OIL SUPPLIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1916, Page 8

OIL SUPPLIES.

i PAPUAN PROSPECTS. In view of the fact that the greater part'of the oil used as fuel by the British destroyers, submarines and light [cruisers.is obtained irom the Dutch East Indies, considerable importance is attached to the neutrality of Holland. It is pointed out that, should Holland become involved, supplies for the British Navy would be restricted to Mexico, Persia, Southern Russia and Roumania. The extremely disturbed state of Mexico renders a supply from this source most uncertain, while the campaign in Persia closes supplies altogether from that country. Similarly, oil secured from Roumania and Southern Russia cannot be obtained, as the whole of the supplies must go through the Black Sea, which is closed. These circumstances (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the Sydney Daily Telegraph on January 17) have impelled the Minister for External Affairs to consider the question of altering the policy concerning the prospecting for oil in Papua. It is rumored that a good deal of pressure is being brought to bear upon the Minister with a view to securing his permission for private prospectors to exploit the Papuan fields. Those who seek authority to prospect in Papua point out that, however energetic Government prospecting may be, oil is spread over such large areas that it would be impossible, within reasonable time, for the country to be prospected by the Government agency. Evidences of oil are scattered over a large area, and the cost of testing thoroughly, therefore, would be very great. Oil is a. very elusive mineral. It is stated that there are many other minor advantages which .would follow in the wake of giving an opening to individual prospectors. The promoters of the idea are apparently willing to undertake prospecting on any reasonable terms which the Government may lay down, and it is quite probable that after consultation with Dr. Wade, the Government oil export, who is now in Melbourne, some development in the direction of active prospecting for oil in Papua may be instituted by the Minister.