OIL STORED FOR EMERGENCY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22515, 24 September 1938, Page 7

OIL STORED FOR EMERGENCY

; ♦ . SUPPLIES ACQUIRED BY GOVERNMENT NEEDS OF DOMINION STATEMENT BY HON. P. C. '• # WEBB. . [From Our Own-Reporter.] • MOTUEKA, September 23. Huge supplies of. petrol have been imported and stored by the Government to assure that New Zealand is ready to - meet • any • emergency -that might arise through-wan- The Government, if a position of urgency arises, will also deal with, all practical means of producing oil from coal, as it is realised that the New Zealand defence system, by sea, land, and air, is heavily dependent on the • availability of- oil supplies. The Minister for Mines , (the Hon. P. C. Webb), indicating these measure? Which are included in the Government’s general■; and extensive provisions against war emergencies, said in an interview to-night that the Government was conscious of the paramount’ importance of oil -in the maintenance ; of. major national ■ industries in an emergency, as Well as in the defence of - the Dominion. Mr Webb said he was hoping that as a result of the prospecting for oil going on now, the danger of being short of.fuel oil would pass. In any case. New Zealand would have to face the problem of the extraction of oils from coal in order to be.assured of sufficient oil in. the event of ’ isolation: through war. - The public could rest-assured that the Government was conscious of. its duties in acquiring huge supplies to meet emergencies that might arise. At the moment it would -be unecomonic to go. in for ~ much expenditure on hydrogenation plants, . but, • notwithstanding, defence might yet demand that sufficient oil be produced, and the Government was keeping in close touch with all the latest improvements in -plant developed for making oil from coal in overseas countries. Through its London office 1 the Government had made inquiries in Belgium and Germany, as well as England, but so far the plants offering were not up to the 1 requirements. Apart altogether from defence- purposes, -should-a plant be evolved which was suitable for New Zealand conditions, he would have no hesitation in recommending its immediate adoption. In the Waikato a plant was now operating by Which oil was extracted from coal through a low carbonisation process; but this plant was established to deal with waste products. . • ’ • • -