OIL PROSPECTS.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 115, 7 January 1926, Page 4

OIL PROSPECTS.

Oil will not be found in any quan-: tity in this part of the world, is the opinion of Professor E. C. Jeffrey, or Harvard ; University, U.S.A. Professor Jeffrey is at present in Dunedin, and in a chat with an “Otago Daily Times’ ’ representative he had some interesting things to say about that subject, and also upon prohibition in the United States. Professor Jeffrey is a Canadian ay birth, but has been connected with Harvard University for several years., He is professor of botany, and is making his present tour of Australia and New Zealand as part of the year’s leave i allowed in every seven to the Harvard ! staff. He has come to study coal and , oils, and certain general problems connected with the origin of the species. IT,, has fount; Australia and New Zealand favourable for such studies, as the coal fields are smaller and the coal formations more modern than those uT America. While in Australia Professor Jeffrey visited coal mines in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, and before coming to Dunedin inspected some of the West Coast fields. The professor is an authority on coal, and has published two books on the subject. He hopes to measure up his Northern Hemisphere knowledge with facts gained ill the Southern Hemisphere, “The prospects of finding oil in Australia and New Zealand are not very hopeful,’’ said Professor Jeffrey,, “butI hope I’m wrong. The Southern Hemisphere is not plentiful in oil, possibly because the plantsJirg of a much gre.lt' er geological age than those of the north. ’ ’ Professor Jeffrey does not think, however, that tho absence of oil in Australia and New'Zealand will be a handicap. It had been estimated that oil production in the United States «iad reached a maximum this year, and would steadily decline. A century at the outside, ho thought, would cover its usefulness, and it would not be used much in the United .States alter -'.nother 25 years. Use of Coal. < < Alcohol would make- a good substitute for oil if people would not drink it,’’ added Professor Jeffrey, w-th a smile. “I think that pure coal will be used eventually in internal combustion engines, and already a Swedish engineer has invented a process which he" claims utilises coal in this way. Some New Zealand coals of low ash may be used.’ ’ Oil and prohibition were linked in an experience Professor Jeffrey had in Adelaide. He was met by three re porters who were anxious for him to talk about oil. He arranged to see them later, and m .the meanwhile discovered that a local oil syndicate was trving to got liis commendation of local prospects. | “To get out of it I gnvcjjjkgnt an interview on professor, “but th a t cause a lot 1 .■> Y !--f■•! agree udiJflll