WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 December 1929, Page 2

WELLINGTON NEWS

NEW USKS FOR TIN. (Special Correspondent) WELLINGTON, Dec. 22. The price of tin has fallen in recent months to a point at which it goes below the cost of production. This lias led to the formation of agreements, pools and associations, the 1 latest being the Tin Producers’ Association, whoso fundamental policy is to restrict output, and to produce just sufficient to take care of consumption at a higher level of prices. This policy may, and no doubt will meet with success of a temporary character,. but a more effective policy would be to stimulate consumption and that is likely to follow on recent research. Details of an important programme of research which may lead to the exploitation of entirely new uses and properties of tin were recently announced in London by the Hon. Secretary of the Tin Industrial Applications Committee, a body recently formed in connection with the British Non-ferrous Metals Research Ast soeiation to investigate the industrial adaptability of the metal. The hon. secretary is reported to have said: “Among many lines of research there is a process for spraying-metals which the Association is examining with interest, It is claimed, for the process which .we intend testing that our tin ca u be sprayed successfully on to any rurfuco from steel or glass to wool or silk. Our first concern will be to verify the results of recent experiments that go to show that pure tin sprayed by the process upon a metal structure renders it proof against corrosion. Since it has been stated that corrosion costs the heavy industries some £500,000,000 a year, the matter is deserving of careful consideration. This method of spraying tin (he continued) might open up a new era in the manufacture of decorated fabrics for women’s clothes and furnishings. Tin could be sprayed upon materials as delicate as silk, which afterwards, it is claimed, could be crumpled and washed without damaging the fabric or the metal design. Tin sprayed upon glass would make cheap and satisfactory reflectors and possibly mirrors, while novel effects in interior decoration could be obtained. Then there would be a wide use in tin-spraying the interior in tanks and receptacles used in the manufacture of food. It is the business of the Applications Committee to examine ' any new process which they consider of commercial interest. MONEY LEAVING THE' DOMINION At the annual meeting of the Dunedin Stock Exchange the Chairman Mr E. R. Smith, in his address to members, was rather guarded and yet touched on points of interest. A feature of the Stock Exchange of New Zealand, according to Mr Sffiith, vas the large amount of money that had been annually leaving the Dominion for investment principally in the Commonwealth of Australia. This was due to the higher rate of interest obtainable there, “but was none the less regrettable (observed Mr Smith) as the money should be used in developing our own industries.” In this remark Mr Smith merely emphasised the cosmopolitan character of capital. Money, like water, will find its own level. It knows no frontier, no nationality and no creed. Capital cannot 'be chained up or held in check by obstacles. If it cannot get over a hurdle it will crawl round or under it, but get out it will. The return on investment of capital in Australia has been higher than in New Zealand and capital has gone to the Commonwealth. To retain that capital the investment return on capital in New Zealand must be raised to the Australian level, and that wall come about automatically. It is tie repetition on, a small scale of wSvfti occurred between Europe and AMerica during the last year. Call rrfJ&ey in New York ranged from 6 tJ 10 per cent and more, for months, and (European capital was rushed a<jross the Atlantic to take advantage of its high rates. This depressed sterling exchange and caused the export of gold from London. When there was a crash in New York and money declined, European capital was repatriated and gold is returning tu London because the dollar exchange is depressed. The Commonealth is obliged to sacrifice securities and pay high interest rates because of the unsatisfactory economic conditions. The depression in produce prices, high taxation, the difficulty of raising loans in London and the high cost of living and of production are causing the economic situation to be serious. The spending power is restricted and trade is slow. To a less extent the same factors are operating against New Zealand and that is what requires recognition.