ROMANTIC HISTORY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22210, 10 September 1935, Page 10

ROMANTIC HISTORY

A PIECE OF ROCK KEY TO PHOSPHATE INDUSTRY Behind a dirty greyish-brown piece of stoue displayed on a stand in the window of Arthur J Harding, bookseller, in Queen Street, lies the romantic history of the discovery of phosphates on Nauru Island, the total annual output of which is worth £4,000,000. The stone, which is not more than a foot in diameter and boars a close re : semblance to pumice, is being displayed through the courtesy of Mr. Albert F. Ellis, New Zealand membor of the British Phosphate Commission, and author of "Ocean Island and Nauru— Their Story," which has just been published by Angus and Robertson, Limited. This piece of rock is that which Mr. Ellis noticed was being used for keeping the door open at the Sydney office of the London firm of John T. Arundel and Company, in which Mr. Ellis was employed On telling the manager that it resembled Baker Island phosphate rock, ho was informed that it .was a specimen from Nauru, and had already been classified as fossilised wood. It was some three months later that Mr. Ellis carried out preliminary tests for phosphoric acid, which resulted in a strong reaction. A complete analysis proved the rock to be phosphate of the highest quality. Excitement ran high, and this discovery was ultimately tho key which unlocked the riches of Nauru. "I have kept that piece of rock ever sincje," said Mr. Ellis last evening. "It has quite a sentimental value in my eyes. It was kept for some considerable time in tho Melbourne office of Arundel and Company, but when the company was bought out by the British, Australian and New Zealand Governments, 1 applied to the directors in London for possession. Since then it has always been with me, and has occupied a prominent place in my home. I suppose it will ultimately find its way into some museum, possibly that in Auckland, but I have not yet definitely decided."