OIL DEPOSITS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4802, 26 January 1925, Page 2

OIL DEPOSITS.

LOCATED ON PAEROA BOUNDARY. DIVINER AT WORK. Considerable excitement prevailed among tho'se in the know when it was learned that numerous deposits ot oil had been located on .Messrs Millar Bros.’ farm, Thames Road, Paeroa. The discovery was made on Friday morning by a relation of Mps C. Millar’s who has been staying on the farm, and who is a man skilled in the art of oil and water divining. This gentleman, who prefers not to’ have his name disclosed for the present, has been actively engaged on divining work in the Taranaki oilfields, and his predictions of the presence of oil in that area have never failed. After pottering, round the farm mi Friday afternoon the diviner made his discoveries known to the Millar Bras., who in turn communicate.l with this office and invited anyone interested to pay a visit to the locality. Consequently a carload of, it must be confessed, very sceptical men, went out to the farm and witnessed a practical demonstration.

The diviner carried in bis hand a forked stick cut from an elaeagnas hedge, and proceeded to a large paddock some distance frorii the homestead. followed by an interested party of spectators. Holding the stick ai less than arm’s length in front ot him with both hands, arms bent slightly upwards, a start was made across the field. After walking a few yards the stick was noticed to dip forward slightly, and as the next step was taken it' resumed its former position in his hands. This dipping forward of the istick occurred thiee times, but the walking forward was continued. Suddenly the stick twisted downwards with great force, and the diviner could not move it up again so long as he stood still. That was the sign that oil was present in that exact spot. By taking a step forwaid the stick resumed its semi-upright position again.

■‘i’urtlier testis were made, and in about a dozen places there were indications that oil wais present. Members of the party, including His Worship the Mayor (Mr W. Marshall), tried in turn to prevent the wand turning in the. diviner’s hands, but try as they might, and holding tightly, the stick jumped forward every time the presence of oil was met with.

The cause of the stick drooping forward three times before ■ the oil was actually struck was explained as the action of rayis, which indicated that oil was in the vicinity. The diviner states that the oil is not situated very far down in the earth, or the rays would not be felt so close together. In his opinion oil would be struck at under a thousand feet down. He did not think that the oil was in streams, but was inclined to believe it .was in more or less stationary deposits.

The largest continuous area of oil discovered was thirty-six yards in length, surface ground measurement. In Taranaki one of the largest bores has been- working from an area measuring only seventeen feet. Speaking of the rays, the diviner said he believed .that , when oil was found the sudden dropping forward of the stick was caused by the electricity in the oil and the earth being stronger htan the current in the air, and he felt certain that if ways and means were known as to how to act far greater electrical energy could be obtained from the ground than half a dozen Arap uni schemes.

It is interesting to record that the diviner, travelling in a motor-car at twenty-two miles an hour, discovered oil in a part of Taranaki where its existerce was never dreamed of. The discoverer was unable to foretell if the oil was obtainable in payable quantities on Messrs Millar’s farm, but there was no doubting his sincerity in the belief that oil was there in quite large quantities. His oil-dicining work in Taranaki has never failed, oil being obtained n every instance at the spot indicated on the ground by the diviner. Th? question of developing the discovery ny boring operations is being considered by Messns Millar Bros, and others, but the future success of the-project cannot be determined in the meantime. Suffice it to say that considerable excitement has been aroused, and future operations will be watched with the keenest interest.