The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1888. ADVANCE LOCAL INDUSTRY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1779, 29 February 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1888. ADVANCE LOCAL INDUSTRY.

The congratulations which were tendered to the Messrs Scott the other day upon the completion of their contract with the Government for the construction of railway locomotives, on the occasion of the luncheon at Little River, should be heartily re-echoed from end to end of the Colony. The entire success which has been achieved is a sufficient rebuke to those detractors of local enterprise who are loth to believe that any good thing cau come out of our Colonial Nazareth, and perhaps after this they will begin to abandon their unfaith m the capabilities of New Zealand manufacturers. How strong has been the prejudice m the past was very amusingly illustrated by Mr Scott m his speech at the banquet, by a reference to the fact that when the directors of the Kaiapoi Woollen Factory entrusted his firm with the construction of their splendid stationary engine, protests were sent m from all directions by shareholders, who regarded it as a hopeless waste of money to put the work m local hands. Yet the contract was nevertheless carried out to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. Similarly, when the late Government entered into the first locomotive contract with the Messrs Scott, there were not wanting grumblers who predicted that they would get a very inferior article for a very much higher price than the engines could be imported for. It is admitted that the price is somewhat higher, but as against this, there is the benefit of the employment of skilled labor within the Colony, which, m our opinion, more than counterbalances the difference, but that there is no 6uch thing as the alleged inferiority of workmanship has been triumphantly demonstrated. And why should there be ? Surely m New Zealand our manufacturers are not necessarily inferior m skill, or m their resources to those of Victoria, and m that Colony we observe that the Phoenix Foundry at Ballarat recently celebrated the completion of its 101 st locomotive. The success of the Messrs Scott has, however, we imagine, not brought them on this occasion immediate pecuniary profit, as m the commencement of such an industry as locomotivebuilding very large expense must necessarily be incurred, which it cannot be supposed can be recouped by a single contract for half-a-score engines, but no doubt it will lead to their being entrusted with further contracts, and eventually reaping the reward to which the pluck and energy certainly entitle them. It is to be hoped that m the future they and other local manufacturers will not be unfairly handicapped, as appears to have been the case m the recently completed contract, by being compelled to absolutely manufacture every individual portion of the machinery m the Colony. This is asking moro than would be aßk,ed of any fijiglisfc wauu-

facturer, and is obviously a mistaken | policy, as there is a specialisation of: function among manufacturers as well as m the economy of Nature, particular firms devoting their whole attention to the production of particular parts of machinery, which they are thus able to produco much more cheaply than they could be produced m any establishment of universal range. A wise modification of future specifications m accordance with this well-known fact, would enable the Colonial manufacturer to compete on fair terras with the Home manufacturer, which appears not to have been the case m connection with the Messrs Scott's contract.