The Motueka Star PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS. "Te Oranga Moti Iwi." TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1901. STATE IRON WORKS.

Motueka Star, Volume I, Issue 7, 3 September 1901, Page 2

The Motueka Star PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS. "Te Oranga Moti Iwi." TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1901. STATE IRON WORKS.

Under tne above headiig an article by "Cyclops" appeared in tie New Zealaim Times of August 21st; and was reprinted in the New Zeal aid Mail. As the subject is of considerable local interest, especially owingt:> the fact that Mr Taylor connects vith his ironworks scheme, a proposal for the construction of a railway comecting the Collingwood coal and irmf'ields with Nelson, and therefore tapping the agricultural districts of Tskaka, Riwaka and Motueka we reprintbde article in extenso. " Cyclops" says: —"New that theHon Mi- Carlman. M.L.(., and Mr E. M. Smith, M.H.Ii., are 11 England on a joint mission to ©tain capital for the development of .he iron sand industry, it is opportun< to raise once more the question of thi Government of New Zealand undertaking the making of iron in the (blony from the large iron deposits in t& Nelson provincial district. Mr Joseph Taylor a few years ago published a pamphlet ntitled " New Zealand's Iron Hope; an appeal to Parliament and Peopje." Lecturing in Wellington in 1894 he advocated the establishment of Slate Works at Parapara, Collingwooc\ for tie manufacture of our own iron and steel. His lecture on this ijuestioi in the Technical School created no small interest; and it was favourably commented on. not only in our bwn columns but also in many of the leading newspapers of the Colony. • Hr Taylor maintained that it was possible to save to the revenue of this cotjitiy about a million a year, by the sinple expedient of manufacturing iron! and steel from the abundant materiss lying at our doors in Golden Bay,instead of purchasing all our iron andsteel from England and America.

iii a leading article in the New Zealand Times of May 24,, 1699, it was said, " The mineral lands at Nelson, referred to by Mr Taylor/are all Crown property, and there is a duty thrown upon the Government of either developing the mineral wealth or offering facilities for private enterprise to do *>. The cheapening of iron to the pe >ple would give a tremendous irnpetas t> every industry ; the cost of railway construction would be lessened ; the problem of the unemployed would be solved ; in short, the development of the iron deposits would add enormously to the wealth of this country

.and ti.e comforts of its people. It is to be hoped that the questions opened up by Mr Taylor will be fully considered by Parliament during the coming session, and that Ministers will do all in their power to encourage the establishment of the important industries of iron and steel manufacture in this country.'' The Wairarapa Star lemarked, " Allowing for every drawback, the proposal of Mr J. Taylor is • f national importance, and deserves serious consideration of every seet oil of the public. If what he asserts prove correct, he becomes a benefactor to the country; and if his plan be carried to a successful conclusion, then in one stride New Zealand will make a rapid advance on tie r. ad to wealth and prosperity." In Wellington, a strong committee

of representative ironmasters was formed and as a deputation along with Mr Taylor, they waited upon the Premier, in order to press this matter upon the attention of the Government; but although they received the most encouraging assurances, nothing of importance has since been done with a view to starting an iron industry as a state concern, and even private enterprise has only been encouraged b}' a ; l'ght alteration of the terms affecting the granting of a bonus to those who are first in the field. As reported at the time, " Mr Tay--1 r asserted that not only would the U >loiiy be able to manufacture enough iron and steel at Parapara, but that it w iuld be able t:> push profitably into t-ie outside markets as well. lie said tiiat a vote of ,£IOO,OOO should be made at once by Pa.-liament for developing the iron industry, and appealed to the public of Wellington to back up his efforts in that direction. This question must not be allowed to slumber again ;

he himself w mid never rest until his ideal had been brought into practical effect."

Nor has Mr Taylor since ceased in his advocacy of State iron works : although he maintains that State coal mines would not be successful financially under the peculiar and widely diversified conditions which obtain in this colony. He referred to this subject in some articles recently published in the Nelson Mail criticising the Workers' Compensation for Accidents Act, 1900, since re-printed in pamphlet form. And in another pamphlet reprinted from the Colonist of 20th June last, he remarked. "If the Gov-

ernment would start state works for I < t'\e production of our own iron and i '.oel from the materials which lie m |)itiently waiting at our own door, instead of sapping the fi lancial blood of the Colony by purchasing all iron and .--teal from outside c m ltries, they would d > a splendid stroke of business, and would have a. field all to themselves. But to talk of state coal mines, and of a uniform price of coal, under ex sting c mditions in New Zealand, is an occupation worthy only of polit'cians who a.-;e clever at generalities and ee momic abstractions, but who have little or no personal knowledge- of the economics of practical coal mining." T believe that, if the State had erec"i ed iron works when. Mr Tayl >r first

brought the question prominently before public attention, they would ere this have saved more than enough to have paid all the costs of an up-to-date plant, by avoiding the extra prices paid during the last two years for finished and unfinished iron and steel ; and it certainly seems a strange irony of fate qhat the Puponga Coal Company should have found it necessary to import steel rails from New York and a locomotive from Glasglow in order to open up a coal mine in the immediate neighbourhood of one of the finest hemat-te iron ore deposit,- in the world.