WEALTH OF THE AIR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3138, 17 July 1917, Page 8

WEALTH OF THE AIR

GREAT VALUE OF NITRATES MR. J. ORCHISTON'S VIEWS

For many years past the value of nitrates as an aid to life on this planet ha-; been known, but it was only comparatively recently that it becamo known that tho world could bo made quite independent of tho great natural deposit!) of Chile, on which the world lias depended for an ago past. It was vaguely wondered wto the last big German cruisers in the Pacific wero so active in the early months 'of the war in policing the waters of tho west coast of South America, when all the countries from Panama South to Ticrra del Fuego were neutral. 'Iho British authorities knew very well tho object of such vigilance, as by it they wero kept short of nitrates, from which tho nitric acid, so essential in the manufacture of oxplu-sivc-s* is made, it was not until Admiral fttiii'dee and his merry >:ou aecounliHl for the Scharnhorst and Unicsenau, of. the Falkland .Islands, that Enginml'.s lhteri upted trade with Chile was resinned. England was in a depenpent position, but hero was a. way out—invented by an lOiiglisliinan—that was, tho niamifacturo of nitrates l'rum the air, Ij.yA'ui electrical process in operation in Sweden and Gernia'ny sonio years before the war broke out. Since llio war Orniaiiy is said lo have .developed, her Bicliert'eld plants I'lioniiuusly. Indeed, it was imperative that sue should, for those Willi an accurate knowledge of such things slat;* that Geiniany could never'keep uj> her supplies of explosives without sucb. development, and that unless she were manufacturing largely she could not last it out at all. Apart from that most important (in war time) aspect, it must ho essential for Gorman,v to jerlilise her crop lands liberally in order to keep th> foodstuffs going. All the world wants nitrates lor Hie enrichment of its soil. The market is limitless, tl)o demand always active.

Jlr. .1. Orchislon claims that nitrates can be more economieully extracted from the air in New Zealand than iu .-.tiv

.other part of the world. Ho has carefully traced the outline of tho world's coasts for places whero. Uiero is a good steady fall of water all fho'yeur round, cioso lo or right at, the edge of deep, calm water—that is to say, where there are safe harbours for bi.; vessels into which there.is a tumble of water suHicient to create the power required for the works. That, and perhaps. the cost of labour,, is said to be nil tluit has to be considered, for tho air always has its 78 per cent, of nitrogen. Jlr. Orchistoii says that nowhere, so far as he could discover, is (here, a, spot equal to tho Boweu Kills in Milford Sounds. It seems, ho says, as though Nature has designed the locality fur such works, and a. movement is on loot, to establish a big'power plant there. When it is stated thut it costs the Germans, with labour at slave prices, ,£S 10s.-to produce a kilonolt per year, and that the prico in Christehurch of power from Lake Coleridge costs J2lO 10s. per kilowatt per annum it is astonishing to lie informed that power could bo produceil at the Bowcn Kills sit about Uis. per kilowatt per year.

Oil this very important subject .Mr. Orchiston has recently written some interestiuj,' notes, copies of which have been forwarded to the Jfinistcrs of tho Crown and the .National Efficiency Hoard. Jlr. Orchiston titles his notes "What the Rowen Falls would mean to tho,Dominion if utilised for tho extraction of nitrogen from the air for tho purpose of manufacturing nitrate manures.'''. 110 says:— "On a lwsis of a sixty-six per cent, load factor (a conservative ijstinialo for a plant which -would be practically running at full load dav and night throughout the year) tho Bowcn power should produce 4,312,15001b. of fixed nitrogen in the form of calcium nitrates weighing Ill.Sli-l- tons. Increase of Yields. "This amount of nitrogen rightly applied to t.he ground would incrcaso tho yield of potatoes by 181i,405 tons which, if valued at .£4 per ton, would represent a gross monetary gain of .£745,620. if utilised for wheat ,production the increased crop would amount to 1.637,500 bushels at ss. 9(1., .£470,781, in addition to an increase of straw of 87,723 tons, nominally worth say .£30,000 or a gross, increased val«£ from a wheat crop of approximately .0500,000. "The cost of tho nitrate tit. an average of .£9 10s. per ton, including freights and cartage, otc., would be .£160,205, and allowing .S4 ss. per ton for the labour ol' placing it in the ground would bring the gross cost up to .£231,870 for an increase in value in the form of n wheat crop of .£500,000 or as a potato cron of ■£7-15,000. r "The German Agricultural Department reports show tnut by feeding the soil with two million tons of nitrate there was secured an increase, in crops of 63,000,000 tons. This is a much higher percentage than I am claiming, my iigures being based on American experience, and working out roughly at elevenfold for potatoes'or eight-fold for wheat, as compared to tho German claim of thirtjMjne-fold gross for mixed crops. "An article in .the Philadelphia 'Even-

