IRONSAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 63, 1 August 1912, Page 6

IRONSAND.

To the Editor. Sir.—Tn offering a reply to the somewhat. irate effusion of your correspondent. Mr. T. P. Smith, in this morning's i*me of the News, T might state that the two names "Oldfield" and "ITipkins" . were both (probably due to my very ' lmd writing) misprinted in my letter, j being both spelt as above. Mr. Oldfield ' had, I think, a brother. Colonel Oldfield, ' and was a relative of the Anion family, once of Tiel 1 Block. Mr. Smith s'Sems to have wholly misunderstood the tenor of my letter, which was fully in support of _ his late father's work. The onlv thing in which I differed from him was that [ considered him too optimistic. With what little I know of the business I always questioned the ironsand being equal to providing rails, or heavy bridge ironwork for Xew Zealand railways; or, indeed, competing bulk for bulk with the staple and commoner ores, the superior grade of iron of the sand fitting it eminently for tools of every description, while for more massive and rougher purposes it was too good. Xor did I think weight for weight could be run in the same time as with more ordinary ores. As after the ITipkins escapade it was my impression that the ITemii furnace was used no more, I therefore wondered where the 300 tons afterwards said to be attained were run. I also did not know of the BO tons run by Mr. E. M. Smith after the ITipkins failure, the first trial I witnessed. With regard to cost of sand smelting, I said nothing to the effect of its costing £2O per ton, but. stated that tie moribund Iron and ■Steel Co., thinking the price of the iron produced at the first trial prohibitive, and that they questioned Mr. E. M. ! Smith reducing materially that cost in any limited time, discontinued operations. Of course, I might be wrong, J but that was my impression. With regard to "Weary Cynicism," I am surprised that Mr T. P. Smith should praise those who seemed to obstruct ironsand smelting projects, and not admit that the ironsand may not infrequently be made simply a stepping-stone to political distinction, which distinction gained, the sand might remain in statu quo.—l am C. W. WILSON.