WIRING MATERIAL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20093, 13 November 1939, Page 6

WIRING MATERIAL

CONTRACTORS SHORT “SCARCE AS DIAMONDS” CONDUIT UNPROCURABLE LOW STOCKS ABSORBED The combined effects of short stocks, due to restrictions of imports, and of the sudden demand from the Government for military purposes, have left the Dominion market almost bare of essential wiring materials for business and housing installations. So Scute has the shortage become that firms already are introducing rationing of jobs, a prominent Gisborne contractor stated to-day.

Conduit and cable, the essential materials in wiring jobs, are particularly short in supply, and there is no early project of the stringency being relieved. On the other hand, there is a prospect of wiremen being thrown out of work owing to the firms being unable to carry on with installations.

A Wellington firm of wholesalers, in reply to inquiries from the Gisborne firm, has indicated that conduit is as “scarce as diamonds’’ in the main centres. The import restrictions had reduced available slocks in New Zealand of conduit and cable to a very low level before the outbreak of war, and the demands of the Government on the available stocks almost completely absorbed what was then in the country. It was slated by the Wellington firm that there was hardly a foot of conduit to be procured in that city. Had Outlook for Wiremen

In the provincial centres, where a good deal of building activity had been embarked upon prior to the outbreak of war, the position is much the same as in Wellington. In the case of the Gisborne firm quoted, a stall' of four or five wiremen is being kept going, but the day is not far distant when, unless reinforcements of material stocks can be procured, some will have to be paid off.

“It is a case of no material —no work,” stated the manager, “It is most unfortunate, but the situation in the electrical business threatens to be much the same as it was in the motor trade for a few weeks, with the exception that in the case of the motor trade there was petrol available and the restrictions did not last long. In our business the stringency is not likely to pass as quickly, for there seems to be an acute shortage in the country.” Electrical motors arc not by any means plentiful in the stocks of the wholesalers, and switches and holders, as essential as conduit and cable, are also very short. The one firm in New Zealand which manufactured these necessities recently suffered a fire which set back production, according to advice received in Gisborne, and it will be some time before supplies from this source catch up with the demand. The manufacturers in this country had received very large orders, owing to the restriction on imports.

Substantial Works Proceeding

In Gisborne there exists a lively demand for electrical services, and among the works proceeding are the Government housing scheme, the Intermediate School, the building programme at the Cook Hospital, extensions at the Gisborne High School, and two substantial business blocks, in Gladstone road and Lowe street respectively. In all these projects there is a substantial demand for electrical installations, and firms handling more than one contract are under the necessity of rationing the materials in accordance with the relative urgency of jobs. “War demands are blamed for the shortages, but it is obvious that if the Government had taken the possibility of war into account, and made its own preparations for equipping the military camps, there need not have been such a drain on stocks imported into the country for business purposes,” said the Herald’s informant, who expressed deep concern for the immediate future of the electrical industry in the Dominion.