USE OF SCRAP METAL

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20728, 11 February 1939, Page 6

USE OF SCRAP METAL

Scrap metal has become an important commodity in most countries ever since the armaments race began. In New Zealand, however, scrap metal is merely waste, since exportation has been prohibited and no mills for the utilisation of the waste exist. It is said that scrap worth about £70,000 a year is being dumped or buried. That waste will continue as long as plant and machinery continue to be used and worn. A movement is afoot to persuade the Government to end the waste and turn scrap metal to good use, hut the task might well be undertaken even by a private concern.

One suggestion is that the Government should lift the ban on the export of the metal. That would immediately create a market for the waste, but the Government, perhaps wisely, has set its face against exporting iron to countries which may return it in the shape of bombs and guns. While it is unlikely that the export ban will be lifted, it is certain that the present waste should not be allowed to continue. Is there any good reason why a factor should not be established to turn waste metal into a product for which the country is crying aloud ? Scrap iron max’ be bought cheaply, and there is a reasonably assured supply for all time.

The Government’s intention to erect huge iron and steel works at Onekaka at a cost of £5,000,000 may yet have to he modified considerably or abandoned altogether. Prospecting of the ore deposits has been proceeding for many months, and rumours suggest that the deposits arc not nearly as extensive as they were believed to be. It would be a fatal blunder to expend so large a sum of money unless the necessary quantity and quality of ore are there indisputably. In the meantime builders and others cannot obtain all the iron and steel they require, and at the same time £70,000 worth of metal is going into the rubbish dumps each year. The facts suggest that the possibilities of the establishment of a rolling mill of moderate dimensions should be investigated immediately.