While South Devon is awaiting with interest the development of the plans of the Wilson Syndicate, which promise to transform the neighbourhood of Newton Abbot into an industrial centre, there is a prospect that changes scarcely less important may take place on the northern borders of Dartmoor. Near Okehampton there has been discovered a very large deposit of granulite, a material of the first importance in the manufacture of glass. According to expert report, granulite contains not only silica, but potash, soda, and alumina, which are necessary in glass making, and its use is not only economical but gives the best results in the production of glassware of the highest quality.
The site of the discovery is familiar to travellers into Devon by the London and South Western railway. A mile or two west of Okehampton the line crosses a narrow valley by 2 very high viaduct. In this valley a certain amount of quarrying has been carried on by a local company, which has earned modest dividends by crushing granulite and exporting it to Staffordshire, where it is used in enamelling porcelain. The company seems to have been aware of the value of the material to the glass trade, but they have not been able to induce manufacturers to take it up. A syndicate is now about to erect works and use the material on the spot. An experimental furnace has been in use for some time, two large furnaces are being built, and it is expected that the manufacture of glass on a commercial scale will begin almost immediately.
The promoters place their hopes high. There is said to be a practically unlimited supply of granulite in the valley. If the anticipat tions are realized this Dartmoor. valley will become the seat of a great industry. Glass bottles and glass jars, it is said, will be made cheaper here than anywhere in the world, and the makers will be in 2 position not only to defy the competition of Austrian and German and other foreign manufacturers, but to meet them on favourable terms in the neutral markets of the world. Such expectations as_ this seem to be founded on an estimate that the cost of the material used on the spot will be only 15s. a ton, whereas the cost of the cheapest mixtures ordinarily used in the manufacture of bottles is at least £2 per ton.
Acconpixe to a Tokio message it is reported that the Nippon Yusen Kaisha has applied to the Government for permission to increase freight rates on the subsidized European service line, by 20 to 30 per cent., on the ground that the freights on the said line continue to decrease in consequence of the general mercantile depression, while business expenses continue high. It is expected that the Government authorities will grant the application in view of the prevailing circumstances.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.