BURMESE PETROLEUM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1865, 12 June 1888, Page 3

BURMESE PETROLEUM.

While Icdia is Bleeping over the developrnpnt of the Bu mah oil field*, R' fist a ia taking advantage of the opportunity, and a recent journal of the Russian Minißt"r of Fnatxn contains a report from Butoum, stating that, dnr"ng tbe last few months, do less than 12 I nglish steamers have conveyed tbertn freights of oil amounting to nearly 8 850,000 gallons to Bombay, Cilcatta and Mndros Last year petroleum to the value of £693 661 was imported from the United States, and a similar an ount may be anlicipa f ed during the p o?ent year: Yft, aujs the "Indian Engineer," we hare lying within touch of an exten ive eteamor service extensive oil fields, the produce of which could be shipped direct to Indian ports at a sa\ ing of quite 2d per gallon m carritige as compared with tbe Russian article. English capital and skill might rapioMy achieve f r India euch a success for Burmese petroleum as has been achieved by Russia for the Baku oil, while with the extensive population of India on one hand, nnd that of Ohtna on the other, the oil fields of Burraih would have close at hand markets transcending any m the immediate neighborhood of Baku. While complaints are rife that the industries of the Emp ra are suffering from foreign competition, it may be well to draw attention to the fact that some part of the Buffering is simply due to the want of enterprise and capital expended m devejopiog the resouroos which lie dormant.