SULPHUR INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1498, 22 July 1912, Page 6

SULPHUR INDUSTRY.

OPERATIONS AT WHITE ISLAND. UNIQUE DEPOSITS. A new industry is about to be lauuchi ed in New Zealand. Some months ago it was chronicled in these columns that e. •' Canadian company, which included Australian and New Zealand money (with a capital of JCIOO.OOO) had purchased White Island in' the Bay of Plonty, with tho intention of .working the sulphur deposits, and that Mr. I'. G. M'Gco had been sent out as the company's representative lo ,' initiate the works. That was in April ' last. Since that time Mr. M'Gco has S|>ent nearly the whole of his time on the island, and in the course of an inter- , esting interview supplied a Dominion re- • porter with much information about the .' island and the prospects ahead of tho company.

"We had-a very rough time of it ontho island during the, first, ten <nVs. Wo pitched our camp on the solid end of the island (which is 588 acres in extent), but on the -second day we struck a (rale, and tho tents were blown to smithereens and wo. had to rough it for a few days. At last the bank manager ot Opotiki became'anxious about us, and-sent off thoNgatiama. to fee how wo wero getting along. Evontualy we got our permanent camp. established—-substantial wood- and-corrugated-iron buildings, and now wo are all pretty snug up there. "The ore deposits aire most unique.. Aa far as the sulphur is concerned the island can be divided into two parts—tho thermal and non-thermal areas. Our permanent eauip is, of course, on tho nonthermal part. There wo arc mining the rock- sulphur, and they are the most unique deposits in the whole of the world. There is roughly about 40 acres of rock sulphur ore land, which contains about 84 per cent of pure sulphur and as far as I could jujlge the supply is practically inexhaustible.

"But even that is not the'most astonish, ing feature about White Island. The ther- . null area is wonderfully rich and quite ; unique in (he history of the industry. , There are sulphur springs which pour out thick liquid yellow streams of molten sulphur which is !H per cent, the pure article, which can he dipped out with a bucket as oiM can water from a spring, and oii bein:? exposed to the oir it hardens into a solid mass almost at once. I know of no such condition in Sicily and Japan, tho two largest sources of (lie world's supply. The springs are wonderful. Wo could not test some of them owing to the density of ■' the fumes, but there was ono in particular, a vent only four inches in diameter, which ejected about four tons an hour. It acted as if there was a big steam pump forcing '" ir up with a pulsating action, and in each gusli there is betweon It and 15 pounds of almost pure sulphur—tho like of which has never been discovered anywhere in tho world. My theory is that with a boring plant, which wo will get, wo will 1m nblo to make a series of artificial vents which will ultimately reach the source of supply of tho whole island, which will, on Ixmig given 'a vent, bo forced to the surface by hydrostatic pressure. "As far as I can see, there is no reason why White Island should not in the very near future supply the whole of the needs of Australia and New Zealand, and cut in' considerably to- tho world's supply against out competitors in Japan and Sicily. Ono drawback we havo is having to pay vory high wages in Xcw Zealand. The company, has about thirty odd men working on the island at present, and tho average earnings ot tho men amount to about Hs. per day. That does not obtain in either Japan or Sicily. In Japan, the men get a yen(2s.) a day, and in .Sicily about 10d., so that wc havo a hurdle io get over there, but I don't think it is insurmountable. "To take an Imperial view, it is surely advisable that there should be a sourco I of supply, of sulphur ic-ther than a foreign I one. Sulphur is ono of tho chief constituents m tho making of explosives, and now that New Zealand and Australia are awaking to tho necessity of having an adequate system of defence, tho manufacture! of explosives must fallow. It has come already in Australia. The present sourco of supply for those countries is Japan, and as heretofore it has been practically the only one sulphur has been admitted duty free. That being tho case, and with their cheap labour, wc could hardly hope to compete without sustaining a loss, because; as soon as we started, the Japanese, could afford to cut down the .price. But with a measureof protection through the Customs tariff we could supply -Australia, ami New,. Zealand 10 , per'cent, cheaper lliaji the present ruling price. That protodion, we think, wo aro eailitlod to, as it is a, British colonial company, working ou. British eoil, mid paying the highest wages in tho industry in the wnrld—yet. we will be able to supply the market ot .v.i appreciable- lower rale than at present, exists, tho price at pr«ent is a standard one-aliout .Co 7s. nor ton, whether you buy at London, New York, Sydney, or Wellington. , . ~ "The" machinery that we can get in New Zealand is being supplied locally, and that on order ivjw includes a- 100 horsepower boiler and a 10-22 horsu-powcr engine." .. _ , , . Mr. M'Oec savs that New Zealand miro'rtod -1209 lons'of sulphur last year, Australia. 221,000 tons, and Canada, imported 120,000 tons from Japan.