Fortunes in Phosphate.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 18 January 1911, Page 4

Fortunes in Phosphate.

!'<> have ureal ness thrust suclflcnly upon it lias lic-cn I:ho t':ito ol' Ocean Island, dho oi the S'hi i!i S::: islands situated on t-lio iOjnatn;-. In lS!)!i or 18!)" a strainer which c;ille:l then? carried <>(!' n piece oi' phosphate rock. which lay in tl:c office of the Pacific Islands Comnany in Sydney, for many months, and was use , !, it is said to keep an office door open. The stone attrvted the attention of a man in the of t!ie company, who 1 -nr] a vr :J r> experience of the islands on f! , - . Pacific. He expressed his opinion hhnt the specimen in the office would he found to contain phosphate, of lime. The office did not with him. hut he pcrsir.tnd. an dhad the stone submitted to chemical analysis. The result amply ceniinue-.! ihis view, and gave a pereenfagc of 80 per ce!i.t of pure phosphate of lime — probably the highest , known. Later the astounding conclusion was arrived at thai the whole island consisted of pure phosphate, of the same wonderfully hi"*h tirade a.s the first specimen. Phosphate beinp: one of the most valuable fertilisers, it was not lone; before the islnsi ,, wjik converted from a lonelv spot, in'tabitated by a liandful of unlives into a veritable hive of imVstry. Tn the thirteen pears which have elapsed since tili-p discovery, railways have ' been formed, electric Ikrht and telephones installed .and four or Qvo fiOOO-ton .steamers wail to carry nway the very irround on which rme stands. In 1800 there was no Europeans on the island; now there are some 80 while employees of the Pacific Phosphate Company, 300 Japanese, and some 700 labourers from the otiher islands, besides the 470 aboriginal natives who still survive. Crime is practically unknown and an excellent spirit exists anions all the inhabitants. It i.s a bappv instance of the development of natural resurces bringing no harm \x) i.ho natives.