SCRAP METAL PURCHASE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17945, 24 November 1932, Page 5

SCRAP METAL PURCHASE

CONSIGNMENT TO JAPAN

Only good quality metal, such as old rails, iron tyres and axles, horseshoes and portions of tramway track will bo included in the shipment <0 scrap iron which is to bo taken to Japan by the steamer Sliimioil Mam next month. The vessel, which will also load tit Lyttelton and Wolliiibton, also load at Lyttelton ami Wellington, lift 4000 tons of metal and is expected to sail for Japan about January 3. Formerly the East provided a good market for old metal, many New Zealand vessels being sold to Chinese and Japanese buyers to be broken up, but more recently prices have been so low that no sales could be made, although a number of New Zealand buyers have been endeavoring to clear stocks of scrap metal. Auckland holders of. old iron take the shipment as an indication that the market has improved, and it is possible that other shipments may be made.

The greater part of the present shipment is old railway iron, the remainder consisting of mild steel, shipyard and boiler scrap and small metal loaded in old 40-gallon drums.