TARANAKI IRONSAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 221, 16 March 1912, Page 4

TARANAKI IRONSAND.

A BIG UNDERTAKING. The Parapara Iron Ore Company, of Christehureh, are preparing to commence operations on their' pr'operty at Moturoa, New Plymouth, and have instructed a Christehureh firm to proceed with the erection of the necessary plant. The machinery and buildings fofr the experimental treatment of the great deposits lying on the Company's property have been designed by Mr. James Dunbar, recently of Invercargill, la a short conversation with that gentleman the Invercargill News learned on Tuesday tbafc f it is intended to combine the ironßanS ;! with clay and limestone and form briquettes which, when dry, will be treated: in a small blast furnace. Ample room has been allowed' for running the iron into pigs. Special furnaces are "being provided, to be worked by a new pro- ' cess, which experts claim will be an advance on older methods. The power for • operating blower press and pumps/ etc., will be a 50 b.h.p. suction producer plant. A commodious workshop will be provided, having a separate gas engine (to work by producer or natural gas), forge, drill, etc., also a laboratory and, office. It has been arranged that the preliminary plant and buildings are to be ready this month. Experts estimate that there are a,million tons of ironsand in sight, which means the deposits are practically inexhaustible.

MR. WITHEFORD'S RETURN. (From Wellington Post's Correspondent.) ' Sydney, March 9. ' Mr. J. H. Witheford, formerly one of the Auckland city members of the New Zealand Parliament, has arrived here from London, on hie way back to New Zealand, by the Moldavia, which sails on Monday, as the representative of a big financial group in London, which is, < he says, ready to provide nearly a million capital for a .project in New Zealand upon his being able to advise that satisfactory arrangements have been made in accordance with instructions. He is not at liberty to disclose the nature of his representations,.but says that.if his.information is acted,upon by the British. Admiralty, it will be to the great advantage of New Zealand. Miv Witheford says that he almost lived at the Admiralty Offices in London, and'claims to have been admitted into the inner circle. While it is a well-known fact that he induced the Admiralty to equip the Calliope dock, it may not be so well known that it was he and not Sir Joseph Ward, according to Mr. Witheford, who got the Admiralty to make Auckland instead of Sydney the naval base for the 1 Pacific. "I can tell you," he said, "that I have had considerable dealings ' with the Admiralty on certain represen- . tations I made regarding British the Pacific. The Admiralty conveyed its: thanks to me for the information', and told me that the questions I had placed before them would receive .their ferious consideration." He added that some important announcement would be tabled shortly, and when it was his lips {would be no longer sealed.