FERTILISER WORKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 217, 12 September 1940, Page 13

FERTILISER WORKS.

REVIVAL OF SCHEME. EAST COAST PROJECT. NAPIER, thie day. The erection of fertiliser work* at v?!i% to *" e th e Hawke's Bay and fcast Coast districts from WoodvUle to tne fcaet Cape, is a project now being actively canvassed. A similar proposal wae made four years ago, but dropped aiter preliminary negotiations. Now however, it has been revived in the light ot the approaching completion of the deep tea port at Napier and the opening next year of f;he Waikokopu-Gieborne line, which will establish a rail service northward* from Napier a» far as Motuhora. The proposal is now receiving a good deal of attention from Mr. E. L. Cullen, M.P., for Hawke's Bay, who durino- a recent visit to Wairoa discussed it with local bodies, farmers' representatives and the Wairoa District Production Council. "The production council has arranged to co-operate with other bodies throughout the province, and there is an active desire now to get the thing going," said Mr. Cullen in an interview to-day. "I myself am satisfied that there is a clear and almost urgent need for such J works. lam satisfied that their establishment would improve the production capacity of the whole of the Eaet Coast belt, and especially on the line between Napier and Gisiborne, where huge areas are just starving for manure." Mr. Cullen intends taking the matter up with Cabinet immediately. The proposal is likely to find strong support throughput the province. Financial support is already virtually assured, and interested parties feel confident that they can make out a good case. At present fertiliser supplies for Hawke's Bay and the East Coast muet be brought from Wanganui, or other North Island centres, and it is. contended that the establishment of works at Napier would more than recover its own cost in transport economy. Moreover, the fact that supplies at present have to be carried such distances, makes it uneconomical to apply fertiliser in necessary quantities to much of the land that requires it. Much of the land bordering on the Napier-Wairoa section of the East Coast railway, for instance, was originally taken Tip in anticipation of a rail service by which supplies of fertiliser could be readily obtained.