ORDER TO BRITAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1024, 15 July 1930, Page 10

ORDER TO BRITAIN

PREFERENCE GIVEN BY

POWER BOARD GERMANY’S TEMPTING BID While the Auckland ElectricPower Board agreed yesterday afternoon to place an order with a British firm instead of a German concern for turbines, alternators and accessories for the additional steam plant at King’s Wharf, Mr. T. Bloodworth said it was necessary for the New Zealand public to realise what British preference was costing. The board has yet to place au order • for two new boilers for the plant, j which is now expected to be installed j by the end of March. Mr. R. H. Bartley, the general mar.- ) ager, reported that the German tender for two boilers was estimated at £20,000, but the British tender of Babcock boilers was £34,500. The amount involved in the order from Fraser and Chalmers, England, of the . 15.000-kilowatt tuibo-alternator set was £27,325. With additions for feed pumps and other eauipment. the Fraser and Chalmers-Babcock plant would cost £70,475, in comparison with another British offer of £70,350. and the German offer of £66,193, which had since been reduced to £60,000. This offer included a 15,500kilowatt set, all items set out in the British plant, and £10,843 for duty in excess of that for British plant. Mr. Bartley said the British and the German offers were equal in merit. There Avas already Fraser and Chalin-ers-Babcock plant at Kings Wharf, and he recommended this offer for the ; British plant. PRICES OF BOILERS The-board desired more inquiry into the price of the boilers, owing to the disparity between the British and the j German tenders, and the order of this was left to the chairman, Mr. W. J. Holdsworth. and Mr. Bartley. Mr. Holdsworth explained that in j Wellington, the Prime Minister, the ! Hon. G. W. Forbes, practically in- ; slructed the board to buy British plant in accordance with the Government policy. As the Government had : agreed, when it could again provide j the board’s requirements, to take the unit over from the board at cost, less j depreciation, it was entitled to have a say in the order. Mr. Forbes had said there was not the slightest possibility of the remission by the Government of duty on foreign plant, but the Germans had offered to pay the £10,543 duty. This led Mr. Holdsworth to believe that j there was probably a subsidy from the | German Government in the greatly reduced offer. As Britain was the only j definite consumer of New Zealand's ; produce, the Government believed that • all orders for machinery should go lo ! Britain. As the position stood, the British price was £IO,OOO more than i the German, and the Continental firm, further, was prepared to pay more than £IO,OOO in duty. Mr. Holdsworth believed that the : board should order British. The differ- ; ence in price really was due to the j cheapness of the German offer of boilers, and there was a possibility j securing a reduction of £5,000 on the i Eritish boilers. GOVERNMENT'S POLICY Mr. J. Park said he had heard that I ihe Government was negotiating v.-itn j the German firm, while it was telling j j the board to buy British. Mr. E. H. Potter could not support i ! the purchase of any -oods other than 1 British. He declared that the Con- , j tinental firm had learned the price and | j had undercut the British concerns. I Mr. Bloodworth mentioned that he had been told once by British mem- ! hers of Parliament that they would give preference to Dominion goods only when they were equal iu quality ! and price to foreign produce. That was not preference. The board was now being asked to give about 40 p ef cent, preference to British goods. All the members of the board wanted to buy British machinery, but. should they not hesitate when asked to give preference to that extent? The board would save £IO.OOO on a German order, and the Government would re- I ceive more than £IO,OOO in duty. The desirability of having British plant in order to have spare parts easily available was stressed by Mr. J. Dempsey, and Mr. S. I. Crookes said a precedent would be established if the board gave an order to the Continent. The more orders away from Britain meant greater weakening of the purchasing power of the market for New Zealand produce. He was satisfied that the German Government was subsidising the offer. NO DOMINION PREFERENCE “The British Government has accepted Argentine tenders several times for meat supplies for the Army, and very good New Zealand prices have been rejected,” said Mr. F. M. Waters. “Tooley Street merchants are only too ready to buy cheap foreign produce to beat down colonial A'alues.” Mr. Potter moved that the British plant should be ordered, but he consented to exclude the boilers from the motion at the suggestion of Mr. Holdsworth. Mr. J. Rowe seconded and the motion was carried. The seriousness of the present power situation to the industrial life of Auckland was emphasised by the chairman when he appealed to the board to vote on the question. Mr. R. G. Clark had thought the onus of selection should be on the Government. The details of the offers chosen from the many received by the board are: British machinery:—Two Babcock boilers, £34.500: Fraser and Chalmers 15,000 k.w. turbo alternator set, £27,325. Total £61,825: or. with £8.650 for feed pumps and other fittings, £70.475. Two Babcock boilers. £34,500: Brush Ljungstrom 15.000 k.w. turbo alternator set. £27,200. Total. £61.700, or. with £8.650 for additional fittings. £70.350. Continental machinery:—Two boilers and a 15,500 k.w. set by A.E.G. Company, Germany, including all items set out for British plant. £55,350, or, with duty in excess of that for British plant, £66.193. In his report, Mr. Bartley pointed out that the German plant was of the highest order and the tender an extremely good one.