CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81862, 11 October 1906, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE TARANAKI OIL WELLS.

TO THE EDITOR. | Sin, —My attention has been drawn J to a letter which appeared in the Wellington "Evening Post" of the Gth ) inst, also in the Lyttoltcn " Times," ', ind (with some alterations) in your evening contemporary. Tito writer, ' irk) uses the nom de plume of "Pretrolia," takes tlie Company of which I am chairman to task for not letting the ( oil in No. 1 bore run for some time. , Now, on reading this letter between ] the lines, I venture to think that the raolivc is not hard to ascertain. The 1 wrilcr either wishes to "bear" the : market so as to buy shares (many of : .vhich I do not think he holds at ; ire.'cnt, or he would not give this ad- 1 vice), or, what is more probable, that ' I he wants to secure the ilotation of some wimps very unlikely ground at the expense of our shareholders, but this, I need hardly say, will not be done ivith my consent, Among other wild ' statements he makes is that one hundred barrels of oil per day for ninety days at £3 per barrel would give our shareholders £'27,000 for a Christmas box. Well, where ever he gets his value from I am at a loss to know, but [ will make him an offer of 9000 casks if oil at one-third of the price be menions provided he finds' the necessary -•asks, and more important than all, the ■ash to pay for it, as his letter does tot strike me as that of a—well we •nil say business man. Again, he ■ peaks of the danger of putting down me bore near another, and takes our -spcrt to task for stating that he had mt down four bores in one acre, and isks, was it in papi ? It is news to we lint our oil is in p:ip:i. But no doubt • Petrolia" must be right, or as right hhe is about the £3 per barrel. 1 nue heard from an Ameri :tin gentlenan that as nrniy as 11 holes have ii'en put down on an acre of land, each Irawir.g a separate supply. This, 1 nay inform " Pretrolia," is due to the luconformuy of the strata, and hope hat as he knows so mush ho will iiiderstand this. Whether wo have his description of strata in Taranaki 'f course remains to be proved. Jt is is likely as not. fn conclusion, I may ■ >y (hat the directors are business men, somo of whom can ill spare the tune ■oi| aired for the Company's business s hey are all considerable shareholders, 1 id, if for no better reason, will do all hi their power to make a big success of ] lie undertaking, without fear of any ittonymous writers such as "Pretrolia." Hut if the shareholders are of a difier,:ut opinion they can easily alter maters at the statutory meeting on the ilth inst. Just in closing, another point in his letter strikes me, and that is that because we start with an 8-inch 1 .•asing through the loose ground on top ■ hat we have to continue that to the lotlom, and consequently cannot reach ill before Christmas. This is quite sufficient in itself to show me at least , hat he docs not know the mere A.B.C. if drilling for oil. —I am, etc., Dani. Beiim', Chairman, Taranaki Petroleum Co.