PETROLEUM NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 245, 22 February 1911, Page 5

PETROLEUM NEWS.

THE TARANAKI COMPANY. In addition to applications received last week from England and Germany for samples of oil for testing purposes, a letter was received from the French Consul in Auckland yesterday asking for full particulars concerning the oil and the operations of the company. THE GOVERNMENT BONUS. Yesterday's Wellington Times says:— After much preliminary work, many failures, and long-promißcd success, the pil industry seems really about to make a beginning in New Zealand. The Tara naki Oil Company, having applied for the bonus offered by the Government for the production of a certain quantity of crude oil. the Minister of Mines has sent one of his officers to New Plymouth to investigate the claim, and if it is substantiated the bonus will provide some reward for the patient and persevering shareholders. The possibilities of danger involved in the storage of large quantities of oil have already become real enough to command attention from the Minister, who will ask Parliament next session to authorise the drafting of regulations setting out the conditions under which crude oil may be kept in bulk. The Minister mentioned to a New Zealand Times representative that the Government has commissioned the wellknown oil expert, Mr. .1. D. Henry, who has been visiting the New Zealand oiliields, to make a report on the subject to the Government. It will not be available until Mr. Henry has had time to prepare it during the voyage to England.

The services of Mr. J. D. Henry, the oil expert, who is at present in the Masterton district, are evidently in great request. A man from Westralia followed him to Wellington and then to Masterton but so far has been unable to gain an interview. He states that he has an option over a large area of country on the boundary between Western Australia and South Australia, where indications of the existence oi petroleum have for a long time been known to exist. In that part the oil is apparently near the surface, the ground being caked at the top in the same way that it is in Canada. An interesting collection of by-pro-ducts made from crude petroleum obtained at New Plymouth by the Taranaki Petroleum Company has been forwarded to the Auckland Museum, and is now on view there (says the Herald). Included in the collection are samples of crude petroleum, purified kerosene, purified benzine, two kinds of lubricating oil, spindle oil, pitch, and paraffin wax. The samples clearly demonstrate the great possibilities of the Taranuki fields. Accompanying these specimens are particulars of the analyses made of the products by experts at Home.

Mr. J. D. Henry, the oil expert, whilst in Ma'sterton, appeared satisfied that the indications he had seen in the locality were sufficient to warrant a thorough geological survey of the district. Whether his principals would undertake this survey lie was not prepared to say, but he was rather of opinion that this work should be undertaken by the Government.