BRITISH NEWS IN BRIEF

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25086, 18 January 1947, Page 9

BRITISH NEWS IN BRIEF

N.Z. Air Marshal’s Post-Oil Production —Steel Output

(Special Correspondent N.ZJ 3 .A.)

(Rec. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, January 16 Air Marshal Sir Roderick Carr, son of the late Mr Charles Carr, of Rotorua, who formerly commanded No. 4 Bomber Command and was Air Officer Commanding in India, has been appointed divisional controller of civil aerodromes for the London area and south-east England. This is the second of four appointments to the posts of divisional controllers which are being created on a geographical basis to cover the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Air Marshal Carr’s district will include the London airports, Northolt, .and Croydon. The British General Post Office will send one of the world’s most valuable stamp collections to America this spring for exhibition at the New York Centenary Philatelic Exhibition. This collection, which was begun in 1933. comprises specimens of all British stamp issues and is so valuable that it is not shown to the public and is only lent to exhibitions of first importance. It includes the original dies of the “penny blacks,” which are among the most valuable stamps in the world.

The most valuable single item of the collection is a proof sheet of penny blacks made in April, 1840. and signed by Rowland Hill nimself. Figures just released reveal that the production of steel in Britain during 1946 was more than 12,500,000 tons and only 291,000 tons less than the peak peace-time output achieved in 1937. The target set for the industry in 1946 was 12,750,000 tons, but the actual output reached is regarded as mdst satisfactory in view of fuel and transport difficulties. This year it is estimated the output will reach between 13,000,000 and 13,500,000 tons.

Although the whole of England was searched for oilfields during the war, only one paying field was found. It is beneath Dukeries in the Sherwood Forest district in Nottinghamshire, and. reports ( just released reveal that it is producing 150 tons of crude oil a day. Since it was opened during the war this field, which is believed to be 100 square miles in extent, has produced nearly 500,000 tons of good crude oiL