GLASS BOTTLE TRADE

Southland Times, Issue 19276, 21 June 1924, Page 6

GLASS BOTTLE TRADE

THE NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRY. Interesting details in regard to the glassmaking industry of Australia and New Zealand were supplied to an Auckland paper last week by Mr William J. Smith, managing director of the Australian Glass Manufacturers Company, Limited, who was a through passenger in the Makura. Speaking of the company’s New Zealand branch at Penrose, Mr Smith said it lost substantially during its last financial year, notwithstanding a large increase in the volume of trade. The company was working at a disadvantage, as it was compelled to make two different coloured glasses intermittently out of one furnace. The change over, which occupied two to three weeks, uj)set continuity of operations, causing both loss and inconvenience to the company a customers and the company as well. At present the company was manufacturing large quantities of bottles in Sydney, shipping them to Auckland and other Dominion ports, owing to the one-furnace difficulty, which could be overcome by the erection of another unit. That the company was prepared immediately to do, at a substantial cost, provided the New Zealand Government imposed a reasonable duty on imported bottles; and that he believed the Government would readily do when the present anomalous condition was made evident to it. In ordinary trade two shades of glass were required—amber and pale green. Owing to the insufficient tariff the company did not obtain enough orders to warrant the erection of a second furnace at Penrose, and thus had to use its one furnace for both colours. The company, Mr Smith thought, had established its contention that glass hotties could be successfully manufactured in New Zealand.