HARDWARE SCARCITY.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 January 1920, Page 3

HARDWARE SCARCITY.

DIFFICULTIES IN ENGLAND. The cause of some of the difficulties encountered by Auckland hardware merchants, who cannot get sufficient supplies from Briiaiu, were explained (says the Herald) by Sir George Kenriek, of the well-known Birmingham firm of Archibald Kenriek and Song, Ltd., who ia paying a short holiday visit to the Dominion. Sir George "stated that the putput from the home factories would probably not reach its pre-war standard for years. The reason was twofold. In the first place, there was a great shortage of labor. Many workmen had been killed or maimed in the war, while others had not returned to the trade. In the second place, during the war the supply of apprentices and young men had been entirely cut off, with the result that there was a great gap in the ranks. The employees were mostly old men, whose output was less than that of younger men, the output being further reduced by the fewer number of hours now worked. He quite approved of an attempt to secure the German trade of pre-war days, but he failed to see. how it could be done in these circumstances by the majority of manufacturers in the United Kingdom, Incidentally he mentioned that a portion of British-made goods coming into New Zealand were undoubtedly made by German machinery in use in the United Kingdom.

Sir George Kenrick gave the assurance that manufacturers were not profiteering, but that, on the other hand, many of them had only the narrow margin of 5 per cent, profit on their capital. Prices were still rising, owing to the increasing cost of raw materials, higher wages, and heavy freights. Business was coming in briskly, and most factories had plenty to keep them busy for many months ahead, the difficulty being to cope with the work. He saw little prospect of large supplies coming into New Zealand for a considerable time to come.