FOREIGN HARDWARE IN NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 13, 26 March 1913, Page 7

FOREIGN HARDWARE IN NEW ZEALAND.

Samples of hardware goods of foreign manufacture, which have been successful in colonial markets in active competition with similar goods of British origin, collected by lI.M. 1 Trade Commsaioner in flew- Zealand, have been displayed for inspection at the (iitlero’ Hall in Sheffield this week. The collection comprises braces and bits, breast drills, tiugers, saws, mitre boxes, hatchets and tixes, stocks and dies, lawn mowers, garden tools, planes, tailors’ and barber./ scissors, hammers, draw knives, wrenches, smith,?’ tongs, meat choppers, locks, bolts, bingo?, casters, food choppers, avringers, spoons, forks, shelf bracket.?, kettle.?, coffee pots, and lamp.?, all of United States manufacture. German samples, of which there are fewer, comprise mincers, bag hooks, pincers, forge tools, pit saw sets, screw drivers, pliers, calipers, planes, compasses, gimlets, and punches. . The Commissioner’s report states that the American axe is machine made, 'both head and haft, and that the handle is set in by machinery, whereby accuracy of balance is attained. This quality is said to account also for the popularity of American hammers, choppers and hatchets, and to some extent pf shovels. With regard to locks, the Commissioner says that the Yale lock has been in almost universal use, in spite of the fact, which was recently-demon-strated to him, that a child could learn to pick it with a thin blade of a pocket knife. British substitute.? of good quality are available, but they have to combat “a strong prejudice due to the ■length of time during which the field had been left undisputed to the United States.” British makes of hay forks are, the Commissioner says, still unchallenged where weight and strength are required, but the light forks from America have no rival at present, and are sold at a remarkably- low price. British lawn mowers are used for cricket grounds, tennis lawns, bowling greens, and golf courses, but the largest sale is to cottagers, and with this class of purchaser the cheap American machine enjoys a virtual monopoly. The American makes of farriers’ tools are, the Commissioner tells us, so well known in the Dominion that it seems impossible to displace them without an organised canvass of the forges. British firms cannot, he adds, expect retailers to take action in this direction .when the latter have a steady demand for established wares, and makers must realise that if they want to get into the market they must either present overwhelming inducements to retailers to push their goods, or,go beyond them and create a demand among users.

Another portion of the. same collection of samples is on show in Birmingham, and, according to the ’’lronmonger,”

nine-tenths of the articles there exhibited could be purchased from British manufacturers for less money than is charged by the foreign producers, and. generally speaking, the Brjtish-made goods would be of better quality. After dealing in detail with the items shown, the “Ironmonger” .sums up the situation thus: .‘’Manufacturers (English) have not much .to learn from, the examples shown, except this —and it is important—their goods are not so well known ae they might be.” In other words, whilst the Americans and Germans have been assiduously creating a demand for their good.? in New Zealand, our manufacturers in the same line of business have been content to fulfil such orders for their goods as might come along. Possibly the Commissioner’s report, coupled with these exhibitions in the two great hardware centres, may induce our manufacturers to make a special study of New Zealand’s requirements in the hardware line. Judging from the ’’lronmonger’s” remarks con cerning the foreign exhibits, British manufacturers ought to be able to compete successfully with their German and American rivals, both in the matter of price and quality, if they would put their backs into a little steady “spadework” and pay reasonable attention to what they- may deem the fads and fancies of ■potential customers. All other things being fairly equal, the New Zealanders’ “preference for British goods,” to which the Commissioner refers in his memorandum, would soon make itself apparent, to the advantage of the British manufacturer.