NEW ZEALAND OILS

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2232, 29 January 1921, Page 1

NEW ZEALAND OILS

An interesting paper compiled by Professor Easterfield and Mr Norman Mehellan was read in the Physics, Chemistry and Engineering section on the subject of “New Zealand Oils,” at Palmerston's Science Congress. A statement was given of the districts in New Zealand in which mineral oils had been found, and the paper also alluded to the attempts to supply mineral oil by the distillation of oil shales at Orcpuki, Southland. The sulphur content of the southern shales was stated to he a very serious objection, and a comparison was given of the properties of Taranaki and Kotukn oil. The former is said to lie remarkable in the high content of benzoles, the paper continued, and eyeloparaifins. The proportion of Toluol, used in the manufacture of T.N.T. explosive particularly, was higher than in the ease of the light oil from coal-tar. A number y>£ pure chemical compounds taken from Taranaki petroleums were exhibited. Professor Easterfield stated that, in his opinion, the boring of new wells in Taranaki promised at present greater success than development in any other area, but urged that as a matter of Imperial interest systematic prospecting by bores should be carried out in a number of areas.