ASBESTOS FIELD

Evening Star, Issue 22602, 20 March 1937, Page 16

ASBESTOS FIELD

m&SSFUL PROSPECTIM MELS OH CEMENT-ASBESTOS MANUFACTURE PLANNED [Per United Press Association.! NELSON, March 20.When the Government passed legis* lation to license certain industries the cement-asbestos industry was among the first to be licensed. It was understood that there were several applicants, among whom was the Hunnj Pipe Company. „ • . Nelson district has been known trf contain great areas of undeveloped mineral wealth. _ _ . In conversation with a director of the Hume Pipe Company it was ascer| tained that, if* granted a license fo| the manufacture of cement-asbestod goods, such as pipes, asbestos sheets* corrugated sheets, spouting, ridging** etc., they w;ould establish _ works fc* this purpose. It was to this end than the company undertook the prospecting) work necessary to prove the deposit* Several months of work had been put in on the ground, the first being) a thorough investigation by geologists* of whom Mr W. M. Jones, of the( Geological Department, was the: principal. The first reports indicated than asbestos should be there, and a plan of campaign was mapped out. It id now clearly demonstrated _ that verj) large supplies of this material aria avails able. Asbestos, in variety from slid fibre to long weaving cross fibre, had been unearthed over a very large are* . The present intention, if a hcensn be granted, is for a subsidiary company with 50 per cent, of New Zealand capital to work the deposits anq manufacture cement-asbestos goods* The company has been investigating) plant and manufacturing methods for; several years, and on Mr W. R. Hume’d last visit in December it was that the plant and processes as mann* factored and used in Europe were th*| most suitable. v . Mr Hume, together with the chaiw man, the Hon. L. J. Clifford, and. C. 0. Walkyard, the company’s for* most engineer, are now in England arranging for the necessary plant. - Thd manufacturing plant is to be estaM lished at Takaka, adjacent to thd Golden. Bay Cement Works, and th* production plant on the asbestos fields* some 18 miles from the port.