LIFE IN TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 273, 8 April 1911, Page 3

LIFE IN TARANAKI.

(Continued from page 4.) sticky, tarry-looking fluid we had seen in the tniiK-i. And when we thought of the large quantity of this crude oil already on hand, and of how the supply is ever flowing and growing, we found it hard to realise that this quiet, sleepylooking place, with one solid and stolid British working man in charge was the "locale" of

MIGHTY POTENTIALITIES of "Wealth beyond the dreams of Avarice." Why was not this the scene of bustling activity, of eager toil and of a great export trade? And the only answer we could find was that Taranaki's dreams are not dreams of Avarice, but of calm content, of "tailioa," and of masterly inactivity. We talked with Mr. Keith, who we had known of old, and found him affable, obliging and optimistic, but reticent. We talked afterwards with leading men in New Plymouth, and got confirmation of our theory that the people of Taranaki are too prosperous and contented to trouble themselves about the wealth that lies under their feet, over many square miles of country. We learned that Mr. Henry, a gentleman with a world-wide reputation as an oil expert, was ever more amazed than we at the languid interest displayed by local lotos-eaters in the vast reservoir of petroleum and gas that Nature has given them. He could hardly lind words adequate to convey, his conviction of the extent and richness of these natural endowments, yet, when lie spoke, his remarks fell upon the people as imperturbable and immovable as old Father Egmont himself! He wis a man with UNBOUNDED FAITH IX TARANAKI OIL. at whose word a million or even two : millions of English capital would be available to develop this vast industrvj but Taranaki did not "enthuse" in response to his enthusiasm—she did not rush into his arms, fall upon his neck and hail him as her friend and protector. Instead, we had letters in the papers, calling upon the people of Taranaki to hold on to the oil deposits—to 'keep their ain fish-guts for their ain seamews"—to resist the threatened invasion of foreign capital, with all its imaginary attendant evils. Vain dreamers of LotosLand! How long, think you, will it be ere you can raise the million sterling necessary to develop the oil-field and erect refineries! Your small farmers, shopkeepers arid workers have done nobly In taking shares in the Petroleum Company. They have thrown in the twenty, fifty or a. hundred pounds each, and turned again to their dreaming; but the net result is a scene of stagnation, almost «f desolation, on the oil-field. WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

And the rich men and women—what are they doing? Dreaming, too, but now and again waking up to count their hoarded gold. We were told of one. worth at least £1.00,000. whose big-hearted patriotism and enthusiasm in the cause of local advancement led him to invest £25 in oil shares. And there are a dozen more like him. These, if they combined, might develop Taranaki's petroleum fields,\v means of the best talent and appliances obtainable: but they have lived too long in the languorous air of Lotos-Land; they are filled with good things, and are content to go on dreaming of the great fut/ure that will come in spite of their inaction, and will further enrich them without the slightest effort on their part. So, in this lazy autumn weather, we look on a picture" of still life—stillest of all at Moturoa, where we expected to find bustle and hustle, and found instead A PEACE THAT PASSED OUR UNDERSTANDING.

But there is a calm of confidence, as well as one of lassitude or indifference. It was such a calm we noted at Moturoa; for the turning of those little taps by that solitary British workman demonstrated the existence of resources that will ere long make the scene a busier one than the liveliest imagination can picture. With an inflow of capital there will come a greatly increased outflow of oil. Many bores, several refineries, an army of workers handling the rich product, a ceaseless succession of ships coming and going—such is the vision that visitors may see—such is the message they may hear in the roaring of the furnace as 'the fuel of the future" is fed to it! And the man who has the power to bring about this transformation is now on the ocean, with firm options over this vast oil-field in his pocket, making his way to the metropolis of the world to summon the magician Gold to do the work! And meanwhile, amid ruraf stillness, the farmers tend their herds and flocks, with no more speculation in their eye than had the ghost of Hamlet's father; pound petroleum shares are lazily changing hands at thirtecn-and-six, when they should be in demand at par; .old Father Egmont looks on, impassive as a heathen god; the soft breeze drowsily stirs the pines; the soothing buzz of insects lulls the senses; and at Moturoa the precious oil is ever flowing, flowing, (lowing! And still Taranaki dozes and dream* contentedly.