NEW ZEALAND OIL

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 121, 23 May 1914, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND OIL

-" mi < MR. J. D. HENRY'S NEW BOOK. (PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 17th April. Favourable comments on the cables from New Zealand relating to the recent strikes of oil in the New Plymouth field have been published in the London papers. Speaking to your London representative to-day, Mr.^jy\D. Henry said; "The drilling results in the New Ply. mouth field during the past three months have increased the confidence ol oil men here in the future of the industry. It is now realised that New Plymouth is a reliable oilfield. It is per. fectly true that more finance will be required to organise thoroughly and develop the different brahches of the industry. This was expected when the company was started. In oil finance, apart from a few Russian speculations, there is very little doing in the London market at the present time, but it is hoped that negotiations which are in progress will produce the money which is needed to extend the New Zealand industry and make it a complete success." Mr. Henry added that the company's affairs were having the constant and anxious attention of Lord Ranfurly and the other members of the, board. "History and Romance of the Petroleum Industry" is tho title of a new work on oil which Mr. Henry is publishing. It will consist of three or four large volumes, tho first of which will appear in July and will cover ten years of British and American oil development, describing the opening of the famous oilfields at Oil Creek and other parts of America. Mr. Henry said to me: "If I had never gone to New Zealand I question whether I would ever have made a start on _ a work of this magnitude. _ It was during my first trip to the Dominion and back that I wrote the 'Oil Fields of New Zealand.* It was during the two following trips that I started to write this history of the •world's oil industry, which, by the way, I hope will not be without interest to the ,oil men of New Zealand. The book will be unique in one respect —it will bo tho only one in this industry to be illustrated by artists."

Yesterday afternoon the InspectorGeneral of the Oversea Forces. General Sir lan Hamilton, was introduced to A dozen members of the New Zealand First Contingent Regiment, which, un« der Colonel Robin, formed a portion of Lord Roberts's right flank column (commanded by General Hamilton) in the general advance from Bloemfontein to the Vaal River in 1900. Sir lan Hamilton yesterday had a pleasant talk with the New Zealand ex-Contingenters. It may bo mentioned that( this column took part in thirteen actions, fought on success!vo days. I Mr. Holman says that tho Premiers' Conference has been the most successful in its results. The outstanding achievement, from a Now South Wales point of view, lie added, was the settlement of tho Murray waters question. Expert information shows that about 1,500,000 acres can be successfully irrigated by means of the Murray waters scheme in Australia. A peculiar disease haa broken out amongst horses in some parts of tho Wagga district. The animals become blind.