ROMANCE IN INDUSTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22197, 26 August 1935, Page 14

ROMANCE IN INDUSTRY

EQUATORIAL PHOSPHATE OCEAN AND NAURU ISLANDS BOOK BY MR. A. F. ELLIS The romantic history of the discovery and development of the equatorial phosphate deposits upon which New Zealand depends for the maintenance and expansion of its pastures is related by Mr. Albert F. Ellis, New Zealand member of the British Phosphate Commission, in his book, "Ocean Island and Nauru —Their Story," which has just been published by Angus and .Robertson, Limited. Although he has been in the public eye for many years as a leading figure in the phosphate industry, it may not be known that in his youth Jio was about the Pacific as a phosphate prospector long before Ocean and Nauru became bonanzas, and probably there are few men in the world whose experiences in that field of activity have been so wide and interesting.

He embarks on his story in 1890, when with his brother he sailed out of Auckland for Howland Island as an employee of the London firm of John T. Arundel and Company, which was working low-grado phosphate-guano islands north of the Phoenix Group. Supplies were meagre—lo,ooo tons a year was the objective—and by 1899 operations were confined to Raine Island, :n Torres Strait, Rocky Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Lady Klliot Island, off Bundaberg, and several islands in tho Bunker and Capricorn groups Story of a Specimen When the, outlook was dismal a remarkable piece of fortune came. In the company's laboratory in Sydney, Mr. Ellis noticed a large piece of rock that was used for keeping the door open. Mr. Ellis told the manager that it resembled Baker Island phosphate rock. He was informed that it was a specimen from Nauru which had been classified by some geologists as fossilised wood. "This seemed conclusive enough," says the author, "but somehow when at work in the laboratory the piece of rock would catch my eye and its resemblance to Baker Island rock would recur. It was probably three months later that the thought came to test it. A bit was broken off, ground up, and the usual preliminary tests for phosphoric acid were made; to my great satisfaction they resulted in a strong reaction."

A complete analysis proved the rock to be phosphate of the highest quality and the structure suggested that it came from an old and probably extensive deposit. Specimens were at once secured from Ocean Island, these proving somewhat similar to those from Nauru. Excitement must have run high. Securing Rights

The London board of the company—now the Pacific Islands Company—commenced negotiations with the Colonial Office regarding Ocean Island, which, being drought stricken, had never aroused any international interest, and with the German chartered company which held mineral and other rights over the Caroline and Marshall Islands, including Nauru. Nauru had become German territory under the Convention of 1886. A representative of the Pacific Islands Company was eventually authorised to visit Ocean Island and if phosphate was found to treat with the natives and also to display the British flag, as the island had not been formally annexed when the neighbouring Gilbert and Ellice groups came under British rule. In German Territory As regards Nauru, an agreement was entered into with the German company by which the British company was authorised to work phosphate deposits 011 a royalty basis. Subsequently the Germans bought out trading stations and coconut properties the Pacific Company owned on these islands, and a share in the Pacific Company was conceded to them. In this connection it might here be remarked that when the company became wholly British soon after the outbreak of the Great War, the necessary legal steps in connection with holdings by enemy subjects having been taken through the Board of Trade, it transpired that Nauru supplied the only instance in which German interests had been "peacefully penetrated" by British commercial enterprise. In every other case the opposite had happened. lb was Mr. Ellis who prospected both Ocean and Nauru, and a photograph he publishes of his camp on Ocean Island with the British flag flying has historical interest. As to Nauru, when he informed the German district officer of his mission, ho was told that the German scientific men who frequently called would have known if phosphate deposits existed. For once the enterprising and scientific Germans had been living on a source of vast wealth without knowing it. High Grade Deposits

With the phosphate deposits of Curacao (South America) and of Angaur, Christmas and Makatea Islands, those of Ocean and Nauru are recognised as the only high grade deposits in the world. Their value to New Zealand and Australia in particular is beyond computation, and both countries have reason for thankfulness for the sound system of development, initiated by the former companies and carried 011 by the commissioners since tho ownership passed into the hands of the British, Australian and New Zealand Governments.

Space forbids reference to many fascinating aspects of the wonderful story —the manner the problem of deepsea moorings was dealt with, the pianning and construction of the cantilever which makes mechanical loading possible, the vast mechanical achievements ashore. Theories of Origin Seeing, however, that phosphatic fertilisers are used on every farm worthy of the name, something should be said of the theories as to the origin of tho phosphate deposits that are quarried out among the strange limestone pinnacles, which, it has been suggested, are the result of caves collapsing before tho islands wero raised above sea level. The common theory is that the deposit is simply guano, and that the absence of ammonia is duo to the action of the sun and the occasional heavy rainfall. The one which appeals to Mr. Ellis, who as a layman in regard to geological problems, does not dogmatise, is that the deposits were originally of a marine sedimentary nature, and came up from the sea bottom with the underlying limestono. Tlie remains of the marine organisms, according to this theory, changed in formation owing to atmospheric conditions, and the action of the more soluble forms of the phosphate on the adjacent coral. This view does not pre-suppose several subsidences below sea level necessarily associated with the conflicting theory.