The Daily News FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15. THE MOTUROA OIL WELLS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 214, 15 October 1909, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15. THE MOTUROA OIL WELLS.

Shareholders in the Taranaki Petroleum v-'ompaiiy will no doubt have road wiih considerable interest .Mr. Kerry's rcpur, on the results of h,s recent' cliaueu-e test at the No. 2 bore, and while ihi- | great majority of them will regret, with us, that better luck did not attend Mr. Berry's enterprise, they should cordially approve of the. action of the directors in again placing the bore under -Mr. .Simpson's management. l n t1,,,. dispute between Mr. Berry and Mr. Simpson, -we have consistently advocated that the opinions of the expert were infinitely more to be relied on than those ol Mr. Berry who, whatever

experience he may have gained through his long and plucky association with oil prospecting enterprise locally, can scarcely claim to b c considered an experl in oil boring. And although we hoped, for the sake of luc indusliv, that .Mr. licrry would succeed iu his self-imposed task of doubling the output of th(. bore, we must confess «v were sceptical regarding tin- result. Hut, as we stated on Wednesday, the fact that Mr. Berry uiil.v succeeded iu pro duciuj; 2.3 per cent, of the quantity •guaranteed" by him; does not prove that the capacity of .No. 1 is no!

greater. As a matter oi lael that can noi be questioned. The bore immediately prior to Mr. Berry's assumption of eon Unrreli of steamed oil for twenty-foul days—the actual figures being 2-is barrels for 21 actual working dais. This was the result of Mr. .Simpsons test, made during a period ivncn he was not subjected to any interference by the directors. Mr. Berry then s sinned the management and procceued to put his theories into practice, ami to correct tiie alleged defects in Mr. Simpson's methods—defect* that presui'uably were hindering the oil seams from discharging their maximum lluw into the well. Mr. Berry was nllowcu over a month iu which to get everything

in readiness lor increasing the How ol oil. No one needs now to bu told, however, Unit instead of the How being doubled, it decreased by over one-half under -Mr. Kerry's methods. These are the facts, and oil is the thing that talks in this controversy. Each working with the same material, Mr. Simpson produced 248 barrels of oil in a month j Mr. Berry following immediately after him, but altering the position and increasing the amount of perforated casing, only succeeded, on a very liberal estimate, in getting i±2 barrels. As we stated before, however, this proves nothing so far as fji: capacity of the well is concerned; but surely it proves as clearly as could possibly be demonstrated, that Mr. Simpson's methods were ouc huudrji per cent, superior to Mr. Merry's. In clearing up this' doubt, Mr. Berry has undoubtedly done the company and the shareholders a valuable sen-be. and nj one will deny him the satisfaction "of flattering himself that he has put some little life into the concern." Unfortunately, however, Mr. Berry despite his failure to approach the results obtained by Mr. Simpson, is not yet convinced that he is not more competent than the latter. The unmanly threat with which he attempted to in

timidate the directorate against aga n placing Mr. Simpson ill charge of the bore is -only worthy of the source from which it emanated." to use a favorite expression of its author, and the slianlioldcrs should now have no difficult,in drawing their own conclusions is to whether the best interests of the company or the satisfying of a personal

animuiis were Ihe underlying motives '„ this duel. Wo are glad in perceive il,at Jlr. Horry has' pome to the conclusion t-li.it Hie well should lip bored In a greater depth, although wo fail to sop iin what ground ho can justify his reques: I that it should ho done under his super i vision. Now it is a notorious fact that Jlr. Simpson consistently advocai.-l I that the bore shoiuh lip, carried to a greater depth, and was as consistently opposed by Mr. Horry, who was chairman of directors. As a matl.T of fact this was one of the very questions that led to unpleasant relations between the manager and Jlr. Berry, and which ultimately compelled tJe directors to firmly define the pn.itinn 01 the manager, whereupon Jlr licrry resigned. And now Jlr. Kerry calmly infolds the shareholders, through the' directors "that there is a remedy, and that is to sink the bore down about 270 feet

deeper, and so get on to.the main oil stratum." Tn the light of the facts, shareholders should have no difficulty in giving honor to whom it is duo, and also we venture to think, in throwing some light ou a few of the darker phases of the company's recent history. We hold no brief for the present management, nor do we pand-r to any interest, but when continually confronted by the utterly unwarranted and damaging niis-sLalomenls Unit have -Ai freely been circulated i|iieslioning the bona-lidcs and competency of the manager, we feel it our duty, in the interests of the industry, to see that ordinary British fair-play is accorded him. It need only he pointed out that since Jlr. Berry lias hail control of Xo. 2

bore, .Mr. .Simpson confined his energies to No. 3, and lost no time— having al free hand—in sinking that well to a greater depth. That ho was 1 successful ill proving the correctness of his theory J that- better oil exists in the deeper'i

levels is now well-known, but whether or not his success was llie determiiiing factor in inducing it r . licrry to change liis miiiil nml recommend sinking deeper nt No. 2, we liave not the means of ascertaining. It is, however, a somewhat significant fact that the 270 feet of extra boring recommended by him would bring the well to the level of the oil scam in No. ,'J. At any rate, we arc •nun* than pleased that he Ims at last conl'iimed Jlr. Simpson's judgment, and we believe that the time is now close at. ha ml when shareholders may expect lo hj,. rownnl.'d for their faith in the industry. The lesson of the past can only result in good to the company, and there should lie little likelihood of such a condition oi affairs as hitherto exisied. to thi! di'triment of all concerned, being allowed again to obtain. We trust that an end has now been put to all "bickering," and that every personal interest will for the future* be submerged in order that all concerned may unite in bringing the work of development to a successful issue. After all, it is oil we arc after, and oil we have no doubt ' we shall get in payable quantities when the seekers for it have had a fair chance.