MACHINE GUNS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2544, 19 August 1915, Page 3

MACHINE GUNS

4 QUESTION OF LOCAL MANUFACTURE. .The question of the possibility of manufacturing machine guns locally has been claiming the attention of people in various parts of the Dominion, and whilst some authorities connected with engineering works do not doubt altogether that they could be made here, the consensus of opinion appears to be that special machinery would first of all beneeded to turn out the different parts (particularly , the barrels) and the raw material would have to be imported.. When consulted on the point yesterday, Mr. W. S. La Trobe, Director of tho Wellington Technical School, stated that the proposal to manufacture locally did not stand serious consideration. Supposing' the necessary machinery could be obtained for a gun-manufactur-ing plant, surely a. better use of that plant could be made at Home than in New Zealand'. The analogy he presented was that of one man building a house as the start of a prospective town. and of a wealthy corporation with everything at its command taking the erection of the town in hand. With their skilled labour and vast experienco in the handling of metals at Home, the best way the various parts, and the most economical and efficient manner of assembling them, Mr. La Trobe could not see what practical purpose could be served by tinkering with ? the question here. It would bo much more advantageous to send skilled engineers to England to work in the gun foundries and workshops than to import', a plant for gun-making in New Zealand! :