AUSTRALIAN IRON ORE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 April 1938, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN IRON ORE

EXPORT BAN TO REMAIN IN FORCE. CONSERVING NATIONAL ASSET. No reversal of its decision to place a ban on the export of Australian iron ore is likely to be made by the Federal .Ministry, according to a report from Canberra. The imposition of the ban has been delayed because of the need for review of unexpected difficulties. but an export embargo is clearly foreshadowed in a telegram sent to the Tasmanian Government by the Prime Minister. Mr J. A. Lyons.

In reply to statements by the act-ing-Premier of Tasmania, Mr Dwyer Gray, that there had been .no survey in Tasmania, and that leases had been let in Tasmania, Mr Lyons telegraphed: “My Government fully appreciates the difficulties of the position, but it feels bound to be guided by expert advice, which is most alarming. A detailed survey will occupy something like two years, and this being so, an obligation devolves upon the Commonwealth Government to conserve, as far as possible, the known resources, thus providing for the possibility that the survey will, not reveal other large workable deposits. "Conservation of an irreplaceable national asset is of paramount importance, and the Commonwealth Government is obliged to act in the interests of Australia as a whole. I shall be glad of early advice from you as to what leases have been granted in Tasmania, the estimated quantity of ore in each case, and what estimated tonnage will be exported from Australia.- ’

Among the difficulties the Ministry has encountered, it is stated, are the possibility of giving offence internationally by the sudden decision to prohibit exports, and the situation that may arise if any claim is made against the Commonwealth for compensation for money spent in developments at Yampi Sound on the understanding that ore exports would be unrestricted.

Discussing the proposal for the export of Yampi Sound iron ore to Japan, a correspondent of the Financial Timos, London, regards the Commonwealth’s decision to prohibit exports as vitally important. “The depletion of Australian iron ore is a matter of considerable moment both to Australia and the Empire,” he says. “Because neither Australia nor other parts of the Empire at present require Yampi deposits, there is no reason why a foreign Power should be allowed any advantage from them.

“The transient commercial benefit that Western Australia would receive from the exploitation of the deposits would be far outweighed by the indirect economic loss the Empire would suffer as a result of the advancement of all Japanese industry associated with steel production.”