OTAGO PHOSPHATE

Grey River Argus, 7 October 1942, Page 2

OTAGO PHOSPHATE

MR. POLSON’S EXPLANATIONS NEW PLYMOUTH. Oct. 6. “The phosphate deposit I referred to is not the old deposit worked by the Ewing Company, but a new one 900 feet hierher up, said Mr. W. -JPolson formerly Minister of Primary Production for War Purposes when commenting a‘t Stratford last night, on a report that Otago experts do no support his claim that the Clarendon deposit mav be worth £100,000,000 to New Zealand. The Dunedin report stated that the deposit was worked by the Ewing Phosphate Company until 1923, when production ceased because of the inability of the Company to compete with the higher grade Nauru phosphate. The Company mmed 132,000 tons. * Mr Polson explained that the deposit he referred to had never been worked. A prominent geologist had thought it worth investigating, because it went right through the hill, ft was estimated to be worth, £lOO.099,999. Mr. Polson stated that what he told the Christchurch “Press” reporter was what he had been informed by the geologist about the phosphate field at Clarendon, 30 miles from Dunedin. The other remarks attributed to him in the newspaper report were ’those of the geologist, not his (Mr. Polson’s),