THE MANUFACTURING INTEREST. 339 



Colony's wants alone would liavc absorbed 100,000 tons of pi^'-iron, 

 Avbile tlie group of colonies would have required 480,000 tons. Jt 

 cannot be said that our resources are unequal to this demand, for in 

 1891 the Government Geologist officially reported that the districts of 

 Mittagong, Wallerawang, and Kylstone had then in sight nearly 

 13,000,000 tons of ore, estiraated"to yield 5,85;3,(,)O0 tons of metallic 

 iron. It seems unnecessary to add anything to these facts to illustrate 

 the possibilities of the iron-trade in the Colony. 



From what has been said it will be seen that the Colony holds out 

 a tempting invitation to capitalists and workmen willing to embark 

 their capital and labour in manufacturing enterprises in New South 

 Wales. The quality of our coal, as well as our enormous supj)lies, 

 and the metal-bearing richness of our iron ores, with their widespread 

 distribution within the Colony, are facts which speak for them- 

 selves. If we compare the iron-carrying average of these ores witli 

 the 30 per cent, of the English clay bands, the advantage in our favour 

 will be apparent ; and then we have our lines of railway, ensuring 

 rapid communication between the mines and the metropolis, and our 

 shipping facilities, to bring us into touch with the other colonies and 

 the new mai'kets of the Far East. English experts have already visited 

 the Colony to inquire into its possibilities, and sooner or later we may 

 expect something like an adecpiate attempt to establish the iron 

 manufacturing industry on a proper scale in New South Wales. 

 Expansion is also invited by our wool production, and the extensive 

 sugar-works of the Colony claim attention, to sa}^ nothing of the 

 other avenues open to manufactui'ing enterprise indicated in their places, 

 like the tobacco industry, and only waiting for favourable conditions 

 of population and capital to make the mother Colony the manufac- 

 turino- centre of Australasia. 



