RICH IN OIL

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXV, Issue 12965, 14 September 1936, Page 2

RICH IN OIL

KING’S CANADIAN RANCH BUT HE DOES NOT WANT IT. LONDON, Aug. ,11. It is rumored in Court circles that King Edward is considering a plan to present his 6000-acre “E.P.” ranch near Calgary, Alberta, to the Fairbridge Farm School on Vancouver Island, where immigrant children are given agricultural training. For some years it has been sain that, tb.i ranch was not showing a profit, and it was rumored early this year that too King might give it to one of his brothers. The Fairbridge Farm School was begun early last year as an extension 4 the Fairbridge scheme, which Iras been in existence in "Western Australia for 20 years. A thousand acres of land were acquired in the valley of tlrt Cowichan River to accommodate 400 children chosen by the London Committee of the Child Immigration Society. The'ranch—known throughout Canada by its initials, which are cafved over the fireplace in the main room of the homestead—was the private property of the King when he was Prince of Wales. It is a small one as Canadian ranches go, lying 65 miles south-west of Calgary in tie foothills of the Rockies. Last month an immense crude-oil pool was found by drillers in the Turned Valley, extending under the King’s ranch. As owner of the ranch the King holds a 99-year-lease for all oi l and mineral rights found by virtue of an Order-in-Council passed by the Provincial Government in 1930. A few days ago a hurst of gas, released from a 3885 ft. drilling at Pekisbe oil-well, revealed the likely presence of a rich area only 400 yards fiom the ranch boundaries. The King is believed to hold the view that the ranch should remain purely a cattle ranch and no boring has been begun.