Page 3 Advertisements Column 3

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4482, 17 May 1883, Page 3

Companies T> R O S P E C T. U S OF NEW r/EALAND TKON AND Lk 1 STEEL COMPANY (Limited.) CAPITAL ... ... ... £203,000] 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 Reseive will be allotted to tbe Shareholders at Par, in proportion to the number of Shares held. Directors: Clark, James McCosh, Auckland ' Stone, Captain James, Auckland \ Mohkin, Thomas, Auckland Chambers, John, Auckland Dawson, Wimiam, Wellington Holdsbip, George, Auckland Keep, J. H., Auckland Gardner, Guy H., New York Solicitors: . Whwakeb, Kussem., and Buddle. Bankers: , Bank or New Zealand. Secretary pro tern.: James Macfarlane. . j The New Zealand Iron and Steel Company Jjimited, is organised to manufacture Bar and Pig Iron and Wire from the iron sand ] deposits on the Woßt 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 items 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 Englmd, for it is intended to use only gas for all heating 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 | tbe only item which will cost more here than j 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 Colonywill be no more than the charges in England in bringing the iron from the mills 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 paddling from pig has to be put into the furnace, and the cost 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, for by the patents under which this company will Jwork, 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 take [the amount of saving which we have by our process and situation to counterbalance the greater cost of wages in this Colony, we have:— lst^-10 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; so that if. the cost of labor here is even as high as 60s there remains a large margin of profit. It is 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 so large a field of industry that it is impossible to estimate'the future of this trade. It is an undoubted fact that bar iron can be made from IRONSAND KOBE CHEAPLY THAN FROM ANY 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 was as follows:— Australia. New Zealand. Tl. Tons. Tons. Bar Iron .. .. 44,500 9,250 03,750 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 Irou .. .. 9,250 1,000 10,250 Wire Nails.. ;. 6,750 2,750 9,500 Hoop Iron .. .. 3,750 850 4,600 Sheet Iron.. .. 3,50» 600 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 £710 a, 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 irou industries in England. Auckland iron at £8, f.0.b., would thos keep out the imported iron, and leave a large profit to the manufacturers. It is also proposed to manufacture the iron into a few Jarticles which are largely used, such as fencing standards, fish-plates, railway spikes, &c, &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 linea 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 largo coat of importing, offers a profitable field of industry; and it is proposed to add this line to tbe products of the company as soon as tbe 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, and run into pig iron, thua utilising all the waste products. Syduey and Melbourne will take a large 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 vory profitable prices, as the iron made from sand in the United States by this precess is