Phosphate deposits in New Guinea.

Abstract

Nearly all phosphoric and potassic fertilizers employed in this Territory are imported from Australia at a cost which makes their use uneconomical except on the most remunerative crops. This is greatly retarding agriculture in this Territory, where fertilizers are badly needed and would certainly be supplied more freely if their cost were not so high. One way of overcoming the difficulty would be to find local sources of these constituents from which cheap supplies could be obtained. No local source of potash of commercial importance is known, but there are several sources of phosphoric acid, the two principal being the rock on certain islands and bat guano.