WHITE ISLAND SULPHUR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19010, 5 November 1923, Page 8

WHITE ISLAND SULPHUR.

THE NEW COMPANY. A recent cable message from London stated that the White Island Sulphur Fertiliser Company had been registered with a capital of £IOO,OOO. white Island is really the summit of a volcanic mountain rising from the waters of the Bay of Plenty, 28 miles from. Opotiki. it is circular, about a mile and a-quafter m diameter, and notable fo r the thermal activity, which is accompanied by profuse emissions of steam, clouds of which often rise to great heights. ■^ r ' 0r tc ? • t * le island was Crown property, and, so far as is known, the sulphur deposits were not worked up to that time, in the year named, White Island was acquired by an Auckland syndicate, of which -Ur .justice Wilson was the head. With his son and two or three other persons, Mr Justice Wilson had the deposits worked on 1 y e *y sn scale. This syndicate estabiisned_ works icr the production of sulphuric or ouier acids from the ore at Tauranga. r,,„odi:^ 6 > of tJle rJ a rawera eruption, in June, 1886, the works on the island were abandoned in a groat hurry by the men woramg there, owing to the alarm created ■) .n l= rea £. upheaval. Afterwards it was said that this was caused by the yact that volcanic dust was spread over the island from the mainland, i A ( t , er T th ®. abandonment of White Island py Air Justice Wilson’s syndicate, it passed mto the ownership °f Mr Andrew Gray, of Auckland, from whom a British Columbian syndicate acquired it. They transferred it. to the White Island Sulphur Company, which again, for the purpose of financing the works and development of the island, termed the Now Zealand Sulphur Company. Ihis was composed of Canadian capitalists, very few shares being held in New Zealand. Jhe capital cf the company was £IOO,OCO, of which about £70,000 was issued. The vendors look their interests entirely in deferred shares. The cash capital was provided wholly in preferred shares. . The new owners of the island commenced ’"stalling their plant toward the end of 1910, the White Island Sulphur Company having previously carried out a considerable amount of prospecting and development work. The company’s works were com-plc-ted, and the plant finally installed in February, 1914. After the erection of the Plants the retorts for refining sulphur were so badly eroded by previously undiscovered acids, as to cause an explosion in one, by which a workman was killed. This necessitated the closing of the refining works, and, as a consequence, the reduction of hands, until such time as a new and more safe and satisfactory process could be evolved. In the meantime the managing director, Mr G. H. Willoughby, has been experimenting with deposits from the island as a fertiliser, his attention having been drawn to their possibilities in that direction by observing the unusual verdure of the pohutukawa growth at one side of the island, the only green snot left. As the result of the favourable outcome of his experiments with the fertiliser; Mr Willoughby decided to extend the works at White Island with a view of shipping large quantities to Auckland, Australia, and to other centres. Plans were made to provide further cash capital for the company. An expert from England made an examination of the island on behalf of large capitalists at Home, and returned to England in the full expectation of raising all the money required. Then, a disaster occurred which destroyed ’the project. On September 4, 1914. a party of u men was despatched from Auckland to quarry the sulphur, and were landed on the island on September 7. A fortnight later news was received that they had been utterly overwhelmed. Exactly what happened has never been discovered. A violent disturbance occurred, but whether it was due to a landslide or a thermal outburst it was impossible to determine. Some residents of Opotiki heard loud detonations at various times from 8.15 p.m. on September 9 or 10 to 5 a.in. on September 10 or 11. All the company’s works, buildings, and dwellings on the island were destroyed, and no trace has ever been found of those who had been on the island.