WASTE METAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 43, 21 February 1939, Page 8

WASTE METAL.

WATERFRONT DUMP.

MUCH VALUABLE MATERIAL

NO UCENSE FOR EXPORT.

Tin-scrap, which was previously valued at £7 a ton, is being dumped near Point Resolution, on the Tantaki Drive, for the reason that a license for export cannot be obtained and nothing can be done with it.

There is a feeling of grievance in Auckland in connection with the matter, in view of the Government's declaration in regard to assisting New Zealand industries, and it is estimated that the loss in Auckland daily is at least £30. It is stated that as "the result of the embargo one Auckland firm is now losing £3000 a year on waste products.

An Auckland representative of the ecrap-metal trade said to-day that there was a ready market for scrap tin in Great Britain, Germany and Japan, where it was treated and*rolled into tinsheet. If an export license could be obtained, he said, he could employ eix men on award wages to press it "with hydraulic presses.

"Previously I used to pay £3 a ton for it," he added. "Now I am paid to take it away." He said that he had £3000 to £4000 worth of waste material in stock, and it would go to rust if something were not done.

It was pointed out that there is no industry in New Zealand to deal with scrap-tin, and export to a waiting market was the only possibility. In Australia a large amount of waste tin was exported, and it was regarded as a profitable industry. Auckland ecrap-metal merchants pointed out this morning that the tin originally came from Great Britain, but the portions left over a.fter it had been cut and dealt with in New Zealand factories could not be returned to be again rolled into tin-sheets. So far representations to the Government had been without avail, and for the moment nothing could be done.