First news of salt production in New Zealand appeared in the Nelson Examiner in 1844. It reported successful trials in the estuary at Nelson, where an acre of mudflats was cut off from the sea and salt of ‘excellent quality’ was made. However, the optimism of this early report was unfounded; it would be over a century before New Zealand developed its own solar salt industry. Geographically, this early venture was not far off the mark – Nelson has similar sunshine hours to Lake Grassmere, the country’s ultimate salt-production centre, but its higher rainfall would have been detrimental to salt making.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Reference: Nelson Examiner, 8 March 1845
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