The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1913. WHAT THE TRADE COMMISSIONERS SHOULD KNOW.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 250, 12 March 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1913. WHAT THE TRADE COMMISSIONERS SHOULD KNOW.

We do not know whether it is intend**! to place before the members of tike , Imperial Trade Conimjj-Kton, wlio arc : now in New I'lymouth. evidence in connection with the (til anil ot'Uer industries, in li'lmtt a I of the statcmej.Xs made to Iheni in Wellington by the/.Jovernment ideologist. We hope it is, fer it would •be unfair to Taranaki ami in the oil industry if tiie Comniissjot.,ri's were allowed to leave the Dominion v.villl the wrong impressions they may have formed Irom _M 11 * entirely <Tj.oneous statements made by Mr. .Morgan. These inipre-sions those interested in vi-.o oil operations locally s ;hould have ikj «ji(lictilf.y in removing if the opportunity is g:ven. For instance. .Mr. Morgan dou'fcLs whether we have in 'tijranaki a pavabfc "il lield. '1 liis (an be eli'eetivciv answered by showing the members what has been done at Moturoa with obsolete plants, indifferent material, and a minimum of capita), and by the half-million odd gallons of oil that is stored there. The company should also have no dillicnlty in showing that Mr. .Morgan is woefully astray in his figures regarding I he production of the wells, it can he shown, too, that the four wells put down any distance have all struck payable oil. and (hat their production, payable as it now is, will be materially increased as soon as the oil scams passed through .ire tapped. The erection of the l'dinery will have to be justified, for ilr. .Morgan lias expressed grave doubts as to

its llcoe-sity. Ol' course, holding till' 1 views lie docs, the Geologist cannot see i any purpose in keeping not only apace with lint ahead of requirements. There are at least half a million gallons of oil in store at Motnroa. It is good oil, by far the richest ever won from the mother earth, and when refined will have a commercial value of at least one shilling per gallon. Therefore, that hairmillion gallons can he converted into 2.>.()f10 sovereigns. The cost of refining | \ is not heavy, so that the pro!it on this | I little transaction will go a good way towards paying for the refinery, which is estimated to cost in the neighborhood of £30.(11)0. Hut there is another point —one. of course, that has never occurred to the Dominion Geologist. This is that a refinery will do more than anything else to induce and encourage the prospecting which "Sir. Morgan so much laments is not being undertaken with the money that is being utilised for the refinery plant. Prospecting companies know now that once they reach oil they will be able to at once turn it into coin of the realm. Several of those prospecting companies have recently been formed, and others are in process of formation for operating in this district, and we believe we. are safe in saying that if it had not been for the j fact that a refinery would be ready to I deal with any oil won they could not I have been launched. These points, no doiibt, will he brought under the notice of the Commissioners, and we trust that their attention will also he drawn to the reports of Dr. Bell, the late Government Geologist, yir. Kdward Clarke, another geologist (both of whom have made careful examinations of Xorth Taranaki's geological formations), that of Mr. J. D. Henry, the English oil expert, and others. As to the extent of the field, that can only be proved by boring, hut if the visitors are taken out to Hell Block they will see in the strong gas emanations at the bores being drilled evidence to justify the belief that the petroleum field is not con lined to Moturoa. The Commissioners may enquire if the Government Geologist, who talked to them in Wellington so dogmatically and pessimistically of our oil and other resources, has ever been in the district and made an inspection of its resources, ami we believe the answer will be an emphatic negative. We hope the Commissioners will be taken around the foot of the breakwater and on the southern side of Paritutu and shown the deposits of irotisand, which Mr. Morgan has stated exist only in scattered areas, and is difficult of lieing conveyed to a : smelting works, and we will be surprised if they are not convinced of the abundance of supplies, which, it should be mentioned, are being constantly renewed by the action of the sea, and which also exist inland .to a depth of a hundred feet or more.