NEW ZEALAND'S IRON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16030, 23 September 1915, Page 9

NEW ZEALAND'S IRON.

POSSIBLE NEW INDUSTRY. RAW MATERIAL SUPPLIES.

BEGINNING SUGGESTED.

The matter of the development of the iron and steel industry in New Zealand has been discussed on many occasions, and, with a view to the encouragement of such an industry, the Government obtained from Parliament last year authority to pay bounties during the next 10 years on iron and steel produced from New Zealand iron ore or iron sand. By th* Act passed, bounties were authorised to

of £150,000, of which not

more than half, it is stipulated, shall be paid in respect of pig iron. The maximum amount of bounty which may be paid in any one year is fixed at £30,000.

The matter of the development of this industry, concerning which a recommenda-

tion was recently forwarded to the Government "by the Auckland Industrial Association, was dealt with in a lengthy report on the munitions question presented by Mr. A. R. Sennett to the conference of engineers held in Wellington at the beginning of this month for the purpose of considering the possibility of manufacturing munitions of war in the Dominion.

In his remarks on the subject of iron and steel Mr. Sennett stated that the Dominion possessed the largest iron ore deposits in the world adjacent to the sea, and that as they lay largely upon the surface they offered exceptional facilities for cheap and easy winning. The ore, which possessed a higher percentage of metallio iron than any other ore in the world, was, he said, of the greatest purity, and the pig iron smelted out of it had been found to be almost equal to " refined pig " iron.. The opinion of Dr. J. M. Bell, exGovernment Geologist, that the iron " is of high grade, and well suited for the manu facture of steei" was also quoted, as well as that of the late Sir Frederick Abel, F.R.S., chemist to Woolwich Arsenal, who said : "It is decidedly superior to the Northamptonshire ore on account of its freedom from phosphorus, whilst the limestone connected with it appears to be a very pure carbonate of lime, the impurities amounting at* most to less than 2 per cent." Reference was also made by Mr. Sennett to the fact that the limestone required for fluxing purposes was near the ore deposits. It was suggested in the report that a small blast furnace of the smallest size has proved by long practice to be satisfactory and successful, and should be forthwith set up. From data supplied to him by the secretary of the Otago branch_pf the Ironmasters' Association of New Zealand, Mr. Sennett estimates the quantity of pig iron consumed in the privatelyowned foundries of the Dominion at 250 tons per week. The furnace that he suggests would, he says, produce about 160 tons per week. " This furnace," he says, in explaining his report, "together with its blowing apparatus, could be put up at very moderate expense. It could be put in* hand at once. It would not require anything to be imported, save the refractory bricks. The work could be carried out entirely by New Zealand workers, and it could be got to work and pig iron produced before special plant for the manufacture of munitions coald be obtained and installed." An estimate of the cost of the furnace,! which has been obtained, shows that the expense would be about £5000, and it is calculated that the industry could be started at the total expenditure of about £10,000. The appointment of a Committee of Metals, of apposite personnel, has been suggested by Mr. Sennett in order that the Dominion's resources in metals and their treatment in the best possible and most profitable manner may be fully investigated. ,