PETROLEUM NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 301, 15 May 1911, Page 5

PETROLEUM NEWS

OPTIMISTIC VIEWS. Mr. F. P. Corkill, chairman of the Taranaki Oil and Freehold Company, while in Christchurch attending the Grand Lodge of Freemasons, gave the Lyttelton Times some interesting information regarding the progress of ! i.j oil industry in Taranaki. Among other things, he said he wis not himself a shareholder in the Taranaki Petroleum Company (which had recently earned the first instalment of the Government subsidy), but, in common witk the rest of Taranaki, he had a great admiration for the plucky manner in wulcfc the shareholders had stuck to their guns. A number of other companies had been floated to exploit the fields, and had metf with varying success, but most of them had died. His company, the Taranaki Oil and Freehold Companv, instead of acquiring options to go on to other land, had purchased ten acres of its own and had sunk a well 12in in diameter to a depth of 1400 ft. They had encountered hard country, but had got good shows of oil approximating four barrels every twenty-four hours, but their Rmall capital had been exhausted, and they had shut down for twelve months. They were like the other companies, negotiating with people in England to acquire their existing interests and develop the fields with the latest expert assistance and with an outlay of much more capita). The prospects of the industry were very rosy, and, though there had been many disappointments during the past twenty years, there was no doubt that the district around New Plymouth was on the eve of a boom through what was being done in the oil fields. A prominent London oil man who visited the country some few months ago said that he believed there was a vast oil field lying under New Plymouth and its surroundings, and oil investors in London made no secret of the fact Uiat they were waiting for his report. The Taranaki wells possessed an enormous advantage in that the lie of the country would enable the oil to be conveyed from the wells to the refinery, and thence to the ship's side, by pipe lines, and, as in a short time the harbor would be available for vessels of deep draught, the advantage to be gained by ships using oil fuel was obvious. The crude oil had been experimented with on the railways, and had been proved smokeless and free from smejl, so •that there, too, a bright prospect was opened up. The people of Christchurch, he thought, would be only too glad to have smokeless fuel used in the Lyttelton tunnel.

There was an abundance of oil to keep a refinery going now. and it was looked upon as an urgent necessity, but the company had considered it advisable to wait until negotiations which were now going on in England were completed so that the werk could be undertaken bv those who proposed to invest in the oil field. The talent and judgment that would be brought to bear would be superior, and the introduction of English capital would be the making of Taranaki.

Buy preference snares at once. They are a perfectly safe and very promising investment, and one that may be recommended with confidence. Send to Walter Bewlcy, New Plymouth.—Advt.