FERTILISER PROBLEM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23507, 18 November 1939, Page 13

FERTILISER PROBLEM

REQUEST TO MERCHANTS DETAILS OF OLD SALES "It is quite impossible to comply with the request of the Department of Agriculture for details of the amounts of artificial manures supplied to different classes of purchasers in the last two years," said an Auckland fertiliser merchant yesterday. He said fertiliser merchants had been asked for the information, although the department had not given any reason for the request. His firm and others had advised the department that the details wanted were not available. Merchants did not make a practice, when selling a few, bags of fertiliser, of asking customers whether they were orchardists, market gardeners or nurserymen, he continued. It was,'in any case, quite hopeless to try to go back two rears.

Although the department had not said so, it was possible that the inquiry was related in some way to the rising cost of superphosphate, the merchant added. ISauru phosphate was expected to rise 9s a ton shortly, equal to 5s a ton of superphosphate; bags were expected to go up by 5s a ton on account of the war-time demand for sandbags; and sulphur was fast rising by 4s or 5s a ton,' making a total increase of about 15s a ton for superphosphate.