PRODUCTION OF NITRATES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 1175, 19 February 1919, Page 6

PRODUCTION OF NITRATES.

GREAT POSSIBILITIES IN NEW ZEALAND. Mi James Orobistou (late Chief Telegraph Engineer), who has consistently urged the utilisation of the Bowen Falls tor the generation of electrical power for the fixation of the nitrogen of the air, says that the increasing importance of the necessity for a very big and steady production of nitrate of soda is forcing itself upon the whole world. The Agricultural Department of India has been looking into the matter of ratertilisation on a big scale cn account of some 7,000,000 square acres of rice (paddy) fields in India, which have become exhausted After elaborate tests they have concluded that the only way to revive these lauds is by the liberal infusion of nitrates To do that the Indian Government would need at least a million tons of nitrates a year It is well known that in normal times we have steamers coming down from India with woolpacks and gunnies, but we have not b;.ck||cargo2for them Nitrates extracted from the air by the cheapest power to he obtained $ at the Bowen Falla, would give them cargoes. Before the war market and amateur gardens used to pay 2s for a 4%1b tin of nitrates; the market is now bare, but last year nitrates were sold at 8d per lb. Mr Orchiston estimates that nitrates could be produced at the falls at less than one penny per pound.