ONAKAKA IRON

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 61, 9 October 1930, Page 2

ONAKAKA IRON

DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY. SURVEY BY MINISTER. When the Estimates of the Mines Department were before the House earlier in the session, members expressed a wish for more information about the Onakaka Iron and Steel Works than that given in the department's annual report, in view of the fact that the Government had assisted the industry by .< ay of bounty. In accordance with this desire the Minister of Mines, Hon. A. J. Murdoch,, made a statement to the House explaining more fully the progress of the iron industry and the operations of the company. The Minister stated that the original capital of the company was £BO,OOO in £1 shares. This was increased to £150,000 in 1925, and in the same year an additional £BO,OOO was raised by way of debentures. He was authorised to pay a bounty for the manufacture in New Zealand of pig iron, puddled bar iron, and steel from iron ore or ironsand produced in New Zealand according to the following rates: —12/- a ton of pig iron under original Act, which rate was increased to 30/- a ton of pig iron by Section 2 of the Iron and Steel Industries Amendment Act, 1925, which came into operation on July 31 of that year; 12/- a ton of puddled bar iron; 12/- a ton of steel produced from pig iron; and 24/- a ton of steel produced from molten metal direct from the furnace. The bounties were payable at the rates mentioned for the first three years after the date on which production of the pig iron, etc., was commenced, namely, January, 1924. For each succeeding year the rate was reduced 2/- a ton in the case of pig iron, puddled bar iron, and steel produced from pig iron, and 4/- a ton in the case of steel produced from molten metal direct from the furnace. Under Section 6 of the principal Act no bounty could be paid on pig iron, puddled bar iron, or steel made after March 31, 1924. This period was extended by Section 2 of the Iron and Steel Industries Amendment Act, 1920, to March 31, 1931. The period was further extended to March 31, 1934, by Section 3 of the Iron and Steel Industries Amendment Act, 1925. The following amounts on account of the bounty had been by the Government to the company:— Year ended March 31. £ 1925-26 4 555 1926-27 5,507 1927-28 4.487 1928-29 6,730 1929-30 5,177 1/4/30 to 1/10/30 5,337 £31,793 The output of cast iron pipes to September 11, 1930, amounted to 1656 tons lewt. 2qrs. This was the first year in which the company had been manufacturing cast iron pipes. The number of men at present employed was 180 to 190. The wages per fortnight were £1650 to £1750. The value of coal used from November 1, 1925, to October 31, 1929, was £48,898/5/4; and for the present year to August 31, it was £17,791/19/2. "It should be a source of gratification,". concluded the Minister, "that such an important key industry has been established for the purpose of supplying our needs for pig iron and steel pipes. I understand that the whole of the Railway Department's requiremnets for pig-iron are plied by this company."