Serious Shortage Of Fertiliser In N.Z. Predicted

Northern Advocate, 3 January 1941, Page 6

Serious Shortage Of Fertiliser In N.Z. Predicted

[Special to "Northern Advocate"l AUCKLAND, This Day.

A serious shortage of fertilisers in the Dominion, which will be aggravated by the recent enemy attacks on Nauru, is predicted by sources closely in touch with the industry in Auckland.

Immediate action by the responsibleauthorities, particularly the Government, is urged to ensure a continuity of adequate supplies. It is pointed out that there was a big demand for rock phosphates, from which superphosphate is made, long before the action of the enemy raider at Nauru. Small Reserves. Normally some 500,000 tons of superphosphate is distributed during the season in New Zealand, and importations of rock phosphate amount to between 250,000 and 300,000 tons. It is stated, on reliable authority, that reserves in the North Island total only 25,000 to 30,000 tons. , Before the war some 100,000 tons of phosphate and basic slag came annually from North Africa, England and Belgium, but the supply from these sources is no longer available. The opinion that, unless they are augmented soon, fertiliser supplies will have to be rationed was expressed today, by a man prominently associated with the trade.