THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2773, 3 January 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1878.

New Zealand in many instances hns been unfortunate as to the slow development of her great resources—mineral and otherwise —arising out of various causes. One of the latest illustrations that forces itself upon the attention of observant people is the attempts which have been made to start a steel and iron company on a satisfactory basis for the purpose of utilising the iron sand that exists in great abundance at Taranaki, and other places on the west coast of the North Island. A company was formed, and all the preliminary formalities so grateful to the souls of " busy-body " creation were strictly observed. That is to say, a meeting was held, unlimited support promised, a directorate appointed, and the like, and the project was carried very much farther than this, inasmuch as a gigantic smelting furnace and machinery were erected, and every possible appliance obtained to secure the successful working of one of the most valuable products of the present era, when iron is so largely employed in almost every department of trade, to soy nothing of its cxtensivo use in purely maritime pursuits. Unfortunately, however, the company did not prosper. Some blatno is attached to somebody or something, 110 doubt, and as always is the case, there are not wanting those willing to tell the first who asks in what direction the onus lies. From trials made -by some of the most experienced persons in Scotland, it would seem that a good class of metal might be manufactured from this inn sand at Taranaki. 13ut the result of the test experiments made by the company up to the present time hare been the reverse of encouraging, insomuch that the shareholders in different parts of the country some time ago got impatient and tired of the whole thing, and their discontent found expression in resolutions passed at indignation meetings in Otago and elsewhere. Since then the agitation has subsided, and with it, apparently, any desire to push the project on to some definite issue ono way or the other. We trust, however, that it will not be allowed to die out altogether, but that capital will step in to make this great industry a success, and so add another to the rapidly increasing prdducls of this fertile and abundant country.