BRITISH TRADE.

Hokitika Guardian, 12 January 1924, Page 4

BRITISH TRADE.

SI I El’ FIE I/O, .November d. While foreign dumping and cutilin.nl underselling, actual or threatened, 11, minue to provoke widespread irritation, accompanied by . a certain mea-iiiie of alarm, the big view, rising above abnormalities of the present situation. slmws the lirilish steel and allied industries from the standpoint ol world compel iiioli to be in an unparalleled pn-itir.ii to benefit front the really big bn-ines- thill must mtlimalely ensue. The cullap-e of the exchanges has alone made post-war underselling possible to L ontiucuud steelmakers, (liven normal rates, a user ol 'heap ■neel would find no advantage in placing In's orders abrca-l. lie would gain liule, if anything, in price, while iron) the standpoint of quality and in.'hug conditions he would be at a distinct disadvantage'. While it- would not lie just to say that the -quality of Continental products is getieially inferior to that oi Uriti.-h goods, the fotmer loses much by lack of uniformity, ami the user las nmre or less to take pot luck in hi- manuiac-i tiring results. Imperfect steel is always debited to the lirilish maker, whereas Continental steel must

lie paid for in prompt ea-li, no allowance being made for faulty material. Freni American competition there appears to be litlie leai i iie adop i.-n across ih,- Atlantic of an ciglvje hours day. ',!:(• nlli 1 1 > rii i scarcity oi workpeople, and the resulting rise in I wage rate.--- now the highest oil re- | co,d in Lbe world -lii'.i- 1 inevitably | in< a•! d' .ir steel in lie f’mied Stall (iermetu .--1 ood a ; o';- I : * m-d ■ the I’nit.ed 'Male m sled pioduruoi: bel'oro ilie war, but Lorraine, where most of iiie German steel was mr.de, lias now became i.arl of France, The progress of lirilish steel-making practice in recent years i-. by im means <-f lll JiiH' l l to the production of such crude materials as billets and ingot: but extends to tie' stlb'-i'-quelit processes of rolling into lan's, sheets, and sir.os to meet the special requirements of the variom ton sum dig trades. Coiispiciotis in this loiinection has been the erection of emit unions rolling plain. Throe t.f these mills are af work in ;h.' Sheffield district. One i is for tolling red- h r the u-e of wilenmkers. The plant automatically and continuously reduces a large ingot down to :t thiii-gunge rod, ami deliver! the material in coils direct into railway wagons ready lor despatch. The same system is applied to liars and strip. A wonderful feat, was recently achieved at the local strip mill. .(Strip consists, of steel rolled down to a g'uage not much thi rekct.anhf eel r

gauge nr.l iiuirh lliieker (him luown paper, supplied in v. id l l)s ranging from nit inrh In mi inch mill a quarter to four inches.) Jn the course of live .shift* this mill turned out SlO lons of this light material and delivered it in the form of coils.

Indore the war we imported the hulk id the strip sloe] used in the country from Germany, lint this and :t few similar mills are now aide to supply the whole of our domestic requirements.