IRON AND STEEL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3193, 18 September 1917, Page 8

IRON AND STEEL

POSITION IN NEW ZEALAND

BIG EFFORT IN AUSTRALIA

Tho production of iron and steel is referred to as.follows iu the annual re.7 port of the Wellington Industrial issouation:—

"Recently an embargo was placed upon tho exportation of irqa and steel from Australia, and tho Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. G.W. .Russell, M.P., was made acquainted' with the eerious problem euch would bring about in ow Dominion. Information regarding unfulfilled supplies oil order by our manufacturers, was gathered by our secretary, and forwarded on to the Minister, who, in consequence, communicated with tho Australian Federal Premier asking him whether tho embargo could be ronioved as far as exportation to our Dominion was concerned. The seriousness of this embargo-will bo more fully realised when it is remembered that our Dominion's supplies have been cut 'oil' from Great Britain and India. Tho Australian Federal Premier's answer is eagerly awftited. "It is satisfactory to learn that the company formed to work the Taranaki ironsand is hopeful of obtaining satisfactory results. If the manufacture of pigiron can Successfully be earned out in our Dominion, it will be of inestimable value and national importance." In "Stead's Review" appears an article on the national importance of such an industry. The following is an oxtraot:— "Born amid tho cataclysm of the great world war, Australia's steel industry has already met her own.requirements, and te producing supplies of tho vital metal for cannon and shells for England. The gold industry ministered to tlio infant growth of this country;-the steel industry will prorido the most essential factor in its rise to industrial maturity. Who would have thought two yeare ago that the iron and steel industry of thie country would have so rapidjy developed, that the British Government would think it worth while to request regular supplies of metal from the works of. Newcastle? Two years ago it was hard to convince anytody not well informed on the subject that Australia really possessed sufficient iron, oro for the supply of her own railways. 1 Broken Hill Proprietary, howover, advised by eomo of the most enlightened brains of the 6i>y, was convinced that tlie ore was obtainable in abundance, and at Waratah Bay, Newcastle, it has creoted a smeltry equal to the best in the Old World, and has allocated several millions to the development of Australia's age of sterf. . . . The works at Newcastle opened on June 2, 1915, covers 265 acres of harbour frontage at the great coal port, and employ upwards of 1200 men. . . . How long has Australia temporised over the birth of her steel industry? How long will the supplies of native ore last, ami wtiat bearing will tho industry have on the general indus'frial progress of tho country? Well, as far book as 1822, 'J.'aamania, the Cinderella of the States, was known to possess an abundance of iron ore but with their traditional complacency the comfortable islanders just scratched over the surface of their iron fields, and turned over to sleep again. After a lapse, of nearly 100 years, mainland investors have awakened to the ■ fact that they also have iron deposits to be worked, so that in one sense they have little reason to congratulate thornselves on being any more advanced than the 'Tasraanians in the realisation oi their opportunities. However, they are T.ow fully awake, and the smelters of Newcastle are going full blast, turning out pig-iron at the rate of JO and 50 million tons per annum! . . • Tho war has done our steel industry nothing but good. It has cut off supplies of imported iron and steel amounting to £4,577,857, and brought up a gilt-edged order from England supported by tho. imperative necessity of Hie military authorities, who will have the metal, no matter wlin.t difficulties may be met with. For tho proper developniont of tho fitccl ago in any country, il; is. essential that iron oro should "be found reasonably near to good coal dcposils. Newcastle has ?omo of the, richest and best coal measures in tho.world. It is a seaport, and within reasonable carrying distance by both rail and water. . . . Tho deposits on. I.he West Coast lio near to the great Mount Lyell mining field, and if thoy arc to l>e developed locally, they will soon have the advantage of an abundant supply of electric power for smelting from Tasmania's famous lake-water Koliome. Tin's Government enterprise is already in full operation, supplying power for tho lighting and tramways of Hobart, at a fraction of the common cost of electricity, and it is about to' be further nvailod of, for tho electrolytic treatment of refractory copper and other ores. . . . Tron is the greatest of tho metals. The American Republic never really grew up until the-Pittstyirfj works were put into full operation. ' (Wmany would nercrjiave been nble to make war if it had not become ,a great iron-produc-ing country, realising Bismarck's ideal— the'growth of blood and iron. Iron ma-le Britain great., Iron will mako Australia literally self-contained. ■Railroads, steamships, bridges, motor ve&jHes, tramways, machinery—everything that goe3 to.build (he skeleton of tho material State, is made of iron. . ■ • The war itself, with all its hideous cruelties, has conspired with more agreeable factors to the establishment of Australia's iron age, and in the coming peace; Australians, dragging their dripping blades from the blighted fields of Armageddon, may turn with every augury for success to the upbuilding of their country by the application of steel to the golden arts of peace."