A CRIPPLED INDUSTRY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8447, 20 February 1899, Page 2

A CRIPPLED INDUSTRY.

Wim.sr shipbuilding is booming, another of Hie industries lhal has been in great pronnnenec in Kngland during r lie pustl feu- yours, is snlVering a'• .slump. '" The cycle boom has met with a puncture, and within a few weeks .|inti> a number of companies found themselves in wro need of repairs .-mil reconstruction. It, is estimated that the lots to liiimingham and distiiet tlirough this slump at the end of the \c.\v was not less than twe.vo millions of j pounds, to say nothing of the weakening I of con/idence in business methods and j integrity. The indirect loss tlnou»li the! discharge from work and idleness of j highly-skilled workmen must be added. ' The principal cause of the clipping nf tbu 1 industry lias been over-capitalisation »t ■ many of the cycling companies, in ccmscj(|ueuee of which their have, ln-i-n ovcr-pticcd, ami maikets have been lo<-t to Kngliind in all diicctioris. " lU-i-kle-s promoting,-' said Lord Ru.s-.ell, the Chief ' Justice, m his charge to the Lord .Mayor, " his inflicted great pecunian lo.sson'the community, loss largely borne by those who are least able to bear it, Uluutin^ the .sharp sense of honor and hesimrcliiiig honorable names." fn the suveu yen's between ISStO and ]Sf!7 the loss to creditors and .sharehoJdurs m companies, compulnorily wound up, has been over iiS, 1)00,00(1. To this gifj.iiitic total ] f ii«c additions Mere made in ]S!)S. A tiade'whieh was once sound, prosperous, and expansive has been crippled. It is satisfactory to note that the Imperial I'ailiament Ins now undertaken a revision of the company Inus with a view to cheeking frauds that are disastrous to industry and eonnneice.