IRON AMBITIONS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 147, 23 June 1928, Page 10

IRON AMBITIONS

IN* THREE DOMINIONS ; ::STATE PARTNERSHIP '• SOUTH AFKICA'S BID .':Th6 of the. iron and stco)'.industry'south, of .tlio Equator lias so far ■been a' history of lesser. Government aid through, bonus, or greater Government aid through tariff, or (latterly) of State-trading.. South Africa has not hitherto been regarded as a' State-socialism country, but'1 itKo Dutch-Labour Government of the ''Union: has at last passed ai. Act to "establish ah iron and steel industry conducted by a corporation, vrhiefc will consist of private shareholders with-the State as partner, and as dominant part•ne.r.. Shar.es will be issued to the public. In that respect the South African State partnership corporation will''differ from 'the" State partnership corporation called Common wealth Oil -Refineries, Ltd., which is a partnership between^ the 'Australian' Government and'the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to lefiue and distribute in Australia crude < ;1 hvon abroad by the-Anglo-Persian Oil Company. As far as can gc gathered, there has been no issue of C.O.R.' ell shares to the public. The partnership is one of the little-discussed , moves-in the-great oil game. IiSITISIi CAPITAL IN AUSTRALIA. ■ In New Zealand the Government has helped the ■ Onnkaka- iron and steel .industry by ■ bonus, but it has been complained that tariff protection is insufficient. In Australia the already high duties protective of the Australian iron and steel industry were raised -. only last year, and simultaneously ,i new undertaking has raised its flag. This is an undertaking (Australian Irou and Steel, Ltd.) promoted by tour associated companies '(two Australian and .two British) interested in iron production and manufacture —the i Hoskins Company of New South Wales,' 'the Howard Smith Company of Australia, and the well-known Dorman, Long, and Baldwin ■ Companies. ' Prior to this flotation, the Hoskins Company was engaged in iron production and eoa; mining : at. Lithgow (New South Wales), and'iiad big plans afoot at Port Kembla, on the south coast of New South Wales;, \vhile the, Newcastle Iron and Steelworks- (an offshoot of Broker Hill capital) operated in,the north of the same .State; .The alliance of the Hoskins Company with the Dorman, Long, and, Baldwin interests promises to put Port. Kembla much more on thp map •thaii it has hitherto been. Opinions differ ( as to whether there is room in Australia", for. rboth tho new cpmbina•tipn arid.the Newcastle -Steelworks; tiliro c >v'ill'tell. ; "So.far Parliament has ric'cn'reniarkably sympathetic towards repeated calls for tariff aid. ' Tiro .following letter ' from South Africa- to an Australian paper gives some idea of the remarkable form' that iron and steel ambition has taken in the_Union:— ' ..-'. ; - '.■""ParHairient ha 3 passed.in.joint session: a Bill for-the establishment of an ir'onand "steel industry at Pretoria Four •■yb/i'i's'.' ago 'before fhp1 Smuts Ministry left office,'the German iron firm known as the Gutehoffnu'ugshutte despatched experts to South Africa to inquire into ■the possibilities of establishing a great steel and iron industry in the Pretoria district. Large quantities of splen did"ore were, known to exist. Coking coal,was a doubtful factor, and water Tvas'-anotlrer. difficulty, but the experts, after three' months' investigations, re; jbrted-in/favourable terms. rhej sug-posted,/-indeedy that' further investigations "should" be instituted, but on the •whole-there is "no question that thpir report foreshadowed the possibility of establishing an industry which would yield a return of 14^ per cent, on tho capital.invested, and that.the industry •would be equal to an output of 150,000 •tons1 yearly: /The' principles in Germany, however, were adversely affected'- by Frehch- activities in the Ruhr, end; they decided-ultimately-not' to proccedv-:' ' '■'■'- "'■''■■"■":,.•■ ' STAT£ MAJOBITY ON BOAED. ■ Tho present Government then took -tlio matter .in hand, and in process of time produced a bill under which -a State, corporation should be. establish-ed,-wit.h a majority of Government nominees, on its directorate, 500,000 A shares,.guaranteed by tho Government, 1,500,000 debentures, also guaranteed, and an issue of shares to the public to •the. value of £3,000,000. The Bill has been before Parliament for two sessions. It was passed in the Assem"bly, by the pact majority, and rejected in the-Senate. It was reintroduced in' -the- i&sembly and passed, and again rejected, by the Senate after the Senate had examined its proposals in the Select: Committee, on which the' Ministry Tofusod tobe represened. - The Government, bcTt on passing the measure, availed.-, itself, of the provisions of the Act, of; Union,: whereby a joint sitting of, both Houses may decide the fate of a*-Bill upon which the two Houses have separately disagreed. The joint session'has been held, and .after a strenuous debate the Bill has been_ passed into law-by a majority of 28. Tlio chief objections raised by the Opposition were that the'figures of the German experts' report i had hot been brought up to date; that since 1924 there, had been a material change in the. price of imported iron and steel goods, thereby rendering the prospects of the industry dubious; that Pretoria offered, no adequate supply of water; and that a State-controlled iron aud steel mdus'•fry was a dangor to the primary industries of South Africa, inasmuch as any Government, having committed itself to: the. venture, would be inclined to usb the tariff and tho railways to bolster it up.' It is seldom that any country has committed itself to bo farreaching an enterprise on such an inadequate basis of evidence. On the other hand there is:a strong opinion that a great offort should be made to develop-an iron and steel industry on a large scale..•-. .The Opposition says, 'Build,up gradually and do not force the pace.' It points to works at Newcastlej.in Natal, where there is a considerable steel industry which is now threatened with extinction by the Government enterprise."