INDUSTRIAL GROWTH AT MT. MAUNGANUI

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28250, 11 April 1957, Page 11

INDUSTRIAL GROWTH AT MT. MAUNGANUI

"The Press" Special Service

ROTORUA, April 10. Three years ago a 130-acre block of land at the southern end of the new Mt. Maunganui wharf was covered with waisthigh gorse. It was of little use to anyone.

Today the same block is clear of its “rough coat” and rapidly is being buried under a permanent cover of industry. Large factories are going up in all directions as oil companies, flour concerns, fertiliser producers, brick and pipe manufacturers, and milling interests erect premises.

Evidence of the rapid development can be gauged from the big increase in building permits issued by the Mt. Maunganui Borough Council. In 1953 their total value was between £200.000 and £300.000. For the 12 months ended March 31 the value topped the £1 million mark, more than 80 per cent, of permits being for industrial development. Easily the most impressive structure so far is the £1,250.000 fertiliser works going up for the Bay of Plenty Co-operative Fertiliser Company, which is expected to be operating by next August. Up to Schedule

Mr R. G. Selfe, general manager of the company, says construction is well up to schedule. The 21 massive steel frames for the 330 feet long by 50 feet high materials store are in position and now the shell is being closed with 50,000 square feet of fibre sheeting. The building will house 12,000 tons of rock phosphate and 5000 tons of sulphur, all of which will be unloaded at the Mount wharf, about three-quarters of a mile away. Foundations for the largest building in the works, the superphosphate store, 413 feet by 140 feet by 65 feet, are two thirds completed. The sulphur pits, acid tanks and cooler are also taking shape. The first machinery has left England. Because rail transport is needed to carry the finished product throughout the Bay of Plenty, a siding is being built into the site. All round the works oil companies are erecting tanks. Two companies. Standard Vacuum Oil and the Shell Company, already are receiving fuel from tankers which arrive periodically. Other companies, which either have started building or are to start shortly, are Europa, Atlantic and British Petroleum. At present wharf facilities are not sufficient to handle the increase in the number of ships using the port and approval has been given for a 175-foot wharf extension. Piles for this are being cast and the work will begin soon.

The new section will be a little wider than the existing wharf and will enable three intercolonial ships and a large tanker to berth without difficulty. Further up, toward the wharf, two flour milling companies are

building plants. They are Ireland and Co., of Oamaru, and the Northern Roller Milling Co. Two silos for the former are nearing completion and work on the mill proper recently has begun. Other concerns which have obtained permits to build are the New Zealand Forest Service, thei Hume Pipe Company, the New Zealand Lumber Company and numerous smaller concerns.

Railway marshalling yards are being built at the junction of the wharf and main lines to facilitate the turnabout of waggons. Although it is the growth in industry which is attracting most attention at the moment, the commercial concerns have not lagged behind. A picture theatre has opened and tenders are being called for a 21-bed licensed hotel. In spite of numerous opinions that industry would ruin the Mount as a holiday playground there has been no let-up in the demand for domestic dwelling permits. Such a position augurs well for this borough which has been planned with foresight and vision.