The Daily News. TUESDAY, JUNE 28. TARANAKI PETROLEUM COMPANY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 67, 28 June 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JUNE 28. TARANAKI PETROLEUM COMPANY.

Matters in connection with the Tara'naki Petroleum Company have reached an important, and, in some respects, a cnncal, stage. It is- now almost live years

| ago since the company was formed to I I purchase the rights and property of the original prospecting company. The total share capital of the company was £120,000, the shareholders of the old company receiving £50,000 in paid-up shares, and the public taking up shares to the value of £32,000. It has cost the company about £OOOO a year to carry on the prospecting work and purchase the piping and other necessary supplies. The end of the company's resources is now in sight, and the question arises, What is the best thing to do in tile interests of the industry? The operations at Moturoa have conclusively demonstrated that mineral oil, of an unusually rich quality, exists in payable quantities. Over 125,000 gallons have already been obtained from the various 'bores, one of which (No. 2) has flowed continuously since sth January. The drillers have had stupendous difficulties to contend against, and it is really only now that they have anything to show for their work. And the results will he immeasurably greater when Nos. 1 and 3 ' are in proper working order, as they should be in the course of a few weeks. At a very modest estimate the wells will produce 140 barrels, or 24 tons, a week, a production "which would return over seven per cent, on the whole of the subscribed and unsubscribed capital of the company. The directors, as is well known, have for some time been considering overtures from English capitalists for the introduction of additional capital into the company, but without result, as, although the terms proposed by the directors were otherwise accepted, the representatives of the capitalists were not prepared to put down a regionable deposit. The capitalists were workin* »n the principle of "heads I win, tails you lose." They simply angled for options over the company's property for a certain period in order to float the .concern on the London market, and, if unsuccessful, wanted the right to throw the proposition back on the hands of the local company, thus debarring the latter from negotiating with others or finding further money themselves. The directors fully explain the position in a circular issued to shareholders and published in our yesterday's issue. They now propose to issue the whole of the 32,000 unallotted shares, offering them, firstly, to present shareholders, &nd, secondly, to bhe outside public; the shares to be preferential in the matter of dividends and assets, should the latter be realised. They propose to spend the money thus obtained on a refinery, which will cost £9OOO, and on further boring. The directors consider that even with the present output oil can be refined to earn a profit of £672 a month, and this encourages ttiem to hope present shareholders , will subscribe the necessary Money and thus keep the industry in local hands. The directors have taken a very prudent and businesslike course in regard to the negotiations with the Eng- * lish capitalists and also in taking shareholders into their confidence in the manner they have. It would, we know, be a splendid thing for the industry, the town, and the Dominion as a whole, if one of the large English, oil firms took up the property and exploited it, as it is crying loudly to be exploited, but it would be just as disastrous if the property got into the hands of company promoters and riggers whose chief concern was to exploit the investing .public and not the industry itself. Indeed, it would be a thousand times better for the company to struggle on as it has been doing in the hope of obtaining further financial assistance. This, we hope, will be forthcoming and in full measure. The terms proposed by the directors are very tempting, and, in the light of the great that has recently been achieved at the bores, should be eagerly embraced. There is another point to be borne in mind, and it is an important one. With the company in an independent financial position, the directors could later on secure, if they wanted to part with the property, a much better price than they could possibly hope to obtain should they be forced to wind up its affairs when the funds in hand are exhausted. With the money subscribed and devoted to the purposes suggested, the petroleum industry would soon be , placed on a sound commercial basis, become one of our chief industries, and be a source of incalculable wealth not only to New Plymouth but to the whole of New Zealand.