OIL IN TARANAKI

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 64, 12 September 1924, Page 8

OIL IN TARANAKI

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL IN IT

BIG DEVELOPMENT EXPECTED

Once again , efforts to'■■ thoroughly try out.:-the; oil deposits in Taranaki are about to be ■undertaken, .but, this.time with- more than ordinary . care • and the application: of the latest American- methods.of prospecting. -Machinery'sufficient for putting down and exhaustively-; testing wells to be sunk near Tnglewood is due to arrive here at the end of October next." The. company interested in this latest venture is the Taranaki Oil Fields, Ltd., a Melbourne concern, iii.'which the TJnion Steanj-Ship.Company 'holds, an" iriterest as underwriters..; It is estimated that by January or: February next it should be ascertained, beyond all' doubt -. whether oil exists in commercial quantities in the area selected by. .Dr.-Clapp, the eminent1 American authority on petroleum depos-1 its.'M/H© v was;- 'the 'adviser called in by Vthe. /United 'States Government. to". _settle : matters „connected with differences of expert opinion of the value of the Teapot Dome fields, lhese fields were recently made notorious by-certain disclosures that, had no-' thing to do .with their value in ■ themselves: :■;;Mr. Colin Fraser, formerly .-of the New. Zealand; Government 6e.ological Survey,: is in. Wellington, as one'- of a party of representatives of the company who interviewed the';"-Minister of Mines yesterday' on .the work proposed to be undertaken' at: the ..Tarata field,. near Inglewood. That;interview was Mr. Praser.'istone uf the 'directors of the company which' has the Broken Hill group behind it. In conversation with a, representative of ; "The Post,"1 Mr Fraser .said- the history of the Taranaki oilfields "and ,the: work' ithat had been done there in. the past was "quita well .known, in, Australia;. but .those' ■intimately connected with the taranaki Oil Fields. Ltd., were very much impressed by Dr. Clapp's, report that there was no difficulty at all .in raising the money required for the immediate purpose of testing the Tarata. area of 8000 acres. The nominal capital of the company is £500,000, but a subscription of but £150,000 ; wa 3 :called for," and of.this the underwriters - took up -. one-half- viz 375-pOO.: ,Th; e: .other £75,000 was offered to 4he .public, and was oversubscribed by 70 per cent, in twenty-four hours .Dr.. Clapp; he;; S ;iid;. : had:? been.; over thousands of acres'in Australia in which .0i1.,-was supposed -to exist;-. in fact, over most of the reputed shows, but. without any economy: result. ; It was very different in Taranaki. There he- obtained most promising, results.;. He. saw nothing in Australia;comparable to what he saw in Taranaki:'". '.:-.. '.:-.:: . .

The now company, on the recommend- ' ationof Dr. Clapp, had secured the services of Mr. Marquardt -as -field geologist.' Mr. Fraser said."-the", mission of the representatives of Hho company to "Wellington was to impress, upon the Government ,the .fact that ? at.'-last- the Taranaki .oilnelds.were- to ha,vo;a..;real ..test by the application of ample; money .and highly expertmen and equipment.-. Tlfo'Sovornment' had been most sympathetic, ? and - he thought was impressed by, what had been said. The Ministers and chief officers of the Department concerned had been most sympathetic and. helpful: With- Mr. Fraser were the manager of the company (Mr. Moline), Mr. . Broiie,'- Mr. A. Donald (Auckland), and Mr. Shackell. ; Mr. Fraser, when asked about) the development' of industries ;.in Tasmania ;« the result of cheap, power affor/ied by the Great Lake hydro-electric scheme., told a fascinating, story'of how new industries had come to Tasmania as ' a consequence, attracted ,by the cheap power made available by the scheme. He mentioned the Cadbury enterprise,- near Hobarfc, but spoke more particularly of the Electrolytic Zinc Works, a, great undertaking, of which he is a director. The zinc concentrates are from the Broken Hill mines, and are shipped at Port Pirie, South Australia, to Hobart. There they. are. dealt; with, and the zinc ..extracted, '■■ and in the form.; of ingots is shipped direct to Europe or elsewhere from the works wharf. This work was formerly done on the Continent. It has now become an . Australian industry. Some zinc concentrates still go to the Continent for treatment. The lead and silver from the Broken Hill mines are dealt with at the works at Port Pirie. The. power, required by the Electrolytic Zinc Company at, Hobart is equivalent to 36,000 horse-power, and but that it is much cheaper than coal would riot havp led to ;the establishment of this great undertaking'at Hobart, or, rather, Eis^ don, four miles from the city. '

A little ore from the mines of the .West Coast of Tasmania is dealt with at •the-'-P^/lon -Works, and of- these mines it may be said that the Rosbery-Reid-Hsrculeg" gi-cun ie «till !-o be vsgwdod as