OUR NATIVE INDUSTRIES.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2113, 12 February 1870, Page 2

OUR NATIVE INDUSTRIES.

To the Editor of the Evening Star. “ Ten varieties of limestone are found in Otago.” “ Ordinary limestones are found all through the country.” “Bituminous coal of good quality has long been known to exist at Preservation Inlet; some valuable seams are reported to have been recently discovered.” ‘ ‘ Pitch coal occurs at Shag Point, thirty miles from Dunedin.” “Iron prevails extensively both as ore and in the form of titaniferous and magnetic sands, from the Eastern to the Western Coast, as hrematite, it occurs in nitu on the Shotovor lliver near Maori Point, where it forms a bed of solid ore six feet in thickness.”— [From pamphlet “Otago” published by authority of the Provincial Government.] Sik, —In one of your recent issues you had certain suggestive remarks on the at-

tempt to create and foster new industries by Government aid, and your decision was, that for various reasons, which need not be recapitulated, the new industries particularly referred to, were not suitable, nor were likely to bo beneficial to the community. One industry that yon indicated, that might be engaged in with safety and profit by the local capitalist, that of bottle making and manufacture of glass, and which business, 1 doubt not, might be successfully engaged in in Otago, 1 beg to point out another industry that could be engaged in with as great security and success, and probably with greater profit than those remarked on, namely the manufactuto of iron. In all statements and books written regarding this colony (as my extracts at the head of this letter show) its mineral resources are prominently brought forward, as a source whence in time great Colonial prosperity will arise ; and should it be true that Otago as a Province is so richly endowed with many minerals other than its goldfields, and which we are led to believe is the truth, the sooner the attempt is made to evolve and work these minerals by Leal capital, the better for the future and general good of this Province. I believe a trade in the manufacture of iron might now be profitably introduced, calculating the comparative cost of working here and in Great Britain, and the relative prices obtained. The great objection hitherfo made to the introduction of new industries in Otago, has been the exceptionally high rate of wages current; but in the iron trade of Britain wages have always been comparatively high, and at the present time the difference between the rates of wages there and here is not greater than would be counterbalanced by the freight and charges on the shipment of British iron hither. In attempting to establish this business in Otago, a new class of operatives would require to be introduced, trained in its various branches—a rather rough class, as generally estimated ; but though rather unpolished, yet warm and kindly-hearted among themselves, large consumers of food, drink, and clothing, and whose advent to Otago would at any time he exceedingly beneficial. Say, iron works with their necessary ironstone, coal, and limestone pits were erected and sunk, equal to the production of 100 tons of pig iron per day of twenty-four hours, a population from 700 to 800 heads of families would be required at pits and furnaces, and who with wives and children would amount to about one one-fifteenth of our present population in this Province. The wages distributed would amount, on average, to L 8,500 sterling per month, and the profit to the ironmaster from 50 to 70 per cent, on cost of the iron in the pig-bed, and the lordship or mineral rent payable to the Provincial Treasury’, or other landed proprietors, for the right simply to work the mineral fields, and calculating at such rates per ton as are usually charged in Britain, would amount at least to L10,01)0 per annum, and these advantages to the Province would be gained from works but of limited extent, equal perhaps to the present and future increasing demand of the foundry of the Province for pig iron for some time to come—the founder at the same time being enabled to purchase the Otago made pig at 20 per cent, less than he now pays. I write this on the supposition that the Province possesses the mineral fields of which so much has been said and written, from time to time, with fire clays of sufficient quality to make the fire brick, blocks of which the furnaces must be constructed, and that the pig iron will be solely manufactured from the iron ores. Goal and limestone raised by the company from their own pits, and charged only at cost of output against the pig iron, the profit of the business being solely calculated on the sales of iron. It is unnecessary at present, and would too much lengthen this letter-, to go into the particulars of cost of raising ironstone, coal, and limestone, and which go to make the pig iron, and of the particular quantity of eaefi consumed per tou of pig, but which I may assume would differ but little from some calculations in the old country, allowing the ores, &c., to he equally good in quality for smelting purposes. At present any one attempting to write on this subject is somewhat “at sea,” from want of that “geological map” of this Province for which the services of our late Provincial Geologist, Dr Hector, were specially engaged, with commendable foresight, by our then Superintendent, Mr Macaudrew, and which map, were it in existence, would in such a matter, for reference, be eminently useful, — looking forward, as this community now is, to the construction of two great lines of railway’. The ojrening up of our mineral fields, and the conveyance of those minerals, would mainly’ aid in making these railways profitable. In a Province —such as Otago—of great extent, and with a sparse and widely-scattered population, it is difficult to suppose that sufficient traffic will be obtained for the proposed lines, unless some additional traffic be provided for them. In Great Britain, what are called the mineral lines have been the most profitable, and the most productive of public benefit, and their stock less subject to variation in price in the share market. The Dunedin and Port Chalmers Hail way, traversing between two chief points of populatitn, and along which the bulk of all the imports and exports of the Province will be carried, may’and, doubtless, will succeed ; but for the longer lines proposed, the addition of a coustantly’incrcasing mineral traffic would give a guarantee for their success that the existing passenger and goods traffic, so far as can be calculated, cannot suffice to show. Lately, seven of our local capitalists were prepared, on certain terms, to find funds to construct one of those railways, embracing an outlay’ of nearly half a million sterling, and it may therefore be assumed that were the idea taken up to evolve and work the mineral resources of Otago there would be no want of necessary capital to do so. Here and there an individual with a few untrained laborers has attempted to work, or rather scrape, the outcroppings of our coalfields ; but the attempt has at no time been made on a sufficiently large or organised scale to make the enterprise either profitable to themselves, or, by cheapening of price, beneficial to the general population. I may here remark on the probable great extension of the iron foundry trade from the use of provincial made iron, a trade already established in Dunedin, and could castings be afforded at cheaper rates, it is possible that for many domestic and architectural purposes considerable demand would grow up The Goldfields would ba large consumers in pump and other pipes for conveyance of water - , and whore wood is now used in deep sinking, tubbing or cast iron casing plates would likely be employed. Iron works themselves always take large quantities of castings in Twyne pipes, hot air pipes, under-

ground pump pipes, rails and plates, and in tramways for short distances. There can be no doubt but a large and p»o!itable business would grow up, and give wide employment, from the introduction of the manufacture of native pig iron. In the Northern Island, along that frontier line subject to Maori incursions and attack, it may be suggested, that wore farm erections, block houses, &c., constructed of cast iron plates and pillars, those attacks would be rendered harmless, as the building would be proof against Maori shot and conflagration. In Glasgow, and especially in New York, cast iron is non’ extensively used in the erection of warehouses, shops, &c., and it has been found cheaper to use the cast iron plate than stone or brick, affording also a more ornate style of architecture and greater space for glass frontages now an important consideration in the sale of goods by retail. I may in conclusion add. that the names of highest standing in Britain, as millionaires," both in the peerage and commonage, are those of families ■who have accumulated their large fortunes in evolving and working its great mineral fields, and there can he no reasonable doubt entertained but that the same success would attend the energetic and enterprising capitalist here in practically calling into existence and working the mineral resources of this large and important province. R.M.