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SULPHUR INDUSTRY.

I OPERATIONS AT WHITE ISLAND. A new industry ifi about to be launched in New Zealand. Some months ago it was chronicled in these columns that a Canadian company, which included Australian and New Zealand money (with a capital of £100,000) had purchased White Island in the llay of Plenty, with the intention of working the- sulphur I deposits, and that Mr F. G. M'Gee had | been sent out as the company's rep'resenI tative to initiate the works. That was lin April last. Since that timVMr M'Gee | has spent nearly the whole: of his time on the island, and in the course of an in- , terview supplied a Dominion reporter I with much information about the island. I and the prospects ahead of the company. j "We had a very rough time of it on . the island during the fiat ten days. We ' pitched our camp on the solid end of the I island (which :.- t "Ss ac-cg in extent), ! but on the second day Wc struck a gale, and the tents we e l<i»w« to smithereens pi (! we had to rough it for a few days. At last the bank manager at Opotiki became anxious about us, and sent off the Ngatiama to see how we were getting along. Eventually we got our-pernianent camp established—substantial wood and corrugated iron buildings,' and now we are all pretty snug up here. "The ore deposits are most unique. As far as the sulphur is concerned the island can be divided into ; two - thermal and non-thermal areas. Our permanent camp is. of course, on the nonthermal part. There we Are 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 judge the supply is practically inexhaustible.

1 "Rut even tbat is not the most aston(ishing feature about White leland. The j thermal area is wonderfully rich and ' ' quite unique in the history of the industry. There arc sulphur spring* which pour out thick liquid yellow streams of molten 6ulphur which is 94 per cent, the pure article, which can be dipped out with a bucket as one can water from a spring, and on being exposed to the air it hardens into a eolid mass almost at once. I know of no such condition in ' I Sicilv and ,TaMH. tllo twn lsir<rncf onnr.

ees of the world's supply. The springs are wonderful, We could not test some of them owing to the density of the fumes, but there was one in particular, a ycnt only four inches in diameterj which ejected about four tons an hour. It acted as if there was a big steam pump forcing it up with a pulsating action, and in each gush there is between 14 and 15 pounds of almost pure sulphur —the like of which has never been, discovered anywhere in the world. My theory is that with a boring plant, which we_ will get, we will be able to make a series of artificial vents which will ultimately reach the source of the supply, of the whole, island, which will, on being' given a vent, he 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 Few Zealand, and cut in considerably to the. world's supply against out competitors Jii .Japan and Sicily. One drawback is that we have to pay very high wages in New Zealand. The company has about thirty odd men working on the island at present, and the average earnings of the men amount to about 14s per day. That does not obtain in either Japan or Sicily. In Japan, the men get a yen (2s) a day, and i n Sicily about lOd, so that we have a hurdle to get over there, init I don't think it is insurmountable. "To take an Imperial view, it is surely advisable that there should be a source of supply of sulphur other than aloreign one. Sulphur is one of the chief constituents in the making of explosives, and now that New Zealand and Australia are awaking to the necessity of having an adequate .system of defence, manufacture of explosives must follow, it has come already in Australia. The present source of supply for these countries is Japan, and as heretofore it has been practically the only one sulphur has been admitted duty free. That being the case, mid with their cheap Jabor, we 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 measure of protection through the Customs tariff „•« c . 0ll ] (I K „p p i y Aus . traha and New Zealand 10 per cent.

m, 7 '"' l "° present ruling price. Ihat protection, we think, wo am entitled to, iis it is a British colonial company, working on British soil, and paying the highest wages in the industry m the world—yet we will be able to supply the market at an -appreciably lower rate than at present exists. The price at present is a standard one—about £5 7s per ton. whether you buy at London, New York, Sydney 'or Wellington. "The machinery that w c can get in *ew Zealand is being supplied locally, and that on order now includes a 100 horse-power boiler and a 16.22 horsepower engine." I Mr M'Oee says that New Zealand imj porlrd 4200 tons of sulphur last vear I Australia 224,1)00 tons, and Canada imported 120,000 tons from Japan

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19120731.2.14

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 62, 31 July 1912, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
962

SULPHUR INDUSTRY. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 62, 31 July 1912, Page 3

SULPHUR INDUSTRY. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 62, 31 July 1912, Page 3

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