Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1911. MR J. D. HENRY'S VISIT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10150, 28 January 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1911. MR J. D. HENRY'S VISIT.

The forthcoming visit to the Masterton. district of Mr J. D. Henry will be awaited with more than ordinary interest, for the reason that should the prospects of opening up an oilfield be sufficiently attractive, quite a considerable amount of foreign capital may be expended in boring, etc. Mr Henry, ivho lias only been a few days in the Dominion, appears to (be impressed with the geographical advantages possessed by this country in the l matter of oil-produc-tion. In an interview with a Taranaki paper, he stated that it costs about 15s per ton to get the oil to Batoum, the shipping port for the, European market. The Roumanian fields are 200 miles from Constantza, on the Black Sea, the Galician fields are too far inland to get the benefits of a marine transport of its production ; the great oil fields of Oklahoma are 500 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and in~the case of the better known territories of Pennsylvania, from which huge quantities of oil have been sent away every year for upwards of a quarter of a century to England, oil is piped to New York and Philadelphia. These facts show that if oil fields can be developed at tidewater in different parts of the British Empire they will have a. starting advantage over the oil fields of foreign countries. In an. island! like New Zealand there can

never be any transport difficulties. Continuing, Mr Henry stated tliat it had come to be recognised that large deposits of petroleum were not to Jbe looked for in the immediate vicinity of surface indications. What was required in this Dominion was field exploitation, as it was practised' by foreigners in all parts of the world. "Here," said Mr Henry, "you have been working on incomplete geological surveys, and in this connection I should like to tell you that the geologist does not live who can give you any opinion worth considering as to what will be discovered 2000 ft beneath the surface as the result of a survey of unexplored country. I have just received from London the report of the speech delivered by my friend, Mr Berghein, for whom MiKeith worked at one time, and who is the head of the leading company working in the oil fields of Nigeria. Accounting for the failure of the company to strike oil in large quantities in Nigeria, Mr Berghein makes this statement. What the geologist can do is this: When the lower strata are exposed by drilling or otherwise he may be able to say whether there is anything to preclude the possibility of oil being found beneath the exposed strata. He may even go further and say that, seeing that there are oil outcrops, and noting the nature of the exposed strata.and their alterations, there- is, or is not, a probability of oil in quantity being .found under .a good cap. This shows the great need which exists for the New Zealand companies either working hand in hand with the Government geologists or employing their own experts. This, of course, can only be done after the companies have been properly financed and the enterprises have become of something more than local' importance." Mr Henry assured our contemporary that the New Zealand fields had no better friend in London than Mr George Adams. A report toy Mr Adam's, made after he visited' New Zealand in 1907, had led him to take an interest in the fields, and he was hopeful that his investigations during the next six weeks would lead him to the same conclusions which had been arrived at by Mr Adams. Sir Boverton Redwood, the highest authority we have on petroleum subjects, has also, Mr Henry said, a very keen appreciation of the possibilities of a large industry being established 011 this island, and, naturally, the British Colonial Office and the Admiralty would consider it of immense service to the Navy if suitable fuel oil could be sent from the New Zealand fields to the new naval 'bases from which - the new fleets of Australasia will operate.