Page 3 Advertisements Column 3

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4481, 16 May 1883, Page 3

Companies T>ROSP E C T U S OF ]\T EW TJ U \ LAND TRON AND CjTJSKL COMPANY (Limited) ■ ■ j CAPITAL .. ... ... £200,000 40,000 Shares of £5 Each. - 12.000 Shares to be Allotted at present, and the Balance when it is found necessary to Enlarge the Works. ! The Shares held in Reserve will be allotted to the Shareholders at Par, in proportion to the number of Shares held. Directors: On akk, James McCosh, Auckland Stone, Captain James, Auckland Morrw, Thomas, Auckland Chambers, John, Auckland Dawson, William, Wellington i . Soldship, George, Auckland Keep, J. H., Auckland ; Gardner, Guy H., New York Solicitors: v Whwaker, Russell, and Buddle. • ■ Bankers: Bank of New Zealand. Secretary pro tern.: James Macfakiane. The New Zealand Iron and Steel Company Limited, is organised to mannfacture Bar and Pig Iron find Wire from the iron sand deposits on the West Coast, by means of the patents owned by Messrs John Chambers and G H. Gardner. The practicability of these patents having been fully proved by the works at present in operation at Onehunga, there remain but two points to be considered —viz., the cost of manufacturing and the market for the product. THE COST. In estimating the comparative cost of manufacturing , here and in England there are three itemß to be considered, viz., labor, coal, and raw material. The raw material is almost a nominal cost to us. The coal will cost no more here than in England, for it is intended to use only gas for all Seating purposes in the works, which can be produced by means of gas generators from slack or any brown coal at a far lower cost than the same amount of heat can be obtained from burning coal. Labour is then the only item which will cost more here than in England, and we have to consider what advantage we possess to counterbalance this greater cost. These advantages consist (Ist) in situation, by which we save 10 per cent, on the Home cost which is absorbed in commission, insurance, exchange, and interest, and outward freight, as the freight from Auckland or Onehunga to different places in the Colony will be no more than the charges in England in bringing the iron from the milla by rail and cartage and shipping charges in London; (2nd) in our process, by which we save cost of fettling (or wrought iron scrap), which in puddling from pig has to be put into the furnace, and the oost of making the pig and the waste of the same in puddling. This is a most important item in our favor, and would be alone sufficient to counterbalance the greater cost of labor, tor by the patents under which this company will {work, the same result is obtained from ironsand as is obtained from pig iron, thus saving the expense of making the pig. The difference in cost between pig iron in England, suitable for making good bar iron, and the ironsand at Onehunga being fully 35s per ton in our favor. If, then, we fake [the amount of saving which we have by our process and situation to counterbalance the greater cost of wages in this Colony, we have :— Ist—lo per cent, on the Home cost—say £7 -.. 14s 2nd—Saving in freight 25s 3rd—Saving of fettling 3s 4th—Saving of cost of making the pig .. .. 35s sth—Saving of manufacturers' profits .. .. 7s 84s The total cost of labor in manufacturing pig iron into finished bars in England is under 35s per ton; bo that if the coat of labor here is even as high as 60s there remains a large margin of profit. It' ia estimated that the total cost of the best finished bar iron at Onehunga will be under £6 per ton. THE MARKET. The production of cheap iron opens-go large a field of industry that it is impossible to estimatejthe future of this trade. It is an undoubted fact that bar iron can be made from IKONSAND MORE CHEAPLY THAN I'ROM ANT OTHER ORE. , The supply of raw material is unlimited, and New Zealand should become one of the largest iron producing countries in the world. The many branches of manufacture, of which cheap iron is the prime essential, will no doubt spring into life now that both iron and coal may be. obtained in New Zealand, and with the supply so will the demand increase. The amount of iron imported into Australasia in 1882 waß as follows:— , Australia. New Zealand. Tl. Tons. . Tons. Bar Iron .. ..44,600 9,250 53,750 Fencing Wire .. 40,000 9,500 49,500 Galvanised Iron .. 37,080 8,000 45,080 Pig Iron .. .. 24,500 4,000 28,500 Plate Iron .. .. 9,250 1,000 10,250 Wire Nails.. .. 6,759 2,750 9,500 -Hoop Iron ..-. .. 3,760 850 4,600 Sheet Iron.. .. 3,500 COO 4,100 These figures do not include Tasmania or West Australia. >, ' The present cost of South Staffordshire iron, which is universally used in these colonies, is £7 10s, f.0.b., London, costing delivery .in New Zealand about £9 10s, which is one of the lowest prices for many years, owing to the depression of the iron industries in England. Auckland iron at £8, f.0.b., would thus keep out the imported iron, and leave a large profit to the manufacturers. It is also proposed to manufacture the iron into a few jarticlea which are largely used/ such as fencing standards, fish-plates, railway spikes, Ac, &c, on which a larger profit can be made. Fencing standards coat in the South Island about £11 per ton, and are used to the extent of over 3000 tons per annum, and in other, lines large quantities can be sold at better profits than can be made on bar iron. Fencing wire being protected by a duty of £1 per ton, and by a large cost of importing, offers a profitable field of industry; and it is proposed to add this line to the products of the company as soon as the above operations are at work. The slag from the puddling furnaces, if it contains a sufficiently high percentage of iron, will be smelted in an ordinary blast furnace, aiid run into pig iron, thus utilising all the waste prodactß. Sydney and Melbourne will take a large i quantity of iron from us, as low freights are ' easily obtained to those colonies. It is expected that New Zealand iron can be sent to England and the United States at very profitable prices, as the iron made from Kund in the United-States'by this process is