RAILWAY WORKSHOPS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1926, Page 16

RAILWAY WORKSHOPS.

TENDERS FOR MACHINERY. ABOUT £150,000 INVOLVED. PREFERENCE TO BRITAIN. Wellington,’ Monday. The selection of tenders for the first year's programme of bringing workshop equipment up to date has been completed by the Machinery Advisory Committee of the Railways Department, consisting of Mr. G. S. Lynde, chief mechanical engineer, Mr. E. T. Spidy, production engineer, Mr. R. P. Angus, locomotive engineer, and Mr. A. E. P. Walworth, workshops manager, Petone. Subject to satisfactory financial arrangements the recommendations made by this committee have been approved. Those who reported on the electrical equipment were Mr. F. Kissel, chief Government electrical engineer, Mr. G. A. Gavey, inspecting electrical engineer, Public Works Department, and Mr. G. W. Wyles, assistant signal engineer. When an investigation made by the production engineer was completed last year the requirements were divided into three groups, representing the machinery required in three annual periods. That allocated to the first year will involve the expenditure of about £150,000 and is machinery which, for economic reasons, is required to replace -he obsolete equipment. It also includes additional new machinery made necessary by the requirements of modern shop practice. The new machines will enable additional output to be made. The new machines will be installed in existing workshops and will be transferred to the new workshops when the latter are ready. The second year’s allotment is to be similar to that of the first year, but that for the third year comprises the heavier machinery to be installed direct into the new workshops which are to be completed within three years. Most of the machinery to be obtained this year will not require special foundations of any kind, and as the machines are independently motor driven small expense will be entailed in setting them up, as for the most part electrical connections only will be needed.

In considering the tenders the utmost attention has been paid to the principle of Imperial preference, and when prices were being compared the preference rate was added to all foreign tenders. Altogether 127 separate tenders were received and, with the exception of ten contracts to the United States and one to a Canadian firm, all the work has been given to British firms. All the heaviest machinery is being manufactured in Britain. A number of foreign tenders were received and some tenders for foreign machinery were submitted by British firms. Some difficulty was experienced in a number of cases in finding British firms who were prepared to meet the department’s specifications. The tendency very often was to offer what these firms regularly turned out instead of giving what was required, in spite of the fact that there was nothing in the specifications which did not conform to accepted railway practice. Ths first lot of the machinery in this years’ allocation is to be delivered within four months and the balance of the allotment for the year is to be to hand bv January, 1927.