MANUFACTURE OF INGOT STEEL.

Southland Times, Issue 1731, 22 April 1873, Page 3

MANUFACTURE OF INGOT STEEL.

(to the editor of the times). " God helps those who help themselves." — (Old adage.) £ir, — The truth of the adage which heads this note was lorcibly brought ro my mind the other day when reading the account ir one of your northern contemporaries of the formation of a company to uti ize the Taranaki steel sand, and I was led in t> c course of my cogitations on that subject — pretznant with such vast con-equences to the future of these New Zealand islands — to purest, through the medium of your columns, if it might not be worth the while of our Provincial Government to offer some encouragement to amone wbo would produce 50 tons of ingot steel, reai y for the furnace and rolling mill, and to be the produce oi Stewart's Island titanic sand. Ihe production of the quantity I have named of such a material need not, it strikes me, involve the outlay of more capital than could easily b« furnished by. local capitalists ; and the result of such an aa venture cairied to a successful issue would be of prime importance to the welfare of this part of the country, and no less although of possibly somewhat more remote advantage to the rest of the country. The simple mode of manu facture which I would propose would only involve the erection of one charcoal oven and One email cold blast furnace, and as both these structures could be utilized for other purposes than those for which they were originally intended, any Jobs on wcoujit of plant would be very email even should the manufacture of the ingot steel prove in some measure a failure. That, it wouid tail i have no tear whatever, as many years ago 1 have seen ingot steel of a quality whi h was very highly commended by the bhtm'e.d cutlers, made by even a ruder process than the mode o! manufacture I would propose, as a very economical mode on the one hand of utilizing the eteel sand we have at our door, and on the other, utilizing the spare tops,

branches, and butts of trees which are a source of annoyance to our enterprising saw-millers. I hope you may be able to find space for these few lines in an early issue of your journal, and am, &c. Old Cold Blast. Invercargill, 12th April, 1873.