IRON-SMELTING COMPANY.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 October 1916, Page 5

IRON-SMELTING COMPANY.

STATUTORY MEETINGS. The statutory meeting of the !?e» Zealand Iron Ore Smelting and Manufacturing Company, Ltd., was held on Thursday. Mr. P. 0, Payne presided over a gathering of about twenty-flva shareholders. The statutory report presented showed that up to September 23 the total number of shares allotted was 12,351, all in consideration of cash, and the cash received in respect thereof was £2248. 4s. In n(oving the adoption of the report tlie chairman ctated that arrangements had been made with Mr. Duncan Rutherford whereby the company was enabled to order ail llie necessary machinery and material at once, a fact which, lie Sfiid, showed the great faith Mr. Rutherford; has in tile venture. Tt had been decided: to close the 'iharc list as soon as 17,000 shares were sold, and as 1(1,07P hud al« ready been allotted (nearly 4000 since the date of the report) they only required to sell about «00 more. The work of putting in the plant and building* liad been started, and all the m&« chinery was either order or being ordered. He expected the fivst furnace to ■be running pig-iron by the end of February or the beginning of March.- The capacity of the first furnace would be 70 ton;; per week, with, machinery in the main capable of dealing with 270 tons per week. Arrangements were being made for the election of another furnace \vith*2oo tons weekly capacity as soon Us possible.

Mr. f. B. Laurer.son (Christehurch), in seconding the motion, said he was I satisfied that at last the problem of smelting the Taranaki ironsand had been successfully solved. It wa> liis piofoi'iui conviction that this was so, and on a commercial as well as a laboratory °eale, He was now using the pig-ir m produced at Moturoa in his foundry, and lie >vas perfectly satisfied to .'4O on using it. Messrs. P. and 0. Dmiean, I.td., of ChrUtchurch, had tried half a i-t\ of it and pronounced it cood enough for thoir ordinary purposes. They bad given an order for 100 tons at the niaikot rate, which was now €l4 or £lB a tar.. lie believed the iron could be produced at £3 a ton, so that there was a handsome margin or profit at present values. Of course they could not expect the present prices to be maintained after the war, but he had bought thriusai.da of ton 9 of 'ror and even before the war he had never been able to buy under £5. He did not beliteve it would ever drop book to that figure. New Zealand was a very great tiser of iron and steel, and every day it was usir.g wore for buildings, bridges, railways, etc. The motion vns carried. The election of directors reaulteJt Mc'.-rs IX liiiih'Tford, .1. Liurenson, J. A. Heckett, (I. Fraser. F. D. Payne, \V. IT. Moves, W. J. Penn, and Jenkins (liltha-.n) " Mr. C. T. Mills was elected auditor.