OIL IN ECUADOR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 23 October 1913, Page 4

OIL IN ECUADOR.

Commenting on the contract recently entered into by Lord Murray of Elibank, with the Crovernment of Ecuador for the development of the oil resources of the Eepublio, the London Times says: "There can be no doubt that Lord Murray has obtained a very favourable^contract, or will obtain it, if it is ratified by the Congress. It is by no means follows, as excitable patriots suppose, that it is unfavourable to Ecuador. To argue that because the Republic gets for the moment nothing but. a paltry £2OOO caution money that therefore it has "given away" its wealth is ridiculous. If the enterprise fails, it has given away nothing; if it succeeds, it will mean a steady inflow of revenue into the national and municipal coffers, oil becoming for Ecuador what ni- ! trato is for Chile. But this is not all. It may seem a small thing that the country will at last be properly surveyed and mapped, but the importance of this is very real. • But, apart from this, the subsidiary enterprises stipulated will, be no mean assets to the country, which has need of quays, canals, roads, railways, 'telegraphs, telephones, and power The contract stipulates, that the'. Govern-: ment shall' Have £he use of "these in. j times of war or civil disturbance; and, after 40 years, the iperidd covered I by the contract, they will become its i absolute property. The contract, then, would seem to be a good thing for Ecuador, and, in our opinion, the •Congress at Quito would be ill-advised' in rejecting it. , If aiay be added that, in view of the keen competition of American oil interests in Latin America, the obtaining of the contract would also be a notable victory of British enterprise. Ecuadorian patriotism may well be content that their undeveloped wealth is to be exploited for them by subjects of a Power which, cannot be suspected of those political arrieres pensees which thj&y so much dread.