THE AMMUNITION COMPANY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4672, 16 June 1893, Page 1

THE AMMUNITION COMPANY.

The chronic dispute between the Colonial Ammunition Company and the Victorian Defence Department, as to the price of ammunition, has again culminated in the stoppage of the Works at Footscrsy. Thiß dispute arises in connection with the price to be paid for ammunition already supplied and to be supplied from June last year' to the end- of .this" month. Some 300,000 rounds have already been delivered, and A 200,000 more'would be due before the end of -the month under the contract by which the Government is to take 2,000,000 ;a year. The highest price the Secretary for Defence will pay for this ammunition is £4 10s. per 1000, which the Company declines to. accept, on the ground that the lease provides that the. ammunition will oe paid for on the basis of the current price in England. The London Directors of the Company telegraph that the English price at present is M 11b, which, with the cost of shipment to the Colony, makes the price £5 la 2d, Although the Government contract is to : take 2,000,000 rounds a year, the Company jhas had orders for only 800,000 rounds 'since last June, and the works cannot be kept going on so small a business.