Milton Pottery.

Otago Witness, Issue 1622, 23 December 1882, Page 31

Milton Pottery.

(Bruce Herald.)

The latest outcome of the h"re at the Milton Pottery is very disheartening to all interested in the progress of the industry. The Company is to be placed in liquidation, and the directors have decided to recommend the shareholders that the assets be turned over to them in the shape of paid-up shares in a new company. Should -this proposal find favour with the shareholders, we fear that, after all the reverses which have been experienced, it will be almost impossible to raise the large amount of new capital required to reinstate the works, it h true operations might be commenced in a humbler way, for it is now apparent that the directors have been too ambitious, and in their endeavours to supply the market with superior white ware they have sunk a vast amount of capital, and have rather neglected the production of the commoner class of goods, which, under the peculiar circumstances in which the industry was placed, yielded the largest amount of profit. Whether they will be willing to start again in this humbler fashion remains to be seen. The resolve to place the Company in liquidation did not arise entirely through the loss sustained by the fire, although had it not been for that calamity it is not likely such a step would have been decided upon. To show the position of affairs, we may mention that tVvo years ago, when the Company commenced the manufacture of^ white ware, prices were settled upon a satisfactory basis with the men then employed, and a year afterwards, at Martinmas, according to Staffordshire custom, a new arrangement waa made at a small advance, and the men were perfectly satisfied arid content. Disaffection has, however, been imported with the new hands lately arrived. The agreement made by the manager with these men at Homo was that they were to receive from 20 por cent, to 25 per cent, above Staffordshire prices, and a firm was mutually agreed upon whooe taiiff was to form the basiG of their scale of payment, But two or three

of these last arrivals speedily showed a spirit of discontent, and held meetings and consultations, which culminated the day before the fire in a demand for a rise in prices, which would have brought them up to about 70 per cent, above Home rates. The manager reasoned with them : he pointed out that they could import at that figure, and if the men received an advance of 70 per cent., and the cost of other labour was three times as high as at Home, and other expenses proportionately greater, how could they compete with the Home market ? But the men would not listen to reason. Then came the fire, and then the end — or the begin ning of the end. It may also be mentioned that it was stipulated that in the event of the men in one branch of the trade striking the agreement with the whole was nullified. It will thus be seen that these two or three men have not only thrown themselves out, and rendered themselves ineligible to claim compensation, but they have placed all the imported hands in the same fix. This being the case, the directors felt that they would not be justified in incurring a large expenditure when so little reliance could be placed upon the men ; and we are informed that it was on this ground more than any other that the decision was arrived at to liquidate the Company. We have foreborne comment upon the above facts, but simply place before the public a plain statement of the circumstances which have led up to the present unfortunate state of affairs. Unless confining their operations to coarse ware, the manager considers that it would be folly to start again without erecting a threestorey building with all modern conveniences to contain the plant, and this could not be done under from seven to ten thousand pounds. By the stoppage of the pottery works, many of the hands are left in a state bordering upon destitution, and something must be done to relieve their more immediate necessities. Those in greatest need are the recent arrivals, but nearly all are in great difficulties A movement is on foot with the laudable object of providing each family with a good Christmas dinner in the first instance, and subsequently of giving assistance in such other ways_ as may be expedient and possible. For this purpose donations in money or in kind will be thankfully received by E. Stewart, Esq., Mayor of the borough, Mr H. Henderson, manager of the pottery, and at the office of this paper.