A VISIT TO THE OIL DISTRICT.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3805, 25 September 1883, Page 4

A VISIT TO THE OIL DISTRICT.

The special correspondent of the Lyttelton Times has furnished a long account of the Southern Cross Petroleum Company's works on the East Coaafc. Our readers are already acquainted with most of what he saw and has written about, but his report of the cause of the stoppage of the works will be interesting, with also his opinion on the prospects of the ultimate success of the company's operations. The strata through which the drill has hitherto been driven is still the name soft pupa rock met with from the very first. The various formations in this neighborhood are tumbled about, tossed and disturbed in all imaginable ways. The pupa rock lias suffered from volcanic action like its fellows. Instead of lying flat, and what geologists, I believe, call '• comfortably," that is to say, horizontally, above and below each other, the strata arc all tilted up. The drill, therefore, instead of meeting the grain at right angles, meets it fill edgeways. In consecpiienee of this and its own natural cracked and distorted condition, the rock crumbles away at touch. No single piece is brought up in the sand pump that is not perfectly friable. Prom this it follows that directly the drill and sand pump are withdrawn the rock caves immediately and fills up the hole. Seeing that the stuff now occupying tho bore is soft and powdery, it would appear to an outsider to be tin easy matter enough to force the piping down through it with _ the help of our friend the big maul, or as it is no doubt known to the people, " the monkey," and so it would bo supposing the pipe were a stout one and able to stand driving, but this is exactly what it is not, and therein lies tho cause of the standstill at Kotokautuku. As before stated, nothing has been done there lately, for the simple reason that Mr Foslor, in trying to drive his pipe in the way it should go, that is, after the drill, has twice broken it. Tho first time this happened, some twolvo days or fi fortnight ago it was about 100 feet down. The second time it was at a lower level by some oO ieet. poth of these accidents fortunately.occurred

above the bottom of the shaft. It was therefore possible, though at a considerable risk and at the cost of much labor, to take out the broken lengths and replace them. In each case the driving power employed was of the lightest. The monkey was only slacked down from a few feet on to the top of the pipe, and not allowed to fall from a great height. The manager has thus proved his piping to bo defective. Luckily ne has hitherto been able to repair the damage, but now if the breaks were to take place"below the bottom of the shaft of which we have so often spoken, in that case he would undoubtedly have to stop. He could not get down to take out the bad joint, nor could ho drive down a smaller pipe inside the larger one without more than reasonable risk of coming to grief, for the broken portion would almost certainly catch the unbroken, tho pipes would be pretty sure to get mixed, and thei'O would be an end to that hole. At least that is Mr Fesler's view of the case.

The pipe that has telescoped, and otherwise misbehaved itself, is a six-inch one, and does not appear to be suitable for the punishment it had to stand, the joints in particular being weak. What the manager now proposes to do is to put down a smaller and better pipe, a five-inch one, in the same hole, before further damage is done. By this means he can save the amount of piping that now stands in the shaft. Instruments being needed and communication with head quarters being possible only at long intervals, work for a time at all events is a"t an end. That is the sum total of what is going on now at Rotokautuku, and the reasons for it. I am sorry not to be able to report oil flowing all over the country, gas bubbling over in the pipe and wealth pouring, as it were, by the barrelful into tho pockets of tho shareholders of the Southern Cross Company. But now comes another question. What is the chance that such barrel loads will ultimately be found ? The answer must lie, as far as one who is not an expert can tell, " Every possible chance." The surface indications show unmistakably that there is a large oil-bearing stratum somewhere below. Paraffin butter runs in view close to tho works ; the ground all about is spongy and greasy where disturbed, owing to its presence, and it can be dug out, there in plenty, looking something like flakes of bad salmon without the fish bones. In many places tho gas bubbles up in pools, and can be lighted with a match, burning till the wind blows it out again. Where does it come from, if not from below ? The air around tho derrick reeks of petroleum, and splashes of oil conic upon the sand pump from the very bottom of the pipes. Some of the liquid and plenty of it, leaks into tho big shaft above, for when this is pumped dry there are always some barrels full brought up. The oil of course floats on tho top of tho water standing in the shaft, and sinks gradually with it till it is at length drawn in at tho bottom of the pump, and is so raised to the surface. Gas, too, occasionally comes whistling up the tube when drilling is going on ; though at the time of my visit nothing of this sort occurred. Now, this gas must come from some oil-bearing strata still further clown. Everything, in fact, points to but one conclusion, which is that oil exists at a lower level than that to whicli the pipes have at present been driven. Nor docs there appear to bo any reason why it should not ultimately be struck. Tho hole is perfect, and drilling is easy, as Messrs Fesler and Weaver were kind enough to show me in the most practical manner, by getting up steam, and driving the drill down a few feet; and all is in order as far as that goes. But the hole rapidly filled with mud, even after being emptied by the sand pump; for tho drill when lowered a second time stood at almost exactly tho same level as at first. Indeed, tho manager declared that he has never been able to drill the hole 20ft. ahead of the piping. Enough mullock has been taken out by tho sand pump to account for a hole of twice the depth, so soft is the rock. What is needed plainly appears to be appliances that can be driven till a stratum of rock is met with hard enough to hold the oil in quantity. At what depth that may occur it is impossible to say. Our country has not yet been explored underground, and in Pennsylvania GOOft, 1000 ft, 1500 ft, or even greater depths are reached ; so that it is not easy to bo dismayed at the length of piping that has disappeared in the bowels of the earth at Rotokaukau. Tho manager seems to have great faith in his ultimate success, thoughhis indications are no bettor now than they were some weeks ago. But favourable indie ations in his eyes arc different to these looked for by other people. He would far rather come on a yard or two of rook than on a pint of oil brought up by tho sand pump. He knows that ho must get through the soft stuff:' in which he is at present working before he can hope to tap tho spring head—if that joyful day over arrives. He thinks it wili, if the Directors sec fit to allow him tubes that will stand "punishment." He predicts great wealth, even from a small yield of oil. Tho quality of tho East Coast petroleum is such that the crude oil is worth about as much here per gallon, as the American there per barrel. From all the foregoing your readers should be able to gather the true state of affairs at the oil springs. It will be seen that, while there is no reason to be sent straightaway into the seventh heaven of excitement, there is, on tho other hand no cause for tumbling into despair. A patient trial and tho proper application of capital by an experienced man alone can show whether a paying oil belt stretches along the east coast of the "North Island. A reverse at one particular point will prove nothing absolutely. The experiment of sinking must bo tried in many places before the whole truth can be known with certainty one way or the other. Great interest, therefore, attaches to other trials at the South Pacific ground, some thirty miles north-west of Gisbonic, andtothesecondwellthatisto bo sunk for the company to whose works my own visit was paid. The former well has already been bored for some hundreds of feet, the latter is not yet begun, tho timber, machinery, &c, coming to hand but slowly. Difficulties of all sorts have to bo contended with, and as I said at the outset, Poverty Bny is not the country in which express rates can be maintained. This last experiment is to be tried on a flat overlooking - a tributary of the Waiapu. It is about a mile from Rotokautuku, and some '200 ft below it In the ordinary course of things there .should therefore be so much less of the soft and fractious pupa clay to bore through. With an experienced man in charge, proper tools, and less to do to reach the hard rock, if such exists within a reasonable distance, it should not be very long after the commencement of operations before something definite should be learnt from this quarter.