking with Mr Cable our representative pointed out to him that Mr Morton did not imply directly or indirectly that the local trucks were inferior to the specifications, and the remark that he did was to the effect that the local trucks were inferior in respect of the fact that they were not ball-bearing. He did not say that the body of the truck, apart from the bearings, was inferior.