NITRATES FROM AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19415, 25 August 1926, Page 10

NITRATES FROM AIR.

SYNDICATE'S NEW PROPOSAL. AIM OF AMBITIOUS SCHEME. [by telegraph.—own correspondent.] DUNEDIN, Tuesday. ' In a country so greatly Endowed with water power as New Zealand the success of the nitrate manufacturing venture in . the West Coast Sounds may well lead to the construction of other plants to deal with aluminium or carborundum manufacture 'w similar industries, where the primary needs: are cnomous power and water transport. This contention is liel<i by the Otsgo Expansion League, which mentions the yenture in its, annual TO' pork. '. * ■ . V■; The opposition shown to tlio' utilisation of the Bowen Falls at- Milford for the purpose of extracting nitrates from the atmosphere moved tho Government to reconsider the proposal and to request the syndicate to make a further search among the. fiords for a suitable silo, states tho report. This work has been undertaken and; a right acquired from the : State, for the. use of 250,000 horse-power from Lake Manapouri. The'now plan is much mora ambitious, than the Milford. one and will, if carried into effect, mean the erection of fi, plant that will rank with the great installation of Norway in magnitude and output. • ' . . It will necessitate the construction of a tunnel some five miles in lfcngth, which will discharge the water of the lake at a point over 500 f- above' the tide level in Smith Sound. - Here,. at the edgo.of a sheltered deep water basin, in» which the mightiest ships could safely moor, tho great dynamos will revolve and transform the.titanic energy of these falling waters into tractable though superhuman force. Yoking them to his needs -th'S engineer will transform tho nitrogen of tho view, less air into, the nitric acid of com? merce, and with the aid of the mighty limestone deposits found almost <jn tho spot he will manufacture nitrates. The syndicate hopes soon to place the scheme before the Home authorities and secure if' possible a grant from the millions set apart by the British Government for Empire development.