the furnace near to the main railway line was logical from that standpoint. However, prior to the foreshadowed expansion, any molten iron destined for steel production needed to be cast into pigs, taken in solid form to the steelmaking plant, and then remelted—a thermally inefficient arrangement that increased steelmaking costs, compared to moving the iron in molten form. Sandford had constructed the new blast furnace seemingly on his own account—later it was reported that he had used a bank loan of £63,500 to fund it, not his own money—but it was the company William Sandford Limited that held the contract with the government. During the time between the furnace first being lit and the official opening, the company purchased the new furnace and its site from Sandford, paying him £75,683, in the form of 50,000 shares £1 in the company, with the balance to fall due in May 1914 and attracting interest at 5% in the meantime. That arrangement did not really relieve the enormous financial pressure on Sandford personally; it tied his fate more closely to that of the company bearing his name and its ability to fulfill its government contract. Failure of William Sandford Limited In debt after such a rapid expansion and under-capitalised, the company was in urgent need of more capital. It needed still more capital to carry out the vision for a larger works. During a visit to England in 1905, Sandford started negotiations with his former employer, John Lysaght Limited, of Bristol, England, with the aim that Lysaghts would take a stake in the Lithgow works and inject capital. These negotiations went on for 20 months, with Lysaghts prepared to provide most of the necessary capital, but finally broke down over Sandford's insistence of remaining in absolute control. His rejection of this financial lifeline, in June 1907, left him and his company in a dire situation. Beginning around September 1906, Sandford had shown signs of a deteriorating mental state. During this time, his competent and reliable General Manager, William Thornley, was a steadying influence. However, ultimate authority lay with Sandford, who had become increasingly more eccentric and unpredictable. His anxiety was clouding his ability to think clearly, work properly with his managers, and make good decisions. His compulsion to retain personal control is difficult to understand, given his advancing age; he seems to have been hoping that one of his sons could take the