OIL AND IRON.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 September 1924, Page 6

OIL AND IRON.

RESOURCES IN TARANAKI. NEED FOR ENCOURAGEMENT. MINISTER’S FAITH IN FIELD. (By Wite —Parliamentary Reporter.) k Wellington, Last Night. Oil and iron were heard of in the House to-day, when Mr. S. G. Smith (Taranaki) urged that the Government should give every encouragement to the development of the oil and iron indus-. tries. He wanted to know whether the Onakaka Steel Company’s interests were being watched so that it would not lose its right to apply for a bounty. x The Minister (Hon. G. J. Anderson)! ‘You need not worry about that.” Continuing, Mr. Smith said that although the iron ore of Taranaki had not yet been made a commercial production, he believed it would be possible to do this when hydro-electric power was available for application to the steel -making processes. The Government had missed a chance of having its •oil resources of the country exploited, but he believed that now a company was being formed to develop the oil resources- Something would be done, and the interests of the Dominion would be protected at the same time. The Minister stated that the members of the company to which Mr. Smith had alluded were very pleased at the way the Mines Department had met them, and had expressed appreciation of what had been done. The Minister added that h»* had always had great faith in Taranaki oil. \