The Zinc Industry. By Ernest A. Smith. (Longrnans and Co.
10s. I3d. net.)—This well-written and interesting book contains a full account of the production, marketing, smelting, and industrial applications of zinc, or opener, as it is called in commerce. The war revealed the fact that German firms controlled the zinc trade of the world, apart from America. The Broken Hill Mine in Australia would supply the United Kingdom, but its output went to Germany. When hostilities began we found ourselves unable to smelt the abundant zinc ore at our disposal, though zinc as a constituent of cartridge brass was needed in immense quantities. Mr. Smith gives reasons for thinking that the British zinc industry has begun to wake up, but it is still very far from being able to smelt as much zinc as we used before the war for the manufacture of galvanized iron and other purposes.
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