SODA FOR THE WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 231, 4 February 1911, Page 8

SODA FOR THE WORLD

A WONDERFUL LAKE. A further examination of the extraordinary soda lake in the East Africa Protectorate has confirmed all the statements of the discoverers. The "lake," which is to he connected with the Uganda railway by a branch line, has an area of about thirty square miles, and it consists of a solid deposit of almost pure soda. The hard surface has the appearance of pink marble. During the wet season, which in the reason is very short, the surface is covered with a few inches of water, but during the long summer months it is dry except for a narrow strip around the margin. The deposit is divided into several distinct horizon-

tal layers, the top layer being about ten inches thick. When a block of soda is removed, the ''mother liquor" rises to the surface-level and begins immediately to form a fresh crust. The natives, who use the material for washing purposes and for snuff, say that they are able to work the same spot year after year. The surveyors who have been selecting the ro'.> ;s for the railway, bored holes nine fee; c [> into the soda and did not reach b0.1.i;: , and poles which have been left lying in the holes were found a few hours later to be embedded firmly in a mass of new crystals. A uniform depth of nine feet would represent an actual supply already ''in sight" of no less than •iOil>,ooo,ooo tons, so that the engineers did not think it necessary to investigate further. There can be no doubt that within a few years tin- whole world will be drawing soda from the lake because from no other source can the material possibly be produced so cheaply. The deposits I have been leased to a 'British syndicate, so that the profits will go into private pockets, but the effect upon the development of the protectorae cannot fail to be very great. It seems a pity that the local authorities did not take steps to place upon this wonderful store of mineral wealth some share of the burden of administering the territory.