OIL IN NEW ZEALAND.

Evening Star, Issue 22722, 9 August 1937, Page 8

OIL IN NEW ZEALAND.

Through the Minister of Mines (the Hon. P. C. Webb) the Government has more than once within the last year revealed its determination to prosecute with all available means, monetary and mechanical, the search for oil. The systematic and scientific search which the Government evidently has in mind is well worth while, particularly as preliminary tests have been by .no means discouraging. Oil is now the key to many industries, as well as to , modern methods of propulsion, and it may also be that an additional stimulus to the world-wide seeking for it is provided by defence needs or precautions. Mr Webb talks in high figures when ho suggests that the Dominion would be justified in spending £500,000 or £1,000,000 in mere searching, but he probably adopts this attitude in order to illustrate the lengths to which he and his colleagues are prepared to go in the matter. Whether or not even £500,000 can be spent with justification should depend entirely on early results. With the up-to-date drilling plant which it is proposed to use it -should be possible to obtain quick and reliable indications capable of defining the future policy to be adopted. As' far back as 1933 the Minister of Scientific and Industrial Research published a statement pointing out the potential waste of time aiid money entailed in the fatalistic principle of believing that the success of prospecting was so uncertain that no care and skill were required in the selection of the sites of bores, and there is reason to believe now that approved methods of location are being utilised. The Forbes report stated that the chances of finding flow oil in New Zealand were reasonably good. The evidence submitted justified an extensive geological and geophysical programme, the cost of which should be extremely small compared with the interest on the capital cost involved in the production of oil by other means. “ Wo have a Bill to come down.” says Mr Webb, “ which provides that if oil is discovered it will belong to the people of this country and to no company. If we can produce petrol it will' be refined in this country.” This can be accepted as a certain indication that the principle of nationalisation to which the Dominion has had to accustom itself will be extended to the oil industry. Doubtless, however, the interests of prospecting companies will be adequately protected. It was clear from an earlier statement of the Minister that outside capital would be available only on condition that legislative measures would bo taken to protect those who were willing to spend large sums of money on prospecting.

There is also, of course, the inevitable necessity for the national interests to be safeguarded, for oil discoveries in New Zealand would have far-reaching results, with defensive needs standing out as an important factor. No expense has been spared in other parts the world in the effort to discover flow oil or to devise means for making oil products readily accessible, while some countries have spent much money in their endeavours to procure supplies from coal. Some idea of the urge that is at the back of all those efforts is given by the fact that last year New Zealand, a comparatively small country, spent over £2,000,000 on imports of oil and its by-products. As the bulk of these supplies come from foreign countries, it is not difficult to imagine the extent and effect of the dislocation that would take place in the event of access to imports being cut off either in times of peace or war. Not only could over £2,000,000 be saved annually (and our imports are continually increasing), but also the Dominion might, in the course of time, be in a position to become an exporter, dikfly to Australia, which is still dependent on overseas supplies. The importance of the search for oil, therefore, has not been exaggerated by the Minister of. Mines in his newly-released statement.