Whangarei To Have Rock – Phosphate Fertiliser Works

Northern Advocate, 29 October 1948, Page 5

Whangarei To Have Rock - Phosphate Fertiliser Works

WELLINGTON, Fri. (Sp.).—The committee appointed by the Minister of Agriculture to investigate the necessity for fertiliser works in Northland has unanimously approved an application by the Auckland firm representing North African phosphate interests to establish ground rock phosphate works in Northland. , The Minister of Agriculture is prepared to endorse the application for a building permit and import licence covering the grinding machinery. The company has already arranged for the works site at Whangarei.

The committee’s unanimous recommendations were: “.(1) Fertiliser demands are divided between soluble and insoluble phosphates; J ■ “(2) If the demand for insoluble phosphates were adequately met the quantity of superphosphate required would not warrant a works in Northland.

self required to adjudicate as between the relative claims of these two- ports to become the sole deep-water port of Northland.

" Laurie & Co. claimed the right to select their own site, and, in fact, had already arranged for a site at Whangarei. Beyond satisfying itself that the proposed site was suitable, the committee conceded to the applicants the right to select their own site. The committee expressed the opinion that immediately the works com- , menccd production the company would be able to sell the whole 30.000 tons of its output. On this basis the annual saving in transport costs was estimated, at present rates, to vary between about £9OOO per annum, after the first year or two, to about £16.000 by 1960.

“(3) The demand for ground rock phosphate in Northland may exceed 30,000 tons for a year or two until the present shortage of all types 'of phosphatic fertilisers is overtaken. It may then recede to a figure which, based on the acreage at present top-dressed, is estimated at from 15,000 to 20,000 tons per year. DEMAND WILL INCREASE

“(4) As the practice of hill topdressing expands the demand for ground rock phosphate will increase, and it is estimated to reach from 28,000 to 32,000 tons in 1960. “(5) The committee therefore considers that, for a period, the demand from Northland may fall below the minimum' economic output, estimated by the applicants at about 30,000 tons a year. The duration of this subminimum period cannot be estimated. It depends on certain unknown factors, one of the most important being the outcome of the present proposals for the assistance of marginal lands. “(6) The applicants are confident, however, that any margin between the minimum economic output and the requirements of the seven most Northerly counties will find a ready sale in ther parts of the Auckland Province, and the committee concurs in this view. “(7) The committee therefore recommends that the application of W. S. Laurie & Co. be granted.” Consideration was given to a suggestion by farmer members of the committee that provision be made for a farmers’ cooperative organisation to take over the proposed works in a few years.

For various reasons, however, this was felt to be impracticable,

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS Evidence was given by Mr B. A. Laurie, representing W. S. Laurie & Co., Auckland, and their principals, Datcharry & Co., of Tangier, North Africa.

He outlined the proposals to establish works at Whangarei to grind North African rock phosphate. The proposed financial arrangements, with capital of £50,000, of which £27,500 would be subscribed by French North African interests, £SOOO by English interests and the remaining £17,500 by New Zealand interests.

French interests would pay for all machinery that could not be made in New Zealand, estimated to cost £3BO, so that there would be no recourse to New Zealand’s overseas funds. STAFF OF ABOUT 30 A staff of about 30 would be required, of whom two or three would be key specialists from overseas. The works would have a capacity of 30,000 tons a year to commence, but would be capable of expansion to a capacity of 60,000 tons. Mr Laurie anticipated being able'to dispose of 50,000 tons a year in Northland, but any surplus would find a ready sale in the Waikato, Hauraki Plains, Nelson, the West Coast, and elsewhere in New Zealand.

The company had already arranged for a site in Whangarei and claimed the right to decide for itself on the question of location of site, nafnely as between Whangarei or Opua. The sale price of the fertiliser was estimated at £lO a ton ex works.

The cost of building the proposed works would be only one-tenth of the cost of a small superphosphate works. RIGHT TO SELECT SITE In considering the evidence the committee disposed firstly of the question of Whangarei versus Opua as'the site for the proposed works. The committee did not consider it-

MINISTER’S STATEMENT

The Minister of Agriculture (Mr Cullen) informed the Advocate representative, in an interview today, that he will be able to sponsor the establishment of phosphate grinding works in Northland in full confidence that the product would be acceptable to farmers of Northland.

The committee, he said, had carefully studied the relative merits- of the various phosphatic fertilisers in relation to the soils of Northland, and had found that there was a large and unsatisfied demand for ground rock phosphate on the acid soils of northern districts.

He therefore, accepted the committee's recommendation that Laurie and Company should be allowedto proceed with the erection of phosphate grinding works at Whangarei, and, consequently, was prepared to endorse an application by the firm- for a building permit, and for an import licence covering procurement of the grinding machinery. ' • ‘