[From the Herald, August 21.] We with pleasure announce that f he first smelting; at the Pioneer Steei Works, lias proved a success. It is true that a number ol' unforeseen difficulties have arisen to impede tiie operations, yet, notwithstanding-, the steel has been produced; and if a doubt has hitherU existed m anyone's mind as 10 the re sult, it must by this time have been removed. -As an experiment, this smelt ing has far exceeded the expectations oi the most sanguine. During; the past four days, the works have been thronged with people inspecting- for themselves the steel, and a large quantity must have been carried away m small pieces by persons wishing to possess a piece ol the first steel smelted m Taranaki. The excitement has been such that Messrs Ilenochsberg and Co. have intimated to us that as the inhabitants of this tour wish to have a local interest m ihe undertaking, they are willing to forma company, allowing about £0,000 worth of shares to be open for sale m this province, that, the public may not com plain of their wishing to monopolise the whole of the profits of the concern to themselves. As an idea of what the returns will be, we may state that at the lowest computation the furnace now erected will smelt twenty-one tons per week. Supposing the steel to be worth say £25 per ton (which is merely a third of the value according to the statement published m our last issue, of similar steel from sand of the island of Bourbon), they would, with only one furnace, be able to manufacture £525 worth of a marketable article per week. We will now go on into the expenses of this production. According to the returns of the first experiment, it is calculated that it will not cost over £6 per ton to make the ore and run it into stool; tlu-re/bre JB11?(j wculd be about tlic outlay, leaving a profit ot nearly £4UU p<-r week. Messrs llfiiochsber» -find Go. nave shown a grcuf amount of finfli iv their undertaking, b\ spending sujli a large sum of money m nu experi ment v liirh, we are happy to say, has turned o.it .--o succft-sifidlv. Besides this, they have; exhibited s liberal prin ciple m employing no other labour than what was available ir. the place.
