BRITISH OIL DEPOSITS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 211, 25 May 1918, Page 12

BRITISH OIL DEPOSITS

FOR THE NATION OR FOR THE FEW?

IMPORTANT ISSUE RAISED

An issue of vast importance to tho future of tho nation is raised by Lord uowdrny, head of the great engineering iirinof S. Pearson and Sons, in a letter to the 'Daily News." He belioves, on tho advice uf his American expert advisers, that petroleum and natural gas will be found in commercial (juantitie.s beneath tho soil of Great Britain. Granted that tins is so, the point which lie raises is: is tho industry to bo a. national one, or is it to be in the hands of private vested interests? Experience in America, Lord Cowdray says, lias shown that tJio policy of. uncontrolled working on small areas is 11 national blunder. It has produced wild speculation and' deplorable waste. According to American scientific estimates there is only oil in eight in that great continent for another 2!) years—a. situation wliicn is causing serious disquietude to the Government of tho United States. This is the position which the United Kingdom will have to face if unorganised and uncontrolled drilling bp permitted.

Large Areas Needed. In June last Lord Cuwdray was approached by the Admiralty with a view to immediate drilling as a war measure. At that time his firm were negotiating with certain landlord.-; with a view to arranging leases, ior it must be remembcrccl that a well will drain oil for a uistanco varying from a few yards to a few miles. As his firm was not in control of anything approaching tho areas requisite to obviate ■ the evils of the small block system ho replied to the Admiralty recommending a system of national drilling licenses as the only sound policy. i'rom tho .production point of view Lord Cowdray says he is not concerned whether royalty shall or shall wit bo paid to landlords.. All he cares for is the preservation of what should become a great national industry, as essential for our ]\avy and mercantile marine of the future as coal ha 3 been in tho past. .With, this object he has made alternative offers to the Government, subject to the passing of the necessary Act to safeguard the industry, offers which are still open:

(a) For tho period of Hie war lo place at the disposal of the Governjnent, free of all cost, the services of his firm and geologic- staff for the purposes of exploration and'development. (l>) If the Government does not wish to risk public money on wlmt must he deemed a speculative enterprise ho is prepared to drill, at his own risk and expense as licensee, subject to certain areas being reserved to him. This offer committed his firm to a probable expenditure of X' 500,001). Legal Trespassers. Jte points out that if he drills for oil,, as tho Government now suggests, without legislation and under the Defence of the Realm Act, the position of the Government is that of a temporarily legalised trespasser, and after the war the benefit of national expenditure will revert to the owner of the land. The country ■will have run the risk; others will be entitled to the post-war gains. Even if tho Acquisition of Lands Act applies, which is doubtful, the nation must acquire in each case tho Jand necessary to protect the whole oil pool, which may even amount to thousands of acres, not at normal vuluw, but at ,i price having regard to its being- a proved oil property. « More serious, h&wevcr, than (he financial losses which working under the JJefcDco of the Realm Act will entail is thu result that, presuming drilling be successful, vested interests will liavo been created throughout Ino country, find as a consequence Hit legislation essential to tho welfare of the industry will then meet with opposition many times stronger than that with which it is confronted lo<lay.