EMPIRE OIL SUPPLIES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 74, 18 September 1911, Page 3

EMPIRE OIL SUPPLIES

1J PROTECTIVE MEASURES ADOPTED' 1 (London Financial Times.) I Since the adoption of petroleum as a liquid fuel by the Admiralty, and in view of further developments in this connection, all the various sources of supply within the Empire have been re-examined and reported upon. As a matter of fact, having regard to the naval importance of the article, the. Government has decided that all companies exploiting oil in the Crown Colonies shall be really British in character.

One of the latest investigations con-1 cerns the presence of petroleum in the eastern districts of New Zealand, the Government of the Dominion having recently instructed its leading geologist to survey the areas in question, mainly with the object of ascertaining the extent of the supply. Mr. Morgan found that oil existed over a large part of the country, but lie was only able to examine a very small portion of it in detail. He considers that the districts east of Haswell and from Aohanga to Weber are most promising and well worthy of careful surface prospecting, and recommends that borings should be made, botli at the springs and at the . outcrops of petroliferous rock . Very favorable reports also continue to reach the Admiralty with reference to the results of workings in Trinidad. One of the companies engaged in the operations lias given evidence of its belief in the stability of the oil industry of the colony by the erection of two large iron tanks, with a storage capacity of over two and a half million gallons. Eacii of these is connected with settling reservoirs, into which the oil flows from the wells. Tn one case the oil has been

running for some months into a reservoir by natural gas pressure and without pumping. At the recent West Jndia dinner, Mr. Asquith referred to tile expansion of the resource's of Trinidad in every direction, and particularly to the development of its oilfields, and said that, for obvious reasons, it was being watched with the closest attention by the Government. The prospects of Trinidad in this connection have now been definitely established by results in several localities, and there is good reason for thinking that the oil-bearing strata of the colony passes into Venezuela, through a part of British Guiana, where oil in considerable quantities has been discovered. But the development of the industry in British Guiana has been somewhat retarded by the absence of n special law, under which prospecting leases could be issued. This drawhack will, it is said, soon be removed.