OIL WELLS IN ENGLAND

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 234, 26 September 1908, Page 3

OIL WELLS IN ENGLAND

Aru there petroleum anywhere in I'lngland. of a similar characi"r to those in various parts of the l/iiitvd Slates ol'America, at Jlaku in ltussi.i. and elsewhere'; This is the question that is just now agitating the minds of some among the I'ar-sccing of our naval experts, for petroleum is undoubtedly the fuel of the future as far as warships lire i-un-ra-ucd. At present, as Sir JJovertoii Redwood .pointed out in his speech at Newcastle the other day, the only oil-producing countries under the British Hag are Panada, Burma, and Assam. And the quantity they conlribute to the world's supply is very small when compared with'the total output, which amounted last year hi not less than 8,988 milli.m [gallons; sullicieut, that is to say, to fill :i,IJli,!)}S ten-ton railway lank waggons, ami make a train 1:1,74!) miles long. The underground reservoirs, whence these huge quantities are obtained, have only been lapped quite recently, and mostly-accidentally. It is quite conceivable that similar subterranean oi' lakes may exist beneath the .surface so;; of Britain.

Indeed, there have not liven wanting indications that such is the case. Near Shopton Mallet, for instance, the boreis of an artesian well struck crude petroleum so long ago as the year 1884. .Much scepticism was expressed at the time as lo the genuineness of (he lind. but subsequent investigations by experts confirmed the discovery. Moreover, since then several borings hare lieen attended liy like results; while only a year or hvo hack an extraordinary well at Husband's Bnsworth, in Leicestershire, eoimnenced supplying oil instead of water, to the uii'lioniul-'d disgust of those who had been in the habit of using it.