THE EMPIRE'S OILFIELDS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 17, 14 July 1911, Page 3

THE EMPIRE'S OILFIELDS.

NEW ZEALAND. The past neglect of colonial oil, acI cording to Mr. J. D. Henry, the wellknown oil expert, is duo to the great* i foreign boom, but the controversy which is taking place concerning the future I of some foreign fields is evidence that I whon the case for colonial oil has been | made out by those who thoroughly un- | derstand. the of its ties, it will not fell to get a full share of public favor in the form of ft Sill)* stantial investment of capital. Mr. Henry considers it is more than probable, judging from the attitude of the company promoter and investor towards foreign petroleum: projects, that before the end of the present year there will be witnessed an intelligent appreciation of a great deal of what is meant when i it is said that there are Imperial and financial reasons why the undeniably immense resources of the Empire ought to I be developed in order that the navy shall not be dependent upon foreign fields for its fuel oil, and also that those who have the money to invest shall lie given an oportunity of putting it into industries worked under and protected by the British flag. In the early part of last year there was a wave of public i feeling in favor of the development of Imperial oil resources, and tlie production of sufficient liquid fuel and petrol to meet the needs of the navy and the new and profitable markets created by the motor industry, and the present foreign oil share market and finance position in London must in a way be satisfactory to those who have worked to bring about better times for colonial oil. Mr. Henry asserts that during his recent eight months' trip in the interests of colonial oil no part of the world visited by him has interested him so much as New Zealand. He looks forward to New Zealand oil commanding a fair share of public attention before the end of this Empire year, an'd, while it has taken Trinidad six years, with modern exploitation facilities and 'large finance, to reach the state of regular shipments of oil, he is prepared to say that, given half the amount invested in Trinidad petroleum undertakings, New Zealand will ship large quantities of oil in less than three years. He makes this prophecy after having studied the characterter and position of the >icw Zealand oil territories, and gained a certain amount of knowledge of vast tracts of virgin country geologically surveyed with most satisfactory results. The oil indications in some of our colonies, he points out, arc better than those which led to tlie discovery of some, of the greatest foreign oilfields, not even excluding Maikop and California, and it is a mystery why the -survey and development of many valuj able territories in our oversea domin- . ions should not be conducted with the I same enterprise and ability one is acj customed to sec thousands of foreigners employ in the oilfields of their own lands. The fact that our own people have gone into so many foreign undertakings show the measure of their great faith in a properly worked oil industry, and it ii surely the duty of the British people to pay some attention to the development of the oil resources of their own Empire regardless of outside opinion and the hostile criticism of foreign petroleum papers. If they do this there will be built up a petroleum industry which will, in the limit of eight years, be second only to that of America, mid ultimately the greatest of its kind in the world. —London Financier.