NATIONALISATION OF IRON ORES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 95, 24 April 1911, Page 8

NATIONALISATION OF IRON ORES

' LOCAL IRONMASTER'S VIEW. The Trades and Labour Federation Conference, sitting at Christchurch, has j expressed the hope that the ironmas- j ■ters of the Dominion will co-operate with organised Labour towards the nationalisation of the iron ores of the Dominion. Mr. J: P. Luke,- M.P., of the firm of Messrs. Luke and IGa.j iron founders, is ia full sympathy with -the "proposal, and ■ pointed out- to a Post representative that last session it was resolved, on his motion, "That there be laid before the House next session a. return showing — (1) The amount of iron deposits (other than ironsand) approximately . known to exist in tho Dominion ; (2) where they are located, and -whether on Crown, lands, and, if net, the names of the owners of the areas containing such deposits ; (3) if there- is sufficient indiea'tion that the owners of these deposits are working in the direction of developing xbem at an early date; (4) whether, if the owners of these areas do not demonstrate either by their or capacity, their ability to enable the irondeposits to be worked at an early date, the Government will offer such inducements as to warrant some other enterprising firm or firms to give effect- to the manufacture of iron in the Dominion, or, as an alternative, if the Government will carry on the manufacture as a national undertaking ; (5) whether any tests have been made as to the grade and quality of our iron ores; and (6) the amount of pig-iron and steel .rails the Dominion could absorb per annum." * Expanding his ideas Mr, Luke expressed the opinion that the subject of developing "the iron' products of the Dominion, was one-that demanded, the earn-, est consideration of the Government, and the co-operation of the people of the Dominion. It was quite true that the requirements of New Zealand in this respect were at present limited; the consumption of pig-iron was only about 9000 tons per annum, and in. the biggest year (1909) since the development of the Public Works policy it consisted of sheets and' plates 8000 tons, augles 1000 tons. It would, he admits, be quite impossible for the Dominion to set up iron works at the present time, and to manufacture the varying sizes of plates and bars; no one who understood the position of the iron industry would suggest that that should be done. But one of the principal factors that ought to be considered in approaching this question, he contends, is that while we have a considerable area of iron deposit that is of very high grade, it has yet to be determined whether the grade is sufficiently uniform to meet the requirements of the foundries of New Zealand. If the iron is hard it will necessitate having other irons to mix with it, in order to be able to produce iron*of the uniform character known as the "foundry pig." llis own opinion, he said, "was that pig-iron could ! be properly manufactured here, and no doubt a considerable export trade would also result, in the same way as was at present being done in New South Wales. Probably'some system of bounties "would have to be devised by way of subsidy. There were evidences of a- shortage of supply of the raw material both in America and Great Britain, and at the present time supplies were being obtained from India and China. Last year about 7000 tons of pig-iron from China was delivered at the Pacific ports of the United States. The cheap labour production from Asia was a factor that would need to be dealt with, not only from the political but the economic point of view. The Government had before it the object lesson of Australia and Canada in connection with the building up of its iron industry, and should deal with the question at the earliest possible ■opportunity. -