36 



For the purpose of the present estimate 58 per cent, soda may be taken at 9 

 per ton f.o.r. Magadi. Bailway freights on soda in 10 ton lots or over 

 (loading and unloading by owner) are 1 9s. 9|d. and 2 3s. 5Jd. per ton 

 from Lake Magadi to Kijabe and Njoro respectively. 



Limestone may prove a more difficult item. The present price of burnt 

 lime in Kenya Colony is 4 per ton, as compared with 1 to 1 5s. per ton 

 in Burma. It would be advisable to bring limestone to the factory and burn 

 it there, since quicklime is difficult to handle and transport under conditions 

 prevailing in the Colony. Allowing 16s. for fuel and 8s. for the cost of 

 burning 2 tons of limestone and producing 1 ton of lime, the question there- 

 fore turns on the possibility of obtaining large supplies of suitable limestone 

 (that is at least 20,000 tons a year for one factory alone) delivered at the 

 factory at a cost of not more than 13s. per ton, equivalent to 1 6s. per ton 

 of burnt lime. This will mean a maximum price for burnt lime at the fac- 

 tory of 2 10s. per ton. A figure much higher than this will probably render 

 the industry unremunerative. The sources of limestone reasonably near 

 prospective pulp factory sites do not appear to have been sufficiently inves- 

 tigated. The railway freight alone on coral limestone from the coast to 

 Kijabe and Njoro would amount to 57s. and 71s. respectively. Limestone 

 outcrops occur near the railway about 11 miles from Mombasa, but they are 

 open to the same objection of heavy railway freight. Layers of kunkar with 

 calcareous nodules occur as deposits in several places on the plains, par- 

 ticularly in the black cotton soil, but even if the limestone is sufficiently pure 

 it would probably not be available in large enough quantities. More pro- 

 mising are the limestones of the Athi River, Machakos and Kyambu districts, 

 and there may possibly be other localities. 



The table below, furnished by Mr. V. H. Kirkham, Director of the 

 Chemical Research Department, Nairobi, gives analyses of coral and other 

 limestones carried out in his laboratory. In his opinion any of these lime- 

 stones would produce a lime sufficiently pure for the causticising of carbonate 

 of soda, though a coral containing sand, such as No. 4, would be rejected. 



ANALYSES OF LIMESTONES CARRIED OUT IN THE CHEMICAL RESEARCH 

 DEPARTMENT LABORATORY, NAIROBI. 



Nos. 1-4. Coral from Mombasa. No. 4 contained a quantity of sand. 



No. 5. A grey marble submitted by Mr. Oulton of Thika. Position of deposit not known. 



No. 6. Origin not known, but submitted from Mua Hills May be Athi River or Machakos. 



No. 7-10. Kyambu district. 



No. 11, Nandi district (other samples from district not suitable). 



44. RAILWAY FREIGHT ON PULP. The Acting General Manager of the 

 Uganda Railway has agreed to a special zone rate of 70 cents per 100 Ibs. 

 or Fls. 15-68 (1 11s. 4d.) per ton on rail for bamboo pulp from stations 

 Lumbwa-Nairobi inclusive to Mombasa, provided the pulp is compressed to 

 25 Ibs. or over per cubic foot and packed in bales, so as to enable some 8 tons 

 to be loaded into a 10-ton truck. 



