TARANAKI'S IRONSAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 58, 26 July 1912, Page 7

TARANAKI'S IRONSAND.

' To the Editor. Sir,—Kindly allow me to reply to the article which appeared under the above heading in Tuesday's Daily News. Mr. Donne is evidently a gentleman who indulges in wild (lights of imagination. The present writer has studied the ironsand question since a boy, and is fully acquainted with the method of production and also with the endeavors that have been made from time to time to induce capitalists to exploit the valuable deposits. So I claim that I can speak upon the matter with some authority. Dealing with the first erroneous statement:—"That many eminent metallurgists Lave tried smeltings by every known method, but that the only known | material produced has been at a prohibitive cost, so that all schemes had eventually to be abandoned," shows at once that Mr. Donne was talking about something he knows nothing of. He himself admits that it was only in 1908 that his interest was aroused in this question. My father, the late E. M. Smith, in September, 1875, at the Te U.emii ironworks, ran the first castings made from j the ironsand, and years before at dilierent intervals he made iron from the sand, and since that date he has turned out over 300 tons of pig iron, some of I which has been turned into steel, razors, ! files, saws, knives, lathe tools, etc., of the finest quality. They have been pro- j nounced by the greatest experts in iron ' and steel to be the best that can be , produced anywhere in the world and j their opinions I can produce for inspecI tion by anyone who cares to see the J documents. The public can judge beJ tween Mr. T. Donne and Bessemer, the | Steel King, G. J. Snelus, F.R.S., president of the Iron and Steel Institute, R. j Price Williams, Stevenson, Siemens, and 1 others.

As regards the prohibitive, cost of production, I will quote from G. J. Snclus' J report. He says that the pig iron from Taranaki sand can be produced for a little more than £2 per ton, whereas in England pig iron costs £2 10s per ton f.o.b. The reason, that pig iron can be produced cheaper in Xew Zealand than in England, although labor is dearer in [Xew Zealand, is that the ironsand be- , nig so pure as against the English iron (ores having to be worked up. Quoting from E. Price Williams' report, he says that steel, steel rails, boiler plates, etc., can be produced from Taranaki iron cheaper than at Home, and this by Mr. E. M. Smith's process of years before the advent of Mr. Donne into the ironsand question. Again, Mr. Donne speaks of the trouble they had with the titanic acid. _ My father's process eliminates the titanic acid; vide experts' reports. Again Mr. Donne says that in June, 1910, we had the satisfaction of knowing that the problem of manufacturing iron from Taranaki ironsand w.as solved. Who told him? Mr. Donne savs that two gentlemen travelled through America and England trying to induce capitalists to put money into a company to erect experimental furnaces in New' Zealanl But we are past the experimental stage. Mr. Donne. Wo want fiic'capita] to turn out the best proved iron and steel. We don'p ■■'■ want experiments or wild cat sWietaes. Mr. Donne says that they approached his engineer with a view of Securing his knowledge. This also failed. He does not make it clear whether the securing or the knowledge failed; it may have been the knowledge. Another inaccuracy is in reward to other leases offered bv the Harbor Board He says that they are small and of little value or no value. Mr. Donne is entirely wrong in this respect, as the other options offered bv the Board are

" UIC viuuil "'L' man nie .New Plymouth leases., viz., the Katikara and the Waiongona. As will be seen by your readers, Mr. Donne's interview'is'full of inaccuracies. If Mr. Donne is so anxious about the welfare of the ironsand industry, and he savs he spent years in New Zealand, how is it we have not heard of him before? Whilst on the question I may as well quote the analysis of the ironsand and pig iron produced by my father's process. The analyses are hy G. J. Snclus, F.E.S. Ironsand— Metallic iron 153.7 Silica 4 [ C) Titanic acid ' 75 ?>V lph V r 015 Phosphorus .015 Moisture 'q;^ Ironsand pig iron— Iron 02.577 > Combined carbon ' ~.SoQ Graphite ' o' 2 q f i] ; eon hr Sulphur J3g Phosphorus ", '227 Manganese ',,, ' 2 qo Titanium '' '245 Signed—0. J. SNEL-US. -Bessemer medallist, President . . Iron and Steel Institute. J-he pig ,ron i 8 extremely tough and good grey iron, and is so beautifully iT^fZ 11 I s t0 be t;lk «> ingot 0 CCI ; T - Dm »»» will only g o \ •Shepherd's Bush ,in London he wifl see our manufactured articles on exhibition. 1 am afraid Mr. Donne is one of those speculators who wish to not lmi,i „f «,„

onsan leases 0 exploit the public, and, a XL\ 0i f\°v I* 0 * 10 Wlio have Il *d a chance to establish the industry, would not close w th good offers, but wan od tere7 T)Jf\ mit ,° f Footers' invert , H f !,or Board Bl >o«ld be very caref.,l who they let have the leases, when the preset terms expf e «* it is reported that the Cadman syndicate sold their interests in the ironsand started. Although my father spent a and the , benCflt ° f thc and was the sole promoter of the Cadwit* tS ,Cate ' aIMI Jleld an with that company, , nv mother has reSv fW■ \* U ? "° C ' aim °" th "m. My fathers object was to see the industry properly established. He had dozens of opportunities. to get W« ™ nioters' mtereste, but he dM not" £ke them. Ee had all the kicks; others it appears are to get all the ha'-ponce.i 1 *"' etc - T. P. SMITH.