NEW WARTIME INDUSTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24275, 16 May 1942, Page 6

NEW WARTIME INDUSTRY

If, as has just been reported, production of aluminium from the vast Australian deposits of bauxite is to be begun, it will be another instance of war conditions acting as a stimulus to an industry for which the raw material has long been known to exist. Bauxite, the source of practically all the metallic aluminium of industry,- is one of the most widely distributed of base metal ores. The earliest scenes of its exploitation were the South of France and Southern United States. But, while France, at the outbreak of war, was the world's largest producer, no belligerent country was deprived of supplies. For Germany there were deposits in Hungary, Dalmatia and other Adriatic regions, the output of which could not be cut off by blockade, though the interruption of sea communications created transport complications. When France was added to the other sources of supply, the German demand was much more than covered. For the Allied countries, there were the rich deposits of Greece, until that country was overwhelmed, as well as sources in British and Dutch Guiana, Brazil, Central Africa, West Africa and India. The Australian resources are no new discovery. Their existence has long been known. The present proposal to instal machinery and exploit them is probably a result of shipping difficulties. The needs of the. Commonwealth itself, other Pacific countries, and perhaps India, could be supplied by an Australian industry, and the strain on ocean transport thus be substantially eased.