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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1316, 14 June 1883, Page 2

A paragraph appeared in our contemporary last night which is aitticading, and been the impress that the writer knew nothing whatever about the subject he was handling. He says that Mr Fksler said the oil “ shown to hiru ” was of superior quality to any he had met with in America. Also, that the paraffin butter possesssd unusual richness. Now, in the first place, Mr Feh.ler, even as a borer of unlimited experience, and a refiner of unbounded practice and chemical knowledge, could only upon a short examination of either the crude or refined article, pass an approximate opinion as to the quality of the oil ; and not until he had submitted a certain accurately measured quantity to a number of crucial tests which require both ckill, patience, intelligence, and time, combined with a go <d practical chemical knowledge, could Mr Fe-lhr be in a position to confidently assert that the “ oil is superior to any he has met with in America.” With respect to the “butter,” the same with the oil, its “ richness ” depending entirely on the quantity and quality of stearine or wax it produces. If Mr Fesler really did make such a statement to the writer, he, with the characteristic shrewdness of his countrymen, saw that his “ interviewer” was entirely at his mercy; and, in return for such ignorance displayed in the questions so persistently plied, “ crammed ” the writer with a little “ bunkum.” Mr Fesleb is, we are assured, a tho roughly experienced prical “ I • er,” and as such, will be “ the rigln man in the right place.” The publication of such statements as those referred to, is both delusive and mischievous, and is calculated to lead astray not alone those interested in the welfare of the Southern Cross Petroleum Company, but the community at large ; destroys the prestige of the press, and brings its members into contempt.