NO FEAR OF AN IRON FAMINE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 288, 29 April 1911, Page 3

NO FEAR OF AN IRON FAMINE

NEW ZEALAND'S SUPPLY. Christchurch, Wednesday. An interesting contribution to the discussion on the nationalisation of the iron ore deposits of the Dominion has been made by Mr. R. Speight, a member of the stall' of the Canterbury Museum. ''One of the two main supplies in New Zealand," said Mr. Speight, "is the Taranaki iron-sand, which exists in very large quantities. Its value is a good deal discounted, because it contains titanium, the quality of which makes it difficult to smelt the sand. It is only fair to say that similar iron ores are smelted with success in Canada. The other source of supply in New Zealand is the Parapara iron deposit, which is a hematite iron of fairly good quality, and exists in very large quantities, probably hundreds of millions of tons. The estimates made by Dr. Bell are below that quantity, but they were admittedly conservative. The special advantage of the Para para ore is that it is near coal, water and limestone, and power would be readily available. We have no low grade of any quality to fall back upon if these supplies are exhausted. Following on the lines of. Norway, where conditions are not dissimilar to those here, it would seem a safe step to take to conserve the iron ores for the State. The quantities of iron arc so great that there is no fear of an iron famine, A point of interest is that every ton of iron requires half a ton of coke to smelt it. Granting that electrical methods cannot be used, it seems that the supply of coke-ninking coal will probably he exhausted before the iron ores I go. A point in favor of conservation is that in 50 years New Zealand will he producinif its own iron. The population will he larger, there will be a bigger demand tor iron goods, and a consequent increase in the demands for iron."