GLASS AND PAINT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2255, 15 September 1914, Page 6

GLASS AND PAINT

A SERIOUSLY-AFFECTED TRADE. RISE IN PRICES. Mr - .Wm. Smith, of Messrs. Smith and Smith, probably the largest firm of painters and glaziers in the Dominion, let the. light in yesterday as to the manner in which some of.the, principal lines in which tho firm .trades is affected. ,

. '"The bulk of the sleet and plate glass imported into, the Dominion/ said Mr Smith, "comes from Belgium. One of the big glass manufacturing centres is Gharloroi, which' we. are led to. believe lias been_ practically wiped out by the Uernian. invasion, and supplies are, of course, cut off from Belgium for an indefinite period. There is really only one big firm of sheet and-plate-glass manufacturers in England—that is Pilkington s of St. Helens (Lancashire), and from their latest quotations I have been able to gather that the price of sheet glass has- gone up 35 per cent., and plate-glass 15 per cent., 'without engagement.' That means that they will not bind themselves to supply any order we-might give thorn. As a matter of. fact, wo pretty well know that they cannot supply at present even at the increased prices. On top of that there is an extra 25 per cent, on freight rates and an extra 5 per cent, on insurance. "There is no chance of Charleroi becoming a producer if the place has been sacked or destroyed, for the simple reason that once a glass kiln is allowed even to cool it is. finished , , and has to he destroyed, and a glass kiln costs between £3000 and £4000 to erect. That means that the price, of glass has gono up considerably already, probably as much as 50 per cent. ' ■ "Wo looked to Germany for our supplies of wood naphtha in the past. That; has been cut oft entirely, and now wo have to turn to America, and the prico of American woodnaphWia is .50 per cent, higher than what we have .been paying German producers. '~'■• . "Still another line which we obtained from Germany is gold-leaf. Nuremberg is the centre of the gold-leaf industry, and here are pictures of the factory which has made our gold-leaf for many years past. Thero is', the old' man weighing out the gold, there is a machine turning it out in ribbon form, and there are the treaters hammering it out by hand to the thickness (or thinness) of one 365 th part of an inch. Not 1 per cent, of the gold-leaf used in the world is made in England. The position regarding gold-leaf, is complicated, by the prohibition placed by the Imperial Government on the export of gold. As the result, gold-leaf to-day in New Zealand is worth double what it was a month ago. .

"All analine and chemical paints come from- Germany—indeed, the whole basis of trade is on the Continent, but chiofly in Germany, for most of the paint put up by English manufacturers is originally ground on the Continent. Casein, the product turned out by the Casein Company, of, Aramoho, and largely used in the preparation of washable distempers, has first of all to' be sent to Hamburg to be ground before it becomes . usable for • paintmaking." v ' • • THE GERMAN POPULATION * DRIFT INTO THE TOWNS. . Some interesting particulars regarding the population of the German EmZ 6 l ar i e ai/ IVfl iV n I** Gcrman Year Book, 1914, edited by H. A Walter and just published by the Anglo-Ger-man Publishing Company. The GerTf"w«»^ re in Bllr T coreTS an are(i IW'/.'T'.n*'-' The population, of. the Empire is now about 68 millions. Its growth has been continuous ■ during the last century, particularly since ' the foundation of the new Empire m 1871. At present It increases at the rate of over 800 000 per year, due mainly to the surplus of births over deaths, and to a small extent to immjgratson from neighbouring countries. The emigration of Germans into foreign countries is much smaller than the emigration from Engaad, but there is, nevertheless a largo number in every habitable part of the globe. ■ ' •

AH European ■ as well as oversea countries, have a more or less German population, running , very often into six figures.. Tho aggregate number of Germans in the world in tho current year, as far as can be estimated, reaches 100 millions. Large numbers of foreigners live in Germany. Austrians, Hungarians, Poles, Russians, Italians, Dutch, French, and Danish to a large extent settle permanently in Germany, because opportunities are greater there than in their'native countries. The foieign population ■ proper in Gormany amounted at the census of 1910 te 1,259,873. More than 50 per cent, were of Austrian nationality (634,983). Dutchmen came noxt with 144,175, followed by Russians (137,61)7), and Italians (104,204). Of British nationality there wero 18,319 people, as 16,130 in 1900. The great number of those foreigners aro unskilled labourers. .

Like all other great nations of today, Germany has becomp a nation of town-dwellers. Almost three-fifths of thy population live under urban conditions. The number of people engaged in agricultural pursuits has remained stationary since tho beginning of the, last century, while all iiicrease'of population during the last 50 years has cone to swell the town population.' When tho Emniro was founded in 1871 thero wcro only eight towns with a ponulation of over 100,000 inhabitants, whereas tho number of si«ch towns in 1913 wns 1150. Towns with over 500,000 inhabitants" in 1910 were:—Berlin. 2,071,257; Hamburg, 931.035: Munich, 593,-' 467; . Leipzig, " 559,850; Dresden, 548,308; Cologne, 516,527: and fires.ku. £12.105.