FERTILISER WORKS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6978, 15 October 1948, Page 5

FERTILISER WORKS

ERECTION AT KAWHIA URGED STATEMENT TO SHEEP INDUSTRY COMMISSION “Of all the proposed additional fertiliser works in different parts of the North Island none could render a national service comparable with a plant used on the Kawhia waters”, commented Mr G. A. Walsh in a lengthy statement to the Royal Commission on the Sheep Industry in Hamilton yesterday. Mr Walsh submitted evidence on behalf of Federated Farmers of New Zealand (Waikato Province), referring particularly to the sheep industry as carried on in the Waikato, Waipa, Matamata and Piako counties.

After stating that these counties comprised an area of 2455 square miles, or 1,571,200 acres of occupied land, Mr Walsh said that between 1925 and 1948 there had been an increase in the sheep population from 166,000 to 983,000, or 490%. This increase had not been secured at the expense of the cattle population, as the latter had increased from 35,000 to 68,000 and dairy cows from 164,000 to 310,000 in the same period. “In 20 years of development work we have increased the carrying capacity of these pastures from 231 sheep and 192 cattle per 1000 acres in 1925 to 816 sheep and 212 cattle to-day”, said Mr Walsh. “The really great inherent problem confronting the Waikato lands—and one which is undoubtedly operating as a barrier to the huge potentiality of the area—is the high price of manures and where the required quantities are to come from”, continued Mr Walsh. “Of New Zealand’s total consumption of fertilisers, excluding lime, of 830,000 tons, about 30% is used in the Waikato and this large consumption has to be drawn from Westfield and the Port of Auckland”. 400,000 Tons a Year

If fertiliser were economically possible to obtain, the district could absorb 400,000 tons a year. To establish a source of supply at the lowest possible cost it was essential that the works be established where longhaulage of at least one of the major bulk raw materials could be avoided; such works to be placed centrally within the area to be serviced, but that they had a complete link-up with a railway system; avoidance of built-up industrial centres; and the capacity of works to be equal to the total district meeds. These requirements would be met at Te Kuiti, Kawhia or Raglan.

Te Kuiti would provide inexhaustible lime, papa and clay and large supplies of serpentine, vvhile labour and services would be available, added Mr Walsh.

Several surveys had been, made of the Kawhia Harbour and they all agreed that by virtue of water depth, ease of approach, shelter from westerly and southerly weather because of the northerly aspect of the entrance, freedom of severe tidal currents and large expanse of manoeuvrable water, the harbour was the best sea port available on the West Coast of the North Island south of Auckland.

A cardinal point in favour of the erection of a rock phosphate works on the harbour edge was that such a position would enable the operation of modern American methods of direct unloading of ships by crane and hoist into the works’ hoppers. The shortest rail link would appear to be Otorohanga and ordinary railway service waggons could then be used.