LOSS OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22306, 21 January 1938, Page 12

LOSS OF NATURAL RESOURCES

. ♦ HEAVY COST TO NATION MODERN ERA AN AGE OF DISSIPATION? "If the depletion of natural resources contnues unabated, I think it probable riiqsiDation, said Mr a. in. v. fn his presidential address las^evemng to the annual meetogo J New K*& \ fnd oftoe phosphate depots of ? a n k d en ag fn nS diss?atng theL resources phate were exported in th ton« 3or meat every year. To replace this l/,utw SSWm phosphate was required. Money Sent Out to Sea The recent Auckland proposal to spend a large sum of money in taking the city's sewage further out to sea was an instance of the manner in which natural resources were chssj« . pated. It could be calculated on reliable figures that the sewage from 200.000 people for a year contained an amount of phosphate equal to nearly 750 tons of Nauru rock phosphate. Tne value of this if in the form of superphosphate was approximately ±-o««"; Allowing that the sewage from twothirds or one million of the population of New Zealand went into the sea, this could be regarded as a pouring away of the phosphate equivalent ot £25,000. The amount recovered from Uie sea in fish was small, as New Zealynders were not large consumers oi fish or other marine food. Erosion of soil in New Zealand constituted a wastage of one of the country's greatest assets. All over the country there was evidence that tne top sofls had been washed away, leaving raw, intractable subsoil exposed on the surface, which was of little use for agricultural purposes. As far as he knew, no actual survey of the extent of erosion had been made in this country, but in the United States erosion had reached enormous proportions. Effects of Erosion It was reported that 590,000,000 acres, representing 29.9 per cent of the area of the United States, had been subjected to sheet erosion. About 115 000,000 acres of this area had been practically destroyed for agricultural purposes 7 The United States Government was now spending millions of dollars in educating and assisting farmers and in research work to check soil erosion. Should New Zealand be content to let the problem reach similar proportions here? . Mr Fielder said that to the scientist many ways of reducing the wastage of natural resources were evident, but he was always compelled to consider the economic side and the question, "Will it pay?" which had to be interpreted in terms of pounds, shillings, and pence, and not of the ultimate good of humanity. This "Will it pay?" was,, according to our present ideas, the controlling factor. And so our age of dissipation went merrily on.