404 PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION E. 



steel is made from this ore, and is made into ploughshares, whicb 

 locally command a high price. Probably the industry will disappear 

 in consequence of the facility with which manufactured iron can be 

 landed from the United States. 



In the eastern part of Celebes iron ores are worked, and on 

 the south coast of Java there are extensive deposits of iron sand. 



In Borneo a deposit of iron ore 36 miles from Maruda Bay has 

 been estimated, to be capable of furnishing 26,500,000 tons. 



In New Caledonia there are superficial deposits of pisolitic iron- 

 stone containing chrome oxide. 



Korea is estimated in British statistical tables to have produced. 

 4,524 metric tons of metallic iron in 1906. This amount may, for 

 practical purposes, be added to the product of Japan. 



Japan is credited in American estimates with the production of 

 27,431 metric tons of ii'on ore in 1896. In 1905 British estimates put the 

 Japanese production of pig iron at 53,210 tons, and in 1906 at 42,679 

 tons. The deposits of magnetite and micaceous iron ores are extensive, 

 but a large proportion of Japanese pig iron is manufactured from, 

 imported Chinese ores. China exported, chiefly to Japanese ports, 

 95,339 metric tons of iron ore in 1905, and 111,460 in 1906. Figures 

 for 1907-8 are not available, but are no doubt greatly reduced by the 

 international boycott. 



China has for many centuries been entirely self-supporting in the 

 matter of iron manufacture. Her achievements in the way of wrought 

 iron, as exejnplified in her bold suspension bridges, are the admiration 

 of all who have seen them. Her cutleiy ranges from razors to swords 

 and ploughsliares, and from the best to the worst. It is chiefly in art 

 castings, however, that she excels. An extensive acquaintance with 

 the interior of her temples leads me to the conclusion that in this 

 branch of art she has no rival. 



China is credited in British statistics with an estimated output of 

 43,950 metric tons of iron — presumably pig — in 1906. Another table 

 gives the export of iron ore (mainly to Japan) as 95,339 metric tons 

 in 1905, and 111,460 tons in 1906, and the export of pig iron as 

 25,115' and 34,305 tons respectively for the same year. The difference 

 between the 1906 figures for production (43,950 tons) and those 

 (34,305) for export leaves only 9,645 tons for local consumption, 

 which, considering that at least 200,000,000 of people must depend on 

 locally manufactured iron for all their needs, is obviously an under- 

 estimate. 



The Provinces of Foh Kien, Kuang Si, Kwei Chow, and Shan-tung 

 are the chief producers, and are dotted with furnaces of a primitive 

 tj-pe, w^hich, however, do good work on a small scale. China appears 

 to have convinced herself, some time before she thought of applying 

 the same reasoning to other matters, that her iron industry must be 

 carried on by modern methods, and has established many furnaces 

 replete with every modem equipment. 



British China is said to have a valuable deposit of magnetite,, 

 free of the deleterious addition of sulphur and phosphorus, on the 

 mainland opposite Hong Kong. Large smelting works are being 

 erected. 