ing Post' of May 12, 1917, dealing with fixation of nitrogen, asserts that 'one hundred per cent, profit from fertiliser investment is a rule on cotton, and even two hundred per cent, is common with, the more skilful farmers even at present prices" (war rates). V The Price of Power, "If the hydro-eleeiric power was utilised for the fixation of nitrogen in the form of cyanamide, which is the method so largely adopted m Gernyiny, /tho amount of nitrogen secured would bo four-fold the amount estimated. "One would therefore naturally conclude that the cyanamide process would he tho better system to adopt. Thoconditions in New Zealand are, however, altogether different to that pertaining in Germany, where power is clear, while labour and coal are comparatively cheap, whereas in our case power will be cheap while labour and coal would bo dear. Although the cyanamide process is four times more efficient .from the fixation of nitrogen point of view, this method probably involves more than four times the labour in addition to the need for coal in the form of coke for tho manufacture of the calcium carbide, which is used for fixing the nitrogen, With a view to further elucidate this point, it may be here mentioned that power in Germany obtained from the comoustion of lowsrado lignite (the cheapest fuel obtainable) costs £8 Bs. 7.U1, per kilowatt year for nitrogen fixation, whereas we anticipate being able to obtain power at Itilford Sound for about 15s. per kilowatt year. But for the cheap powijr it would he useless to attempt to manufacture nitrates in "Sew Zealand under the labour conditions which exist.

•'As- far as I can judge at nresont it. would be more economical to expend more capital in expanding the Hydroelectric development, seeing there is such on abundance of water power going to waste, than to attempt a method of manufacture which involves heavy labour charges.

"Chile nitrates cost about .1:1 "i per fon in the Dominion in lire-war times, adding freight and cartage the cost to the former would approximate i!l7 10s., supposing the farmer obtained tho raw material and carricd out his own. mixing, a course which is seldom pursued. Present nuotations for nitrate of soda, if obtainable, appear to be over per ion.

"A. imint worth noting is that electric-ally-manufactured nitrates can bo depended upon to contain a fixed quantity of nitrogren without any dross. Another very important feature is that when nitrate of soda (Chile Nitrate) gives up its nitrogen to plants a sodium compound is left behind, and may be deleterious to the soil. On the other hand, electric-ally-produced fertilisers containing calcium leave only lime in (ho t-.oil, wli.icli is usually advantageous. ,

A Groat Advantage. "H, is obvious that whether thn shareholders make a profit or not'tho devolopmont of such an industry must bo of great advantage to tho and dosorves every cncoiiragemont in face of the fact, that it means tho creation of wealth from tho elements, adjacent marble doposits, and from onergy going to waste, liejond the capital expended in (he pur-

chase of machinery, little, if any, of the wealth produced would leave the Dominion.

