THE STEEL INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19916, 9 April 1928, Page 7

THE STEEL INDUSTRY.

AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPMENT. POWERFUL NEW COMPANY. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY, March 29. The enthusiastic protectionists of Australia have joyfully- greeted the formation of Australian Iron and Steel, Limited, tt eotnpauy with a nominal capital oi £5,000,000,' whith will develop the iron and steel industry at Port Kembla. The four companies associated in the new venture—Dorman, Long and Company, Limited, Baldwin's, Limited, Howard, Smith, Limited, and Hoskins Iron and Steel Company—possess a combined capital which exceeds £23,000,000, but the extent of their interests in the new company has not yet been decided. The amount of new capital which tho outside public will be offered has not been decided, but will probably be confined to preference shares up to £1,000,000. Tha merging companies will for the time being maintain their separate identity and their markets. Port Kembla, tho site chosen for these great iron and steel works, is generally regarded as ideal for the purpose. It possesses outstanding geographical advantages for tho economical assembly of raw materials and : for the distribution of the finished products. By selecting Port Kembla the new company hits confirmed the judgment of the late Mr. Charles Hoskin, who selected the locality for his -company's operations. The various new works are to be developed with the utmost speed. This will entail the erection of a number of new buildings and the erection of much additional plant. A new blast furnace will be completed by June next, and it is" s intended to proceed immediately with the erection of steel furnaces, elootric power units, engineering shops, and electrically-driven rolling mills, which it is claimed will be the most up to date in the Empire. It is anticipated that within a few months a large number of men will be engagtifl and that when the new works are ii- full swing employment will be found for 10,000 men and that the annual wages bill will approximate something like £3,000,000. The directors of the new company have an intimate knowledge of the requirements of Australia and New Zealand for different grades and classes of iron and steel and they say they are confident that the new organisation will lie able to meet the growing demands in the face of competition from overseas, The Hoskins Steel and Iron Company will be tho largest shareholders in the new concern. That' company's operations are now centred at Lithgow, but the transfer of the plant will be made from time to time as trade warrants. ELECTRICITY IN BRITAIN. GREAT INCREASE OF OUTPUT. That the output of electricity in Great Britain in 1927 was 25 per cent, greater than in 1926 was announced recently by Mr. H. Quigley, chief economist of the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association. This was the highest figure since the war. Demand was increasing every day, and it was safe to say that the majority of power stations supplying electricity would find themselves at the end of the year unable to cope with the demand. This applied specially to London. At present there was less than 100,000 kilowatts of reserve plant in the London area. In the event of a serious breakdown—this might occur at any timo within the next year—London would be plunged into darkness. Taking the country as a whole, there was a lack of adequate plant of something like 250,000 kilowatts. The trouble was due to the delay in carrying out the national reorganisation of all the electricity supply. Practically nothing had been done during the last two years. Mr. Quigley, who is supplied with reports from the leading supply undertakings, remarked that the 25 per cent, increase in the electricity output showed that industry generally was looking up, since industry consumed about 70 per cent, of the total output. In 1926 the national output was 8000 million units—ah increase of 3 per cent, over the previous year—while in 1927 the figure was 10,500 million units. Looking at the German, American and Canadian figures, he found that none of those countries showed the same rate of increase in output during 1927„ - -