DRILLING FOR OIL NEAR GISBORNE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22419, 4 June 1938, Page 16

DRILLING FOR OIL NEAR GISBORNE

♦ ■ WORK TO BEGIN WITHIN TWO MONTHS SATISFACTORY YEAR FOR MINING INDUSTRY HAMILTON, June 3. That the mining industry had had a satisfactory year was indicated by the Hon. P. C. Webb, Minister for Mines, speaking in Hamilton. The added output of gold registered was due to increased dredging returns. Several large dredges, involving a cost of £ 10,000,000, were under construction and should be operating within the next few .months. , The coal industry also showed an increased output, nearly all the mines working to full capacity. The slack problem in the' Waikato, by which *1,000,000 tons of coal was destroyed annually, had been solved, and. the future of the industry looked bright. . As a result of the last sessions legislation, prospecting for oil had gone on at a rapid pace in all areas applied for and granted. The New Zealand Petroleum Company (Taranaki) had already £70,000 worth of drilling machinery on the way to the Dominion, and drilling experts to operate it were expected within the next fortnight. The company’s first hole would be drilled just out of Gisborne. Roads and accommodation were being provided, and the contractors were working day and night in readiness for the plant. Actually, drilling should begin within the next two months. Several •geologists were also on the way to make a survey of the Taranaki areas.