COLONIAL AMMUNIATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6682, 2 January 1900, Page 4

COLONIAL AMMUNIATION.

: ■ •.■■;;,,...■ ... ». ... ■„ : - -„-: ,At the last meeting I 'cf the Canter'b>ry- Industrial Association, the •. follow-' ; ing letter was .. received from tie Colonial Ammunition Company, of Auck^ Hand, dated Nov.. :29:— We shall esteem it | a favour if your Association will help our industry here in anyway your Council may suggest. -It is an industry which required a large capital' to ctart, on' account of the 1 large nurabsrofmachijies. necessary to turn out- each , cartridge; and we have put close ;on £30,000' into the business here. The quality of our ammunition cannot be beaten ,by any-maker, a,nd thisis proved by nu,merous .testimonials we hold, and the fact that with if many, valuable prfzes have been , won. We hold two- world's records for our military ammunition in ," New Zealand, and five or six for our Australian. Captain Horsley, of. Christchurch, visited our works last week, and' has p kindly offered to &how your Council samples of our manufacture, as turned out at V 6ur works in Auckland. Messrs Charle3 Bean and .Co.',' our agents for Qanterbury, would be 'glad to show-your i Council photographs, of our works. Since these photographs were taken, we have ino'eaEed our plant! by the addition of about ten more large. machines.. .Not only do we manufacture all the various kinds of ammun ition at our : works, but all tools, > dies, • punches, gauges iind engineers' tools are 'made by -us, at bur Auckland works. For instance, one' .303 cartridge, case goes through four draws before it is of the cor,rect length; .one: of tho drawing dies and punches Will only turn out, at the very most, 6000 of. one draw,' fad often will not turn out 2000. T^e" output of one, drawing machine is about' 2o/)00 per diem.' The wear and.tear'ih '.•tool's for cartridge making is very .severe, owing to the small limits we have to. work »tp. For instance, the limit allowed' ih diameter of each draw is only .Go2in.j. .'this r is' the largest limit we are allowed, .aiid^onie.gp as low tas .0005 in. In the manufacture of- tools we have to use micrometer calipers, which will gouge to .OOOlin of "the correct size. *All mechanics, engineers and apprentices have' to work to micrometer ...calipers,, and each has one' or more supplied to him, to ensure turning out accurate work,, but : to give an idea of the extent 'of our operations would necessitate a visit to. our works. If yourself , the* President or any officer, in ,'your Council should visit Auckland, .we should esteem it a favour if you would acquaint us of their visit a; fewdays before, they expect to arrive here, and we can assure you that we, will give any that would care to visit ouV works a hearty welcome ".and show, all we possibly can, ..Ammunition requires the use of so many machine's (ricrae of which can be dispensed with), to turn out each 'cartridge, that it is absolutely necessary to lay clown a lajge plant. Of coxtree you will understand how diac6uraging.it is to us'tp.have.any of this machinery standing idle at times, and know merchants . are. importing ammunition from abroadi It speaks little for the loyalty of New Zealariders to their own industries. In Great Britain there are only three sporting cartridge manufacturers, in America two. . Great Britain has six military ammunition manufacturers, three of which manufacture also x sporting cartridges, ■ as mentioned- above.- Our ammunition works in, Auckland and Melbourne are the only oneß of 'an/Kind or description south of the Equator. -Canada- and India, have their own ammunition factories, but these v have only been started of late years, and a«re worked by the 1 different Governments. In spite of the fact. that the/output of military ammunition in. Great Britain is 700,000,000 rounds per annum, the Government there had to order .a very largo quantity from America last October. If, when we are engaged in a small. -war, such as that in South Africa, ', ammuniti6n"has* to be obtained from out- j side by Imperial . authorities, what chance would the colonies have of getting supplied in time of n^ed?. None from ( Britain, who cannot: seemingly supply .her own ; wants. We 'mention, this ;to show, why- every colonist should support .us, for we are working an industry .which may, some day, be the chief- faotor-'ofj" saving /to New : Zealanders - ttieir hearths-and- homes. . : •,. , .