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OUR LA LAUNCESTON LETTER. ' l
[From our own Correspondent.]
Launceston, Thursday Evening.
In my last letter I commented upon the somewhat
unexpected and startling proposals contained
in the announcement of an extraordinary meeting
of shareholders in the Mount Bischoff Tin Mining
Company, but refrained from dealing with the propositions
therein contained, pending detailed information
on the subject. Since writing my last letter ,
I have been favoured, through the courtesy of a
shareholder, with the perusal of a private circular
which throws a little light upon the vague announcements
contained in the advertisment of the
extraordinary meeting. From this it would appear
that " hitherto the directors have obtained the requisite
funds to carry out the extensive works
necessary to properly develope the Company's claims
by obtaining advances upon the ore was procured
at the mine, but the directors are of opinion they
could obtain funds upon much more advantageous
terms if they were authorised to borrow the money."
The directors do not therefore propose to raise
money, both by making calls and borrowing, but
merely wish to obtain the power of making further
calls, in order to enable them to borrow. This
will be so far satisfactory to the shareholders, as to
convince them that the company's difficulties are
not quite so serious as might have been at first
apprehended, but the course proposed is still somewhat
inexplicable and circumlocutory. The borrow-
ing of money at interest when four-fifths of the
capital still remains unpaid must, to the ordinary
and perhaps imperfectly educated financial mine,
appear very much like robbing Peter to pay Paul,
or playing at the interesting process of moving one's
money from one pocket to the other with the
disadvantage of some wear and tear in the operation.
The other proposals for increasing the directors' and
office expenses still remain unexplained, but will no
doubt be fully ventilated and discussed at the forthcoming
meeting.
The very interesting process of running and cast-
ing a quantity of pig iron manufactured at the works
of the Tamar Hematite Iron Company, took place
at the foundry of Mr. Wm. Peter, Wellington
street, Launceston, to-day. Running the iron was
commenced at four o'clock in the presence of a
number of visitors, amongst whom were many
skilled in the iron trade and in the process under
experiment. The occasion was the more interesting
from the fact that it was the first occasion upon
which Tasmanian iron ore had been run and east in
any quantity. The first iron run was known as
" soft " iron, and from this a variety of articles were
cost, in order to test the quality of the iron and its
capacity for working in as many ways as possible.
The articles cast consisted of fly-wheels, tram
wheels, small wheels of various patterns, iron rail-
ing and bannisters for proposed railings to be fixed
in front of the Wesleyan Chapel in Patterson-street,
sections of ovens, and numbers of other miscellaneous
articles, including that useful article of domestic
economy a frying-pan. Mr. Peter pronounced the
iron to be of excellent quality, to meet very freely,
and also to be remarkably free from sulphur, the
presence of which is so detrimental to the facile
working of the iron. As soon as some of the smaller
articles case had sufficiently cooled, they were removed
andinspccted.and proved clean and quite equal
in appearance to other similar articles made from imported
iron. Various tests of the quality were then
made between articles made from imported iron and
those just made from the Tasmanian material These
were made by filing and by trying its resistance to
the blows of the hammer, and the result proved
the colonial material to possess toughness and elasticity
in an eminent degree, and to be clean in the
grain, and of good quality. After the castings had
been tested, further tests were made between some
pigs of Tasmanian and three qualities of Scotch pig,
by breaking them across an iron block with a heavy
sledge hammer. The Tasmanian was found far
tougher than the other, and more close and even
in the fracture, the only other difference noticeable
being that the Tasmanian iron was a shade darker
in colour. In these tests the Tasmanian proved the
better iron, notwithstanding it laboured under the
disadvantage of being in pigs not half the size of the
Scotch, and, therefore, more liable to be broken.
Besides the " soft " iron, another quality of
"white" iron, also in pigs, from the Tamar
Hematite Company, was experimented upon. This
iron was found to be nearly as hard as steel,
and almost fit to work as malleable iron.
This was tried against the English iron, and
the tests proved the metal so equal as to render it
a matter of difficulty to distinguish one from the
other. Mr. Peter speaks in high terms of this
quality, and says that by mixing it with soft iron
he could produce a quality susceptible of being
worked into any condition. The quantity of material
operated upon during the experiments amounted to
nearly two tons, and the process occupied about an
hour in duration. Although this is the first time
any large quantity of colonial iron has been worked
at a Tasmanian foundry, a small quantity of ore was
smelted at the same foundry by Mr. Peter some 17
years ago, this sample coming from the same as
that composing the pigs from the Tamar Hematite
Iron Company. The visitors present expressed
themselves as thoroughly satisfied at the successful
result of the experiments.
I clip the following telegram from your columns ;
" Brigham Young has been imprisoned by the United
States Government, although he paid the heavy fine
inflicted when he was convicted of bigamy. This
has produced great excitement at Salt Lake, and
the Utah people are deter mined to follow their
great prophet, liberate him, or die with him." It seems
to me that the Utah people are possessed of
exceptional common sense in their day and genera-
tion. They have at once come to the point, and
hit upon the happiest possible expedient by which
to liberate this gigantic polygamist ! Brigham had
been imprisoned by the United States Government,
and forthwith the " grass bidders," and the numerous
offspring of the great prophet resolve to die.
with him. It can't be done. The whole resources
of the prisons of the United States are not equal to
the occasion ! They can't accommodate the family !
Fancy twelve hundred children, or thereabouts,
singing in chorus, " Come Home Father " within
the prison walls, and mingling their tears with
the disconsolate wives. They " will liberate him
or die with him." The issue cannot be in doubt.
The Government must give way, and liberate the
prophet, and send him on his way rejoicing !
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