The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1915. TARANAKI IRON.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 December 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1915. TARANAKI IRON.

For si.vty years past there have been conducted experiments having for their object the establishment in Taranaki of one of the most important industries that can be found in any country—the manufacture of iron. Unfortunately success has not attended the efforts of the enthusiasts, the main obstacles being (1) an effective process that was not too costly; (2) want of sufficient capital. For countless ages there has been along parts of the Taranaki foreshore an illimitable supply of ironsand possessing the necessary qualities for producing the finest class of steel. Had such a veritable source of wealth been found in the United States it would long ere this have added to the list of American millionaires, but being in Taranaki it has so far remained waste material, except for the few tons that have been used for experimental purposes. Taranaki as a dairying province has justly attained fame, but it greatly needs some permanent industries that will add to its prosperity and importance. By making a success of the oil and iron industries, the material for which Nature has so generously endowed this district, the boon to the province and the Dominion would be immense. It only requires courage, determination, and capital to make use of the rich stores of both these products in order to produce wealth and make the country more self-contained. Yesterday, as will be seen by the report in I another part of this, issue, a successful demonstration was given of the Heskett process for converting ironsand into pigiron. In the presence of a representative party of townspeople and others, including the Attorney-General (the Hon. A. L. Herdman), who was a most interested spectator, the success of the process was fully demonstrated, high-class pig-iron being run off from the smelting chamber of the furnace. • So confident are the syndicate that the process will prove a commercial success that they propose to take immediate steps to develop the industry and supply the Dominion with pig-iron at the rate of from thirty to fifty tons daily. The financial success depends, of course, on the cost of manufacture and the selling price of the product. Both these factors are favorable to the venture. Coal and lime are both procurable within a comparative short distance of the works, and other fluxing material is obtainable on the spot. The mere manufacture of pig-iron would of itself be of the greatest importance, but a number of other industries would certainly follow. It may be that the present is hardly a favorable time for raising capital for such ah" enterprise, yet in a matter of such vital importance to the Dominion there should be no delay, That thert it plenty of spare

money awaiting investment is known, and it lias only to be proved that ironworks are a paying proposition in order to raise the required £35,000 for the works. At present we import iron and steel goods to the value of four millions sterling a year, the money for which is lost to the Dominion, but by making our own iron this large amount is retained. The project is one that should be taken up in earnest anjjbrought to fruition.

THE PRESS AND PUBLIC MATTERS, At yesterday's meeting of the Taranaki County Council the chairmen ventilated, at some length, a personal grievance against the newly elected councillor, Mr. ■J. B. Simpson, in connection with a letter signed by Mr. Simpson, and published in the Daily News, on the subject of "The Press and Public Matters." We do not propose to give in this article the details of the breeze at the Council table, but refer our readers to the full report of the proceedings which appears in another column; neither do we offer any opinion on the merits or demerits of the case as presented by Mr. Brown. Mr. Simpson and Mr. Brown can well be left *to settle their own disputes. At the same time we cannot allow Mr. Brown's remarks relative to our action in publishing the letter in question to pass without pointing out that they were evidently based on an erroneous idea of editorial duties. In a footnote to the report of the proceedings at the annual statutory meeting of the Council, we pointed out that the Daily News, not wishing to burk discussion of any matter of public interest, opened its columns freely to those who wish to ventilate their opinions and ideas, but that by no means meant that the Daily News shared the opinions expressed, or could be held responsible for the accuracy of the statements made. This is a well understood rule that should be, and doubtless is, as w*ell known to Mr. Brown as it is to the public generally, so that when the County Chairman states that it is wrong for a letter to appear which contains erroneous statements, he fails to grasp the fact that it is no part of an editor's duty to sift the statements made by correspondents, his chief responsibility being to guard against a breach of the law relating to libel—a fairly onerous task. There is no more justification for Mr. Brown's contention that we were wrong in publishing a letter that was known to contain erroneous statements than there would be if ho claimed that we should be held responsible for publishing similar statements made at the Council table and included in our reports of the proceedings. We feel sure that, on reflection, Mr. Brown will admit the justice of this contention. It is to be regretted that the occasion of the advent of a new councillor should have been marked in such an unusual way, but now that the storm has burst the administrative atmosphere should become clear —at least so far as the chairman and the press are concerned —for both are serving the public and the performance of their respective duties calls for broad instead of narrow views of the responsibilities which fall to the lot of each.