STEEL ORDERS DELATED.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15193, 13 April 1917, Page 7

STEEL ORDERS DELATED.

ALL TRANSPORT CONGESTED. EFFECT OF WAR IN CANADA. The in-roads of the German submarines upon our shipping resources is telling more and more upon New Zealand's import trade, and on no branch of it. more seriously than that with the eastern porta in Canada, upon which the Dominion greatly depends for its supply of manufactured iron and steel. One Auckland firm alone has at present orders placed with Canadian houses for steel and iron work to the value of ,£251>,000, which are largely blocked by the shortage of shipping "and the congestion on (•he Canadian railways. The sinking of the Otaki will accentuate the difficulty, for she was to have gone about this time to St. John to load !%ew Zealand cargo, though it was, according to one correspondent, doubtful whether the state of railway traffic would enable sufficient goods to come forward to make up a full lading, and whether, therefore, her sailing would not be materially delayed. A letter from one Canadian house, dated February 17, says:—"Owing to considerable congestion on our railroads, a freight embargo on all export material has been declared. The congestion has been accentuated by the submarine menace smarting on February 1. The New Zealand Shipping Company advises that it is powerless to get any license, and unless the embargo ceases to be very soon, wo are afraid very little stuff for New Zealand can go forward." The same writer mentions t»liat the Otaki was to be the February steamer from St. John, but that it was doubtful at the time of writing whether enough cargo would be forthcoming for her sailing. Another Canadian firm writes:—"Owing to the embargoes now existing on all export trade, everything is tied up •here, and there is no possibility of moving freight whatever. The railways can give us .no idea as to when the present situation will be relieved, so that as far as we are concerned we axe absolutely at a standstill."

Yet another firm says, writing on February 13, "Our own output of steel is required for munitions, so we are compelled to pxxrehase our raw materials in the open market, principally in the United States. At present there exists embargoes on all the railways to Montreal and district, unless the goods aTe required for munitions, so that we are entirely at the mercy of the railroads until they have relieved the congestion that exists all along the railway systems and, although the embargoes &ave been in existence for the past three weeks, there does not seem to be much sign of any improvement. Apparently the railways are short of rolling-stock, both cars and locomotives, and ,of course, the shortage of labour makes it impossible to repair quickly any damaged engines t»bat come into the shops. As a result, we tind ourselves to-day short of rods, bolts, coal, oil, spelter, staves for kegs, and a large variety of other articles which are needed to keep our plant in operation. Scrap iron is delayed in arrival, affecting our rolling-mill programme: pipe strips that have been in transit tor six weeks or more are not, here yet : wire rods are very difficult to obtain, and any falling-off in the output of our rolling wire-mills naturally restricts operations in our subsidiary plant, such as wire nail and cut nail factories, bolt works, horseshoe works, etc. A general survey of the situation makes it very clear that until some improvement takes place in transport conditions we are not fair to ourselves and our customers if we make predictions with regard to our output ami deliveries of good*; that are apt to prove over-opt i m i site.'' Then a Pittsburg firm writes on February '2l about the effect of the winter cold Upon the supply of gas for both domestic and manufacturing purposes•'Maiiy of the industries."' says the writer, ''have been obliged to close. The river has been low and frozen, which prevented the free movement of veoal to our different plants. Car transportation has been bad, power for the movement of trains has been inadequate; in fact, everything i hat could retard the manufacturing and shipping of sdeel has been developed this winter.!'