[SEL] Letter to the Editor - TOMM

[Kerry]

G'Day Ian
I find it hard to understand or agree with much you say but I will make my 
way down your post.
I have seen auctions where Australians don't care what they pay for an 
engine, they want it and they buy it, that is the way auctions work. you and 
I may not be able to match the power of the US dollar but quite a few 
Aussies can and do.
You talk about the new Government changing laws, well I can tell you I am 
sick of Governments telling me what I can or cannot do, we live in a police 
state/country now and we can do without more bloody left wing laws.
Stature of Liberty not worth talking about in this discussion but I have an 
Australian bridge for sale if you want it
You have a Mietz & Weiss, great, even fantastic you are indeed fortunate and 
if you believe it should stay in Australia don't sell it, the other two 
owners used their right to sell and if Australians didn't want to buy it 
then sell to the highest bidder.
I agree we should keep a sample here, better still we should keep the lot 
here but we need to pay the dollar and buy them not some pencil pusher in 
Canberra telling us what we can and cannot do.
You talk about SC turning up in the UK, never heard anyone with the same 
beliefs as you and Mr Gibb's try to stop the destruction of iron to the 
scrappies, I would have thought that would be far more inportant than export 
as with the scrappies they are lost forever.
In every issue there are two side and I respect yours and Mr Gibbs and I 
would say your side out number my beliefs, but I think people with your 
thoughts are just jealous they cannot afford it.
Put simply the owner, minder should have the right to sell as they think fit 
not some Government deciding
all the best

Kerry Morris
Lithgow NSW Oz


> Hi All
>
>            I agree with Mr Gibbs as an Australian far to much machinery is 
> being exported Now for some info to you Americans you might not know but 
> should, Australia has only a population of 20million, what does America 
> have something like 220million and if you go back to the early 1900s the 
> population was very small, now you might say what does this mean, well it 
> means the was not much machinery was imported or made here as there was 
> not industry base that required it, result being what we have here is in 
> low numbers and the idea of going bush (as we call it ) to find an old 
> engine is now a rare thing but I see you Yanks (no insult intended) are 
> still finding machinery laying around
>
> I have been to auctions where there have been Yanks there and they don't 
> care what they pay for an engine, we can't match the power of your dollar 
> and as Mr Gibb say we are losing our heritage to the all mighty dollar
>
> As Gibb's has said also the New Zealand government has recognised the 
> heritage value of old machinery as the machinery numbers in NZ are even 
> smaller than what's in Australia  and now with a new Government in 
> Australia we might stand a chance to have some laws changed
>
> I find it disappointing to see machinery that built Australia I have to 
> travel overseas to see it as that is the way it is going
>
> How would you Yanks like it if we Aussie got together and bought the 
> Stature of Liberty to set up in Australia
>
> I have a Mietz & Weiss, there was three of them in Queensland two have 
> gone to the USA and I have been offered what some people would say 'good 
> money' and if I sell mine then there is none and if look at a map of 
> Queensland it is bigger the most USA states
>
> Do you at all see the picture we have to keep a sample here for people to 
> see what was used to build Australia
>
> As some of you might know I run the Southern Cross Register, Southern 
> Cross was the largest manufacture of machinery in Queensland and from 1926 
> to 1986 only made 90 thousand engines this might seam a lot but there was 
> many many models with production figures well under 500 the lowest run was 
> a ESB 21 made two have been found, YD 50 made 3 found and the list goes on 
> with a number of models yet to be found and some other low production runs 
> are showing up in the UK, snuck out from under our nose
>
> Now I'm not about stopping export but we do need to control what is being 
> exported
>
> SOUTHERN CROSS REGISTER
> Ian Matthews
> ianm01 at hotkey.net.au