ROUMANIAN INDUSTRIES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1621, 7 October 1916, Page 4

ROUMANIAN INDUSTRIES.

Roimmnia is one of the great'pet-roleum-producing countries of the world, and Roumanians claim for their product a higher percentage of pure oil than is found in the American, Galician, and Caucasian wells. Although American competition nearly destroyed the industry between 187.4 and 181)5, improved methods and legislation favouring the introduction of foreign capital enabled it to recover. The industry is carried on by private producers as well as by the State, the American Standard Oil Company being largely interested! In the early days of the war Ronmania was heavily hit, but: effected a remarkable recovery, and the production for last year showed an increase over the previous year. The interruption of transport facilities and the glut of the ava ila bio storage accommodation made the handling of (he additional production a difficult problem. A noteworthy fact was that the increase in the production took place in spite of the suspension of drilling activity. In certain districts all efforts to handle the output had to be abandoned, and the oil ran to waste. The history of the industry in Ronmania during the last, decade Ims been a record of unqualified success. When the output passed the absorbing capacity of the home market, producers lyst no time in taking concerted steps to find outside markets, and wore ably supported by llie Government. Oneball ol Ronmania’s refined products inust seek markets outside, and with (he closing of the Dardanelles the main overseas outlet was cut off. Producers had to fall back upon the nor) h-west outlet in to Germany, that country undoubtedly securing huge quantities from this source, despile the efforts of the Roumanian Government to prevent it. Goal deposits are, largely worked. The chief beds, t hose in the Gor.jin district, are leased until 1975 ( 0 an English capitalist, who has the right to construct railways. Iron, copper, lead, mercury, cinnabar, cobalt, nickel, sulphur, and arsenic also occur. Deposits of rock-salt, a \.tillable Go\ eminent monopoly, stretch from, the Department of Burnt ve, in Northern Moldavia, to that of Gorjin in ’Walachia. There are many marble quarries, and it is claimed that the white veriety rivals that of Carrara in Italy. Romuania is one of the great grain countries of the world, and in 1900 ranked third after the United States and Russia, but its relative importance has since been lessened by the development of wheat culture in Canada, Argentina, and elsewhere. Vast harvests of wheat ripen on the plains and lower hills. Apart from cereals, the principal crops are potatoes, beetroot, and tobacco. Among the wine-producing countries of Europe, Ronmania stood fifth in 1900. Sericulture is a great industry of thg country,