IRON AND STEEL REQUIREMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21223, 20 September 1940, Page 4

IRON AND STEEL REQUIREMENTS

To the layman, New Zealand’s policy in connection with the production or utilisation of iron and steel is rather puzzling. Before the war the Government was willing to risk £5,000,000 in the establishment of an iron and steel works capable of producing an output greater than the Dominion could absorb. Now, rather than invest £12,000 in the reopening of the works at Onekaka it has decided it would be preferable to import iron and steel from Australia. The industry and the Government experts have also decided that the quantity of scrap metal available does not warrant a serious attempt at smelting. The intention is therefore to import metal from Australia until a reserve of 1000 tons is built up. Whether the reopening of the Onekaka works at the comparatively small cost of £12,000 would be warranted must, of course, be left to experts, providing other considerations are not allowed to interfere with the expression of their findings. Possibly, if the Government still aims to establish the five million pounds scheme when conditions are more favourable it is reluctant to take two bites at the cherry and give the Onekaka plant an opportunity to operate on its merits. It is true that it may have no merits; lay opinion can only guess at that. But there are many people who would be prepared to risk the expenditure of £12,000 at Onekaka in the hope that it would provide moderately for the country’s needs rather than sink £5,000,000 in the ambitious project which is now being held in abeyance.

With regard to scrap metal, it would be very surprising to the public if it were not found possible to assemble in a short space of time ten times the 1000 tons which it is aimed to lay in stock. Scrap iron in considerable quantities is still cluttering up vacant sections and back yards in almost every town in New Zealand, and it might be worth while to ascertain what quantity is available. It is known that not far from the 1000 tons which it is proposed to place in stock has been dumped, in the form of old railway locomotives, on the foreshore in one town as a barrier against erosion by the sea. Again the request for scrap metal might prove disappointing, but it does seem that a thorough inquiry is warranted, if possible to save the expenditure of exchange in procuring pig iron and steel from Australia.