PETROLEUM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8530, 9 April 1913, Page 6

PETROLEUM.

DOES IT EXIST !N THE CANTERBURY PLAINS.

ADDRESS BY MB A. JOYCE

Mr A. Joyce, who is fully convinced ' that beneath the surface of the Canters' bury Plains there aro almost unlimited j Quantities of oil, and who is endeavouring to_ form a company with the object b of boring in the most likely places, gave 1 a logical, forcible and instructive. address to a gathering of nearly 50 deeplyinterested, people, at the Masonic Hall 7 last .evening. Mr C. J. Harper prel sided and briefly introduced the speaker. Mr Joyce, who was received with applause, said that for several years ho i had been of the opinion that there were extensive deposits of petroleum beneath the surface of the Canterbury Plains, - and he had asked them to attend so 3 that ho might givo tho reasons for his , belief. If the reasons were satisfactory to them ho would ask them to support -■■ the formation of a company. He would , deal first with the competition between !.cil fuel andeoal. Then ho would deal 3 with tho various products of petroleum i 'arid- tho uses and demand for them. '■> ; He '■.-'■ wofuld !then consider the various theqrjes of the origin of • petroleum— ■' vegetable, animal and mineral, giving y special, attention to the last-named. "He : hoped =by the time be had finished- to convince them that his idea that there l was oil in the Canterbury Plains was a reasonable one, and if he could gain sufficient support to put down two or [ three wells he would' probably establish an industry which would compare favourably with the meat, wool or grain ' industry. J.udging by ■ the extent of • the field, the result would exceed in , value the whole of the industries he ' had named. In countries where the i conditions wero favourable, oil wa3 . superseding coal '. for industrial and transport purposes, but the purpose for ' which oil was universally upheld was l oceanic navigation. One hundred and 5 eighty gallons of oil were equivalent to one ton of coal, and only occupied one-, half the space ami could be carried in - parts of a vessel not required'for cargo. It was brought to the fire by gravita-' tion, and in consequence of the advan- ■ tages he had" named only required from ; one-half ' to one-fifth of the labour required for a vessel using coal. The labour displaced was labour unfit for 3 human beings. It approached to, and ■; often exceeded, the limit of human en- j durance, and it would be an advantage j to humanity, to dispense with it. The alterations necessary in order that a vessel might burn oil instead of coal t were not costly, and if only sufficient * oil fuel were available vessels using coal , would soon become as obsolete as the ~ old sailer of. 50 -yeara ago. An< impor- ~: iant discovery had, been: made .recently "■■■ .-?— th c; internal combustion "engine-r----vrhich increased the importance, and F; valuf* of oil fuel. Qrie ton of oil was , «qual to four^ or five tonsJof coal, and "! the erigihe ill which oil .was used was ,^hly Half tho, weight and only occupied lialf the space of that .used with coal. As an instance of the advantage of übing oil'as-fuel, Mr Joyce mentioned the Zeelandia, which has a 5000 tons, gross register. This vessel, with oil. fuel, took ! in a cargo at, London and wais able to. complete a • voyage to, Siam :and back without replenishing her fiiel supply. She carried 2700 tons more than she could have done with coal, and avoided the necessity for calling at four or five different ports for fuel supplies.-' Vessels using oil could not substitute coal, and were -entirely, dependent on oil, and until the world's supply of oil was increased the number of. these vessels cotild not bo increased. Coming next to th© different kinds or grades of oil,' Mr Joyce said that these could be classed as light, intermediate and heavy. Light oils included naphtha, benzine and petrol or motor spirit,; all of which were-a slight variation of the same article, and might be included under ; the name of petrol, which was used' to provide nower for motor-cars. ' motor 'buses and traction engines. It was also the only power used for aerial navigation. The deI miand for petrol was at:present in exloess of the snpply, as was shown by the great rise in price of about 25 per cent. The intermediate'or burning oil called kerosene was: used for lighting in, millions of homes, while lubricating or, heavy oil was used wherever machi- | ne>ry was 'found. Of. the 900 million tons of coal produced, 600 million tons were used for the production of steam, and if the supply of petrol could be increased .tenf;o^ there. would be a profitable ■ use for. every, gallon. Referring next" to the origin of petroleum, Mi- JoyWsaid that it, was in 1877 that Professor Mendeleef, a Russian chemist, propounded his theory that one of the sources of petroleum, prov bably the principal source,; would be found in the chemical action of water upon the'heated metallic carbides deep dpwn in the interior of the earth. There was no difficulty in proving that the interior of the earth was metallic, by the fact of) its specific gravity. The density _or specific gravity of the earth was a little over s£, which meant that the earth as a whole was five and a-half times heavier than it would be if wholly composed of water. Now, the specific gravity of water being 1, and that of surface material, earth and rocks, being less than 3 (granite was 2.75, marble 2.84), it followed that the interior of th© earth must be , metallic, becau^fe there were no known non-metallic su'l>stances which would givro the necessary weight. As meteorites contain about 90 per c&nt. of iron, they were justified in concluding that iron was one of the principal substances in the interior of th© earth. Gold, lead, silver 1 and copper being of higher specific gravitp than iron, their vapours or gases would condenso, sooner than iron. With- regard to' the qucstiqn of the iron being in the form of oarbide, they must remember that carbon vapour or . gas . was: the liea-viest of the: non-metallic gases, and, haying: :an affinity for :> tho .y.arious ; me~ .; bals,. :,eapcciall7/ iron;" would probably, be -\ round extensively, in combination with it/ especially in the exterior metallic layers. ;■■ Mendeleef's theoiy was that, as" th© surface of the enrth crumpled up in' consequence of contraction by jooling, the water, which previous to >he crumpling u.j> of the main, mountain *anges covered the surface of the earth, was admitted by fissures to the heated metallic carbides, and, as he proved possible by laboratory experiments,, was lecomposod into its elements, oxygen ' md hydrogen. Tho oxygen then com-' >ined with the iron, and the hydrogen , frith the ciirbou, forming petroleum ?as, which, by jvmssuro and condensation formed "petroleum. This thopry would "aeount for th« presence of oiliekls in lines parallel, with mountain •singes, and, if correct, would furnish rood reason for believing that petro.eusa would bo found, probaW'- in large mantitios, lx>neath the Canterbury Plains, parallel with tho Southern Alps. .Mr Joyce put through a. number of j

_ .. ; ...... ,- lantern slides showing the principal oilfields of the world, and as each was thrown on the screen he emphasised the fact that oil was always (or with perhaps one exception) found parallel with I mountain ranges. From all, the known facts about other oilfields he concluded that oil must exist' in large quantities in Canterbury. Drawing to a conclusion, be said' that he had expended^ over £100 in obtaining the position lie was in as the holder of concessions granted to the Ashburton Boring Rights Syndicate. He wanted nothing from the company which he hoped to form (unless oil was discovered), except _ the management of the boring operations. He proposed to form a company with a nominal capital .of £25,000—£20,000 to be subscribed and £5000 to be given him-in shares if ho succeeded in finding payable oil. He thought this should satisfy them as to his bona. fides. He held rights over a strip of country from the Rangit&ta to the Ashley and 30 to 40 miles wide. The concession was for 30 years. The company had to be formed by June 30 next and if within three years oil was discovered, or a well was put down 5000 feet, the concessions would still hold good. He proposed boring at Rakaia first, but if there was sufficient money he would lik« to bore. at Rakaia and Baling at the same time. '•/■■'. At tho conclusion, Mr Joyce was accord<Mi,a, very hearty, vote of thanks,! which was proposed and seconded in the most complimentary terms.