NITRATES

Hokitika Guardian, 30 April 1930, Page 2

NITRATES

DOUBTFUL SOUND SCHEME.

£7,000,000 VENTURE.

INVERCARGILL, April 28

After 53 days at Doubtful Sound carrying out investigations .for the American company which is interested in. the nitrates project, Mr H. P. Gibbs and his staff returned to civilisation on Sunday.

Mr Gibb’s task at Doubtful Sound was to ascertain if sufficient ! horsepower was available at a reasonably low cost for the hydro-electric • scheme which is part and parcel of the process of fixing the nitrogen from the air. Although, Mr Gibbs, is not in a position to make public the information he has gathered, there seems no doubt that he is satisfied that at Deep Cove the nitrates can be manufactured at a comparatively low cost. This being the case it is reasonable to assume that the vast undertaking will he gone on with and a town of 4000 inhabitants spring up at Deep Cove.

Something like £7.000,000 will bfe involved.in the undertaking. In order to obtain the necessary electricity, a scheme surpassing in magnitude anything yet attempted in New Zealand will be undertaken. From the west arm of Manapouri to T)pep Cove, the most inland part of the Sound, a tunnel 20 feet in diameter will be bored through .solid rock.- The length of the tunnel will be close on 7 miles, and in places it will be 4000 feet under a mountain. The volume of water passing through the tunnel will be almost eaual to that '’owing from Lake Manapouri into tb° Waiau river. In fact, the tunnel will really form a new 'outlet for the lake. The tunnel will end almost exactly above where the power house will be .situated, a substantial drop giving a great head of water. The completion of the scheme will also include the formation of a good road from the head of Manapouri to the Sound. The tunnel will take at least 3 years to make but bv the time it is contorted all the work at the Sound should be ready to operate.

If the scheme eventuates- it will go a long way -to solving the unemployment problem, and will mean a vastly increased volume of business for the port of Bluff and the city of Invercargill. A member of Mr Gibb's staff told a reporter that all the field work had been successfully carried out, and the company, if it desired, could go ahead with the ordering of the machinery. Mr Gibbs was quite satisfied that the road from Manapouri to Deep Cpve could be put through at a reasonable cost. The party experienced fairly rough weather during the first month at the Sound, but they expected a lot of rain, for this, together w tl» its steepness and solidity, made the district ideal for a liydro-electric scheme. The sandfly nuisance had been to a large extent overcome by a mixture concocted bv Mr Gibb.