WHERE TO FIND HAULAGE BUSINESS
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A Feature Which Haulicrs will Find Helpful in Estimating and Anticipating Chances for Obtaining Contracts
C21 ENERALLY speaking, the major 1.)i-industries in the country seem to be marking time, pending results of the new tariff. The outcome will undoubtedly be increased activity in the near future, when depleted stocks have to be replenished. An outstanding example of this condition of affairs is the iron and steel trade, which, in its temporary stagnation' is affectingthe coal trade, already depressed in its domestic sales.
North-cast Coast.
This area, as much as any, is feeling the effects of the foregoing attitude, and the coal and iron and steel trades are depressed indeed. There is, however, slightly increased activity in the timber trade, especially in Newcastle and West Hartlepool. Most of the orders, too, are for small lots, a circumstance which tends to increase the proportionate demand for road transport. A gradual clearance of stocks of timber at the docks is taking place.
There is a rumour circulating in Darlington that a local concern has secured the contract for the foundations and steelwork for the proposed new bridge over the Forth. The value of the work is stated to be about 1250,000.
Yorkshire.
In some parts of Yorkshire the effects of the tariffs are being intelligently anticipated, especially in the pig-iron section of the iron and steel trade. Already serious inquiries are being received, some of them being from new customers.
It is reported from Sheffield that there are prospects of the steady increase in the amount of engineering business with Russia being maintained. There is a more hopeful tone, too, in relation to factories making medium and light machines.
The steady growth in the business of making safety-razor blades, to which several references have been made in these notes, has now had the effect of increasing activity on the part of local concerns producing the machines for manufacturing these blades.
In Hull the timber trade is livening up and many small orders are being received for materials from the docks. There is a tendency to return to individual buying, instead of collective, as has recently been customary, and this is a good omen for road-transport interests.
The woollen industry is temporarily quiet, pending a decision as to wage modifications.
Lancashire.
Business throughout this county is quiet The hostilities in Shanghai have adversely affected the staple industry, cotton, and the engineering, iron and steel, and coal trades are quiet in sympathy. The timber trade here, as in other parts of the country, is showing signs of revival. Stocks are being cleared in small lots.
Manchester Corporation is going ahead with the building of houses at Wythenshowe and has placed with a local concern an order for 500 standards of timber. A paper mill in Bury has been purchased by a London company and will soon be reopened. Midlands.
A peculiar position has arisen in the coal trade in parts of this area. The absence of demand has caused stocks to increase to such an extent as to involve traffic delays when small orders, such as are now current, are received.
In Cannock Chase and South Staffordshire, for instance, coal is being delivered by road in 10-ton and 12-ton lots, to the order of merchants in Walsall and Wolverhampton.
A little more activity is to be noted in the timber trade. The initial shock of the veto on building has passed and it is beginning to he realized that house building cannot be postponed indefinitely, or even for long. The box and packing-case trades are also busier. The Birmingham and Rowley Regis authorities are to build a large number of houses.
The lace industry in Nottingham and district is busy in one department, namely, the manufacture of curtains.
The glass-making factories in Birmingham and Stourbridge are expecting considerably increased business soon.
Scotland.
Reports from beyond the Tweed are more hopeful than at any time since Christmas. There are plenty of inquiries, and, if few orders have resulted as yet, the augury is favourable.
London and Home Counties.
Business in London is reported to be a little brighter. The Luton hat trade is busy, It is now stated that the Czechoslovakian boot manufacturer has bought 600 acres of land at East Tilbury, Essex, and will commence building operations early in April.
A German concern of locksmiths has taken a factory at Letchworth, where also three or four new factories are to open soon.