Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, NOV. 4th, 1920. SUGAR MACHINERY.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 November 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, NOV. 4th, 1920. SUGAR MACHINERY.

I here is a very large amount of capital invested in the construction of sugar machinery in and around Glasgow, which for years has been the chief seat of the industry in the United Kingdom, as Greenock ha* been the leading home market for the handling of the raw r and refined articles as produced from the cane. The various establishments have already turned out a big record .of plant, which from its heavy and intricate detail characteristics cost a deal of money. The Greenock refineries, which had just to patch up and get along as best they could under crippled conditions while the war lasted, have of late undergone a thorough overhaul and been extended in productive capacity. But the makers of machinery are most dependent on export markets for business—such as those in the West Indies, Natal, Mauritious, India, Australia, South America and Mexico. Plants for each of these and other countries are at present in course of construction, and there is enough work in sight and on order to keep establishments going fully for many months to come. Unfortunately several, if not all, builders have of late been obliged to knock off their night shifts owing to inability to get sufficient supplies of steel; and from tl:is cause also, a number of inquiries have had to be turned down. Builders in Belgium are beginning to compete for outside trade and have secured one or two lines, solely ,however, through being able to give better delivery than is possible here, yet at no advantage in the matter of price. It also appears that the Germans—who destroyed the old French factories—are opening up negotiations Hgft refitting ana obliterating their devil’s work—at the extreme prices of the day, several hundred per cent, over those at which the old values stood. Those interested in Britain, do not look for much benefit to trade from Continental reconstruction. But they are rather anxious for increased enterprise being thrown into the cultivation of cane sugar, which acre for acre gives, it is maintained, a greater return than beet. Pressure is being brought' to bear on the British authorities to use their good offices and their influence in this direction with the cousins across the seas. As has already been indicated, prospects are encouraging for engineers, who all the same are satisfied that the future would be more assured if one were satisfied that the current basis of quotations may be looked upon as having reached the top notch. N