A GREAT STEEL TRUST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 7 September 1907, Page 6

A GREAT STEEL TRUST.

BRITISH FIRMS UNITE TO CONTROL TRADE OF WORLD. London, June 30. A great combination of iron and steel manufacturers, similar to those existing in the United States and Germany, is in course of formation in Great Britain, | with the avowed object of lighting American and German competition, which is increasing year by year. Nine big companies, headed by Viekcrs, Sons and Maxim, and including John Brown and Co., which recently was amalgamated with the Harland and Wolff Company, have absorbed thirty-six previously independent concerns, which, will give them control, it is estimated, of about 00 per cent of the steel produced iu Great Britain.

The details of the combination have not yet been worked out, but it is probable they will be based on the principle of the German trust, involving the regulation of prices, adjustment of the output to the demand and equal distribution of orders.

What is primarily aimed at, it is asserted, is a combination strong enough not only to control the trade of Great Britain, but to "dominate the steel trade of the world." The London representatives of the American companies, however, do not anticipate any material cut in incir orders as a result of the movement.

The satisfactory progress of the negotiations is largely due to Viekera, Son and .Maxim, who succeeded in bringing together several firms which heretofore .iv been iheir keenest competitors. There is much surprise in trade circles that .lohn Brown and Co., after amalgamating with the Harland and Wolff Company, should go into combination headed by the Viekers concern, which is the llarlands' greatest competitor. The other firms included in the combination are Cammed, Laird and Co., the North Eastern Steel Co., the Weardale Steel and Coal Company, the Dorman and Long Company, finest, Keen and Nettlefolds, the Baldwin Company, and Stewart, Lloyds and Co. The combined capital of the firms is over £211,000,000.

It is pointed out that it is most difficult to complete such a combination in Eitfrhmd, as it is necessary to make puhlic all deals in referring Ihem to the shareholders of the various companies.