IRON ORE SMELTING CO.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 January 1919, Page 6

IRON ORE SMELTING CO.

ANNUAL MEETING, The adjourned annual meeting of the New Zealand Iron Ore Smelting Company was held yesterday. Mr W ,T. Peim (chairman of directors) presided over a small attendance. The annual report and bal-ance-sheet were adopted on the motion of the chairman, who stated that since the time of the adjournment of the annual meeting a new trial at the furnace had beea, or was being, made. The fuel shortage wa;j still a. trouble, and they had not even got all they required for the present trial. The furnace was lighted seven days ago, and the result so far had been somewhat gratifying. Owing to the long interval since the last smelting, the staff had been widely scattered, and there had been only one experienced man on the works. It was satisfactory, under these circumstances, that the furnace had been kept going. Each cast of iron had been of uniform quality, and from its appearance, and the fact that each drilling had shown a soft workable iron, it was evident that there could be obtained a continuity of production of a good marketable iron. In the present smelting all the prepared ore had been used up, and it was now proposed to experiment with the crude sand to see if it could be converted from tin raw state in which it was to be found on the beach. In a measure the success of the company depended on the result of this experiment. During the present smelting the fuel expenditure per ton of iron produced had been greatly reduced. It was also hoped that if w«r-T>rice3 were reduced a further saving could be effected, thereby giving better prospects of making a commercial success of the company'o business. During the past week —or actually five smelting days—about 30 tous of iron had been produced. The greatest difficulty to contend with was the lack of regular supplies of fuel. The chairman said the coal position was worse to-day than it had ever been. The Government wn • I'wtcr of coal than ever, and even householders were unable to get more than the barest necessities. Still he had hope of better conditions and considered there was a reasonable chance of making a success of their undertaking. Messrs A. W Reid. and W. Penn were re-elected to the directorate, and Mr. V. Duff was re-elected auditor at the seme remuneration as for last year The business terminated by the passing of a vote of thanks to the directors for their services duri::g the year.