NEW ZEALAND IRON.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5403, 9 June 1879, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND IRON.

Remarking' tiffofl the advertisement of the Government of New Zealand inviting lenders from ironmasters fot 100,000 tons of steel rails to tie manufactured in the colony, the, Colliei^/ Guardian says :— "The seriotis question for consideration is whether ih'fe manufacture of steel rails in New Zealand is not an dlib'^ihUr premature industry. New Zealand can scarcely boast' at present a white population of 500,000, although the Maoris may possibly numberlOO, 000 more. With such a scanty population as this, and population which Gan readily obtain a livelihood by pastoral and othef indflstrie»i what chance would the English ironmaster who 1 might establish himself in New Zealand have of securing a reasonably abundant supply of cheap l!abor? l; It is feared" such a chance must for years to come be problematical and scanty.* Moreover, what guarantee would an English capitalist who commenced the manufacture of steel rails in New Zealand h'ave that his works would be continuously employed. It is ttt» that, : the , New Zeaiand Government promispsj.asnt immediate fcrder iov 100,000 tons of 'steel rails, but fiati* an order would obviously not.laitfpr> ever, and wTien 1 it was worked out where would the New Zealand fronmlaster have to look for a market for fiia' production ? It maybe said that there ; would -tie an ample market in New South Wales, Tietoria, and the other colonies of Australia; properly so called ; but it-must be rem.9m-. bered that English steel rails— that is, fiteel rails made in Great Britain— can iidw. fee delivered upon the Australasian inart'ets tfpota remarkably cheap terms. So longer Victoria^ Hew South Wales, and Queensland can purchase English Steel rdils at* cheap; rate they are not, we SHduld fancy; very likely to go out of * their way io p'drb'h'siate New Zealand steel rails at a higher price.. Otir konnttasters may learn 'one" useful' lesson 'from* this New Zealandrscheme; .This lesson is based upon tKe important" consideration that if we are to ; .retain, ova hold upon the Aus-, tralian markets for "our products we cannot produce 9 ur i x 9 n J OO cnea P ly : • There is certainly some chance of a successful development of New Zealand metallurgy in a future which may not, after all, be very remote. The ehief difficulty attending the manufacture of iron and steel m the United States has been the great distances over which raw 'materials have to be collected, and the almost equally Serious distances over which manufactured goods have to be conveyed to market. But this difficulty does not exist in New Zealand. In two compact islorids like that colony there' are ho formidable distances to be dealt with \ the main obstacles' in the way of a development of New .Zealand metallurgical industry are want of. capital and want of labor. These obstacles' will be overcome some day ; but meanwhile it r is the interest of English ironmasters "to render that day as remote as possible by delivering English rails in Australasia at the lowest practicable rates." ;