THE IRONSAND QUESTION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7388, 14 February 1902, Page 2

THE IRONSAND QUESTION.

MR CADMAN INTERVIEWED.

At New Plymouth on Thursday Mr Cadman was interviewed by a representative of the Daily News, and in the j r course of conversation he said, inter alia, that the position was perfectly E satisfactory. The success of the project is, he considered, assured, unless D something very unforeseen occurs. With regard to the way the matter was received at Home, Mr Cadruan eaid he could have sold out with profit several j times, but there was a desire, he con- :. sidered, to load the company too heavily. It was not like a gold mine, and as his object was to establish the industry, he was not going to be a party to floating a com- ■*•" pany purely for speculative purposes. With regard to the commercial success of the affair, he had quite satisfied him- v self from what he had seen at Home, v that the scheme was perfectly sound, and would be made a commercial success. It must be borne in mind, however, that the conditions were very different here to those at Home. If ] < they confined themselves to the manu- ' i facture of pig iron only they would J ] glut the market. It was necessary, j ; , therefore, for them to establish c ■ very large works with all the de- \ partments complete. If, Baid Mr j ] Cadman, this was not done, one of the j chief sources of profit would be lost, 1 viz., manufacturing tbe raw material ] into sheet iron, fencing wire, rails, etc., < etc. At Home these were all in the J t hands of different firms, and merchants 1 sent their orders to the manufacturer of 1 each article. Here they must be j prepared to supply everything required in the trade. Asked if the - labour question had any effect on the ' British capitalist, Mr Cadman said he ; was fighting that question all the time ; : Ibut only till the real condition of things • was explained. Unfortunately, said Mr Cadman, the way in which the affairs of this colony are distorted, in some of the cable news, and in letters to the Home papers, is deplorable and -the way the finances of the colony are mis-repre-sented can only bo characterised as disgraceful. As one of the Ministers responsible for a great deal of the labour legislation Mr Cadman was able to combat these statements with the effect of considerably 1 altering the views of those he met. ■ As a matter of fact tlie people at Home 1 have, says Mr Cadman, a very vague idea . of New Zealand, and the condition of ; things here. They cannot understand . the difference between the working man j at Home and the working man here. I They are so used to the men living round , them in thousands, whose votes can be I bought wholesale at election times, 3 that they cannot understand the free 3 and independent worker of Now Zoa- • , land, often living on his own freehold, j and largely tinged with conservatism. 9 Pressed on the question as to the effect of his visit Home on his mind as to the J ultimate success of his scheme, Mr f Cadman said he had satisfied himself c on that point, or he would not be going s back in six weeks' time. There were difficulties, however ; some of their t options were not as satisfactory as he s would like. The Harbour Board lease i. j was not altogether satisfactory, and be t was to meet the Harbour Board on the p subject on Tuesday, though he under0 stood from Mr Berry that the Board c were disposed to meet them in a reason- ;. able manner. There was, however, the >. harbour itself, which was a very difficult question. Already it was becoin- [• ing too restricted for tbe local trade, it and had an increasing trade to face, d It was hardly to be expected that a any company would sink a quarter n of a million of money, without some & certainty of the port being improved 0 to -enable it to do the business of the Company. He intended discussing this 8 with the Board on Tuesday. The :- question was surrounded with difficulties, but he thought they could be d got over. In reply to questions, Mr -s Cadman scouted the idea of the Governy ment taking the harbor over, as it would y mean taking over a number of others. On the special circumstances being t- pointed out, Mr Cadman said they would ur all be forgotten in a couple of years' it time ; further, no Government dared face y the House with such a proposal. He :e did not think the Land Fund could be capitalised as that would be like tbe n Government buying back their own .0 land. Pressed further, Mr Cadman ir said be preferred discussing the matter 3. with the Harbour Board. If a company took the harbour over, legislation Ll would be necessary. The interests of d the ratepayers would have to be carefully protected, and it would 'be necesf, sary to prevent a monopoly beiDg it established. No doubt the thing could d be done, what was done would largely •c depend on the Board. There were w reasons why he preferred establishing d the works at New Plymouth, but he n was not absolutely tied to New Plyit mouth. One thing was certain, he was ff going to establish the works, and their ;r position would be largely decided by te the success of his negotiations during y the next few weeks. He did not conn sider an increase of the bonus on the te part of the New Zealand Government \. essential to tbe success of his scheme, n After some further general conversation, it Mr Cadman said one advantage of their g scheme was the utilisation of the by10 products. This was another thing in it which Mr Smith had proved to be n right. At Home it cost immense sums t, to send their slag out to sea ; here it r e could be used in the construction of (V harbour works.