DOMINION FERTILISER WORKS

Evening Star, Issue 20555, 6 August 1930, Page 8

DOMINION FERTILISER WORKS

CONTRACTORS' RECORD PROGRESS The works of the Dominion Fertilised] Company at llavensbourne are nout nearing completion, and a view of the*-, company’s comprehensive plant from’; the Main road cannot fail to impress'; the onlooker. A representative oli; the * Evening Star - visited the works-to-dav in company with Mr James Fletcher. The outstanding feature is the mae-i sive acid chambers and tower block/; This block stands adjacent to the main: railway line, its size being readily ap-i •predated by travellers on the ‘railway.,] In this quarter of the works is situ-*' ated the lead chambers, in which sul-t phuric acid will be manufactured-* Three hundred tons of specially-refined? lead, rendered chemically pure, have’ been used in the construction of these chambers, and forty artisans and. specialists have been engaged for over seven months on this work alone. | The lead for the work was imported, from Australia, and was originate mined in Broken .Hill. The whole off the lead work which had to be under-, taken with great care, has been under, the supervision of Mr L. Mahood ; who . is recognised throughout Australia, as. a leading specialist in lead burning! and acid chamber construction. Mr; Mahood was brought speciality from) Melbourne,, having seen twenty years; of sendee in the Mount Lyell mines Ho has also been associated with; Wisher and Co. for . a considerable; time, with the Cresco Fertilisers, and, - he erected all the works for the Chfllw lenge Phosphate Company at Otahuhu,i near Auckland. In the work at Rnv-| ensbourne, Mr Mahood has a number, of skilled men from Australia ated with him. . . , Adjoining the acid chamber block is the burner house, which is also completed, and the installation of the patent sulphur burners has now commenced. The rock store, with a capacity, for 12,000 tons of raw phosphatei rock is completed, and the. handling! equipment is now on the site and in f course of erection. Conveyors andmechanical equipment for receiving and, dispatching materials from wharf a net, rail nr© also on tb© sit©, and ready v installation. The sulphur store, with/ a capacity for 3,000 tons of bulk su l-A phur, is also finished. All these ings are situated on the site of tliji block adjacent to the railway line andrj W Across the branch railway siding th«| large block for the manufacture oM super, is nearing completion. The roots trusses are now being placed in posi-| tion, and the manufacturing is due to arrive during the presen month. Adjoining the factory blocks are the large super, and mixed manurea stores, with a capacity of about zOjUUUa tons, and these store buildings arefl also on the way to completion. The| buildings are already erected to. sM height of 20ft, and the large bagging, platforms on either side of the super-ej store are fully completed. J The grounds are in course of tonna-sj tion, and it is the intention of tho| company to make suitable garden plots| surrounding the works. The subsidiary buildings, such as laboratory, mens.;, change and luncheon rooms, nitrate; store, and repair shop are all finished, and in some cases are already in use. for the very purpose for which they were constructed. Nitrate, which enters into the manufacture of acid, is, already in store ready for the com-*, mencement of manufacture. 1 Mr Fletcher anticipates that Lis firntj would be fully completed with its con-J tract work by the end of The actual process of manufacture will, start at the latest in January of nesoi vear. with a view to meeting the de-1 mand for topdressing in the autumn] of next year. The whole contract work! has now been in progress a little over] nine months, and in point of time the i contractors are at least nine monthsrj ahead of the time fixed by their con-1 tract for the work. , J During the progress of building i operations a large gang of men has I been constantly at work. The aver—| age of about 120 men has been en-J cused on I>h© buildings for iriontiis past> i and with the artisans and specialists, on the lead work for the acid chambers and tower block to the number of forty! men, a total of 180 men are now em-1 ployed- In addition to these men aj large part of the equipment is being manufactured locally in Dunedin and other parts of New Zealand, } The enterprise of the business moils j connected with the company must hares a very considerable bearing on meet-, ing the present conditions of employ-! ment. 1