IRONSAND INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 May 1916, Page 5

IRONSAND INDUSTRY.

WORKS AT MOTUROA DEFINITE SCHEME ARRANGED. An important, development is COUM* tion with the ironsand industry in Tanu naki was announced yesterday in ad official statement intimating that tha Now Zealand- Iron Ore" Smelting and Manufacturing Company., Ltd., has de* finitely decided to erect works at Moturoa. At the meeting of the Harbor Board yesterday a letter was received from the company announcing this decision'and asking that arrangements for leasing certain of the Board's property should b» made. A sub-committee waa=appointed to confer with the company on the mat' ter. As soon as the formalities In connection'with the lease are carried through an immediate start will be made With, the erection of works capable, at the out« «•*, of producing an output of 200 tons of pig-iron weekly. The proposed site of the works is on the sand-hills between Paritutu and the company's existing, site. The new company will take over the Parapara Ore Company's works and local rights. The expense of handling the aw materials and the completed artisle, as well as supplies like coal, will be re* duced to a minimum by the adoption of the overhead trolley system. The site of the works could not be more favorably; placed, being as it is practically at tha foot of the wharf with illimitable de*t posits of the ironsand contiguous. Not only are the beaches composed of tha sand, but the country round about la but a mass of ironsand, existing, too, to a depth of a hundred feet or more. There will, therefore, be no dearth of the raw material. As for the iron itself, experts who have handled and tested it aire highly delighted with its quality. 'lt is surprisingly good; even the Swedish iron . can't beat it," said the head of pne of the largest iron foundries in the Dominion tp a News' representative re-, cently. He further pointed out that New Zealand consumes over 1000 tons of pig iron monthly, whilst in ateel rails, fencing wire, corrugated iron, nails, and the like, thousands of tons come in monthly, At least that used to Be the case. Now, pig iron cannot be brought from England for love or money, owing 'to the authorities preventing its export, whilst the abnormal freight charges prevailing from the United States io New Zealand act as an effective embargo against its imparted tion. : ' 1 As showing '.lie possibilities before tha />cnl ironworks, the case of a New Zealand manufacturer of nails may be cited. He goes through a great quantity of nail wire monthly, but he finds now that he cannot obtain material, and therefore will have to cloße down. He is naturally greatly interested in the Moturoa ironsand developments, and is prepared to .purchase all .<is supplies from the local company if the works will embrace the manufacture of that class of iron. Piping, stgel nils, corrugated iron—all iron products,' In fact—can be made locally, once the pig iron industry is established. The present company, however, for the tlttp being, proposes to confine its speratlpns to turning out the raw product, for which there is an immediate and profitable market. This will be good news to all Interested in the developmont of our latent resources, and marks an important adv»] ce in making the Dominion eeif-eo'.-tained and self-reliant in respect ot one of its chief necessities.