The Daily News. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1920. PHOSPHATE WORKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1920. PHOSPHATE WORKS.

The necessity for fertilisers as a means for securing greater production on the part of the farmers is being continually emphasised. The high land values and cost of stock render it imperative that the utmost possible shall be obtained from the land, and this cannot be done unless fertilisers are available. Now that New Zealand has acquired a share in the Nauru Island phosphates, the farming community is naturally keen on participating in the supply. At the annual meeting 1 of the suppliers to the Frankley Road Dairy Company on Wednesday, a resolution was paSsed instructing the directors to take steps to convene a conference of delegates from Taranaki dairy factories with a view to erecting a plant for the treatment of Nauru Island phosphates in Taranaki. The object is one that can best be obtained by united action, providing the outlay is not too considerable. The provision of adequate supplies of fertilisers is well worthy of the best efforts of Taranaki farmers. In the Smart Road freezing works the farmers possess their own basis of operations.. At the recent annual meeting of shareholders in these works, the question of treating Nauru phosphates came under review, and the chairman intimated that the directors were prepared to embark on the enter i prise, provided the necessary capital was forthcoming. The greater the use made I by farmers of these freezing works the [ larger will be the 'benefits they receivp. Already the * making of fertilisers at the Smart Road works has been developed on progressive lines, and as the object of the Company is to supply fanners at as nearly prime eoat as possible, it would seem that everything is to be gained by enlarging the scope of operations and enabling the company to complete the manufacture of phosphates ready for use by the farmers. This is a sound business proposition that should commend itself to all practical men, and cannot fail to be of inestimable benefit to the farmers. It is doubtful whether in any part of the Dominion the manufacture of fertilisers, < and especially phosphates, can be carried out so favorably and economically as at Smart Road, where the works are within a short distance of the port, and where other fertilisers besides phosphates can be successfully manufactured. The figure mentioned by Mr, 0. Hawken, M.P., at the initial meeting of the Taranaki Progressive League as 1 necessary to and equip works to treat the phosphates in their entirety as at Auckland—viz., £3oo,ooo—seems ertraordinarily high, and doubtless smaller works, sufficient for Taranaki requirements, could be established at a figure within the. means of tha'local proThe matter is of sufficient importance to merit dose and prompt investigation.