RON SMELTING.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3336, 3 November 1871, Page 2

RON SMELTING.

« TO THE EDITOR OB THE INDEPENDENT. Sir, — Since I wrote you on the above subject, Mr Smith has been good enough to allow roe to inspect the metal resulting from his experiments with the Taranaki iron sand, as well as the materials used by him in its production, and I must confess that he has succeeded in producing a rery superior article. It is of little importance what name we call it. Mr Smith, with every show of probability, calls it steel, and another may say it is ginger-bread ; but there can be no doubt that it has every characteristic of the finest kind of steel suitable for the manufacture of cutlery of the best quality. The state in which Mr Smith introduces the materials to be smelted into the furnace is everything that can be desired, and the only questions that remain are— will the metal and slag flow freely from the furnace without involving too great a cost for fuel and labor, or allowing cinder to run away with too much of the metal? One can only answer these questions upon seeing: the furnace in blast, and after a careful analysis of the slags, I, for one, believe that Mr Smith's experiments have resulted, in spite of great difficulties and very imperfect apparatus in a great success. Why not permit him to continue them, or if our capitalists arejsatiefied with what he has done, organise a company at oaco, and put the metal upon the market. Such a source of wealth to the colony should not be neglected any longer. — I am, &0., Metallurgist.