SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Issue 17266, 16 September 1919, Page 9

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

i Sir.—l was very much interested in readj ing the Heralu's leader on the above subject appearing on September 3. At the. time I was at Dargaville. and had just returned from visiting the new gum-wash-I ing plant erected under the direction of I Mr. huttee, on what was originally known j a-' Mitchelson's lease. I «a« associated with the mile of tin- property some 15 I years ago. It was then onsidercd a. I wruked nut suuitielci. and the block of I 40.000 acres was sold lor £1 an acre. A little M-ientiii. research .it that time might have been of very great value. Take this land, which at one time was supposed to lie <•'. so little value. On the road out to Suttee's one sees a steam hauler pulling out huge kauri logs, measuring 9ft to lift through, the remains lof a buried forest. The logs contain from i rive to seven thousand feet, and wheti . cut up the timber fetches, in Sydney, 36* a 100 ft The top soil "so long considered valueless is thickly impregnated | with what is known as 'hip-gumchips ; and nuts, -ecd and dust gum. It is this j that, the Suttee machine i.- to work, and i taking the noil on a face 'hud putting it ;through the machine 25cwt of cleaned : gum is extracted per day. worth approxi- ! matcly £25 Instead of having to use. ' Newcastle coal for their boiler they have ! unearthed a .-.earn of lignite under the gum layer. This it is found makes an excellent fuel. Here again one would ask what ha? science and research done for us*.' This lignite occurs all over the west coast ot "lie North, showing in the •Iff.- Un the ocean beach, for fully ..j mile,, from the Kaipara South Head tight up in Parens:*'. No one ha.* ever done ! any thin,' with it vet. This is certainly | a held tor science -turl research, for at the present time nothing :.- .-.nowu as to the value of these northern lignite fields. Neither is anything known as to the value of our peats, which abound in , the North and the Waikato, though in f.Vint mental countries large electrical 1 Continental countries on large electrical works are entirely run on peat fuel, towns

are supplied -with both power and light, and sulphate of ammonia,—one of our most Tamable manuresis extracted from the fuel at the . same time. On the peat fields of Europe, where these electrical works are in operation, peat is also manufactured into a dry pressed fuel for locomotive purposes, and also ground into a powder and used as a substitute for coal. The peat is subjected to great pressure, the moisture eliminated, and, after air drying, is used for locomotive purposes, having practically the same calorific power as coal. Express trains can be run on the same speeds as with qoal„ • Science and research should be able to show how, in a district like the a Otamatea, with mountains of hydraulic T lime, alongside which deep-sea ships can } moor, a successful cement industry could a be built up with the aid of powdered j peat from the Wairoa swamps, though « the district depends at present on New- 1 castle for its coal. No matter where one t looks in the North, you find raw material everywhere awaiting the manufacturer. t With turpentine 12s to 15s a gallon we { find the great gum swamps of the North 1 absolutely littered with timber, plastered t and encrusted with gum, lying waste. ; Hitherto this timber has. all been burnt c as so much waste because we had no 1 science and research, and if we muddle f along in the future this way, what of < the storm behind us? Just a few, and , only a few, of the many great problems j underlying out industrial growth I have t mentioned here in support of the j Herald's leader as to the' huge import- £ ance of the State inaugurating a generous j and ample scheme of scientific research. • I i G. E. Aldebton, j Remuera, September. 9. j i \ i