PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 59 



furnace, blooming mill 300 tons per shift, rail mill 150 tons 

 per shift, 18 inch mill 100 tons per shift, coke ovens, of 

 which 66 are in operation, producing 350 tons of coke per 

 day, and 3,600 gallons of tar and five tons of sulphate of 

 ammonia. 



The steel produced is of an even quality and has been 

 found very suitable for shell making, large quantities having 

 been sent to England for that purpose during the war. 



Portland Cement and Lime. 

 Of scarcely less importance in modern engineering works 

 than iron, is cement and lime. New South Wales is favoured 

 with inexhaustible supplies of high grade limestone suitable 

 for the manufacture of Portland cement and lime, together 

 with numerous and extensive deposits of marble, beautifully 

 coloured and figured, eminently suited for ornamental and 

 decorative uses, notably in the vicinity of the Mudgee rail- 

 way line, where supplies of limestone, shale and coal occur 

 in close proximity, and represent ideal sites for the manu- 

 facture of Portland cement. 



Portland cement was first manufactured in New South 

 Wales at Portland about thirty-five years ago by the Oullen 

 Bullen Lime and Cement Company. Official figures as to 

 their production are not available, but the output was 

 limited. 



At that time the mixture of limestone and shale was 

 burned in stationary kilns, and the clinker ground between 

 millstones. The progress of the industry since then has 

 been phenomenal, due chiefly to the improved methods of 

 manufacture and the increased demand for cement. The 

 successful improvements made in grinding machinery — the 

 old mill-stones being replaced by ball-mills, tube-mills, 

 comminuters, griffin-mills, etc., have been the means of 

 enormously increasing the capacity of a plant and lessening 

 the cost of production. 



