NEW ZEALAND IRON.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1111, 30 September 1873, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND IRON.

The Melbourne Herald of a late date' says :—The steamer Alhambra on her last trip from New Zealond, brought up from Nelson a small shipment which may possibly have the effect of creating a new industry here, and at the same of making the whole of the Australasian group independent of the mother country in an important staple commodity—we allude to iron ore. A parcel of about six tons of this ore arrived by the above steamer, which was at once handed over to Messrs Drysdale and Eraser, King street, for the purpose of smelting. The owner of the mine, being anxious that the ore should be thoroughly tested, engaged the services of Mr Patterson, assayer of the Bank of New Zealand, and the work was carried out by the above firm under the inspection of the latter gentleman, the result being in the highest degree satisfactory. At the return of the Alhambra, several " pigs" of i r on were despatched, and their arrival in Nelson will doubtless convince the sceptical of this very pretty but not go ahead vince. To Messrs Anderson and Borthwick (both Melbourne men) belongs the credit of having discovered the ore, and these gentlemen state that I the mine can be worked at a comparatively trifling cost. To use their own expression, "there are two huge mountains of the ore ready to hand on the surface and only Waiting to be smelted." The prospectors have leased about two square miles of ground from the Crown, the whole of which according to their account, is incredibly rich in minerals, and the lease includes the property lately known as the Collingwood c-ial mine. Messrs Anderson and Borthwick, finding that it would be a matter of im.possibility for any private firm to effectually work a mine of such magnitude, have determined to form a company. It is, we understand, th«ir intention to endeavor to launch the affair in the Colonies, failing which the aid of English capitalists will be sought. The Age of a still later date says : —• " The first bar of iron made from New Zealand ore was turned out yesterday at the Melbourne Polling Mills, Dudley street. West Melbourne, at the request of Mr Alexander Borthwick. Some of the surface ore was put into the furnace and it produced, when rolled, even in its first stage, a really first-class malleable iron, which could be bent and twisted into any shape. Some cold bars of iron were then put to the severest test, and were bent double under the largest hammer in the establishment without showing any sign of weakness. The iron produced from this New Zealand ore when cut has a bright clean surface which resembles polished steel. The proprietors of the Polling Mills, wfo: have been accustomed to the manufacture of iron, state that the iron produced from the ore is the best they have worked in the colony, and that considering the hurried and necessarily imperfect way in which it was tested, no imported iron would stand. the same treatment wiih such a satisfactory result. The iron, it is alleged, can be put on to the market at fifty per cent lower than the most inferior description of iron imported from England.