' 4t As an illustration of the immense proportions to which tho nitrate question has grown, it is worth mentioning that prior to the war Gonuany imported DM,OOO tons. of. Chile nitrates per annum. She is now producing COO,OOO tons ot' eyanamide, 500,000 tons of nitrates obtained by means of the Haber process, and IUO.OOO tons from ammonia, gross total 1,500,000 tons. The United States is now importing over 1,500,000 tons of Chile niitratetf, and no doubt the rest of the Allies as much moro among them." COMMERCIAL ITEMS INVESTMENT SHAJtES. l'osierday's quotations lor investment shavui were as follow:— Buyors. Scllors. £ s. d. £ 9. d. Bank N.Z. (old) 12 6 0 — Bank N.K. (now) 17 6 6 — National' Mortgage 3 16 6 — N.Z. and Bivor Plato 116 0 1 17 0 Auckland Gas 0 19 6 — Wull. Has (prof.) — 0 19 0 National Insurance 216 0 — K.Z. Insurance 8 6 0 — S.B. Insuraneo 6 3 0 — .Standard Insnranco 2 0 6 — Moat. K\port (£5) — 6 6 0 Union Steam lord.) X 2 19 6 — Union Steam (pref.) 110 — Well. Woollen (ord.) 6 6 0 6 10 0 West port Coal 1 11 6 — Westtiorl-Stookton (pref.) 0 11 7 — Waipa Colliery 0 18 6 — IjCj-lnnd-O'lirien 1 6 o N.Z. Drug 2 12 9 Ward and Co — 5 15 0 WELLINGTON- INVESTMENT CO. Tho directors' report to bo submitted 'to a meeting of the Wellineton Investment, Trusteo and Agency Company, Ltd., on Friday states that durins the financial year ended Juno 30 tho company's liambton Quay property has been disposed of at. a. favourable! price, and the proceeds invested in Government securities at a prico which is calculated to give an increased annual returu to the company. Tlio directors have placcd to reserve fund £4448 7s. lid., which fund now stands at £20,635 Is. lid. (included in this transfer is £14 6s. derived from premium on news shares subscribed for). After having made provision for depreciation on the company's buildings and furniture, there is left, for disposal (including £61 17s. 9d. brought, forward from last year) a sum of £4615 16s. Bd. An interim dividend 0f„.3 per cent, was declared and paid in January, and'it is now recommondcd to pay a further dividend of 3 por cent. (m'aMiiK a dividend of 6 por cent, for the year) and a bonus of 1 per cent. This will absorb £4331 155., leaving a balance of £284 Ib. Bd. Of this sum if, is recommondcd that £64 18s. Id. should bo placed lo reservo fund, making tho total of that account £20,700, and that £219 3s. 7d. should he carried forward to tho ensuing year's profit, and loss account. Messrs. A. K. I'earco and ,T. If.- Jl'Kßy aro tho directors who retire from' tho board in accordance wilh tlio articles of a«sooiation, and, beins eligible, offer thomsolvca for re-elec-tion. 'i'ho auditors, Messrs. E. Buchoh and ,T. H. G. Bowlcy, offer themselves for re-election.

'UNION BANK. The cable message published on Thursday regarding the Uuion Bank dividend omitted to stale that a bonus was ljeiug paid, as well as a 10-per cent, dividend, equivalent in all to 14 per cent. Customs duties collected lit. the port, of Wellington yesterday amounted to £1864 os. lOd. LONDON MABKETS. Australiflii-Ncw Zealand Cable Association. LONDON. July 15. Batters-Danish butter is firm at 210s. to 2135. Ncr cwtHemp.—Now Zealand, firm: high point, fair, .luly-September shipments quoted al £90. Copra.—On the spot. £45 ss. por ton. Bubber.—Fino hard Para rubber, 3s. OJrl. per lb.; plantation, 2s. 5Jd.; smoked, 2s: sgdMutton—South American. lOd. r.er lb. liamb, lid. Australian and New Zealand unchanged. ' . MINING NEWS WELLINGTON SIIAEE MABKET. In the mining market yesterday I here was only one Quotation, as under:— ftuyora. Sellers. £ p. d. £ a d. Witihi Graiid Junction 014 9 — STOCK EXCHANGE. . Hy Tclejrraph—Press Association. AUCKLAND, July 16. Sales:—lluddart-Parkcr, 335. 3d.; Waihi, 375. 6d.. 585.; Auckland Ga3 (paid), 295. 9d.