TARANAKI PETROLEUM.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 29 January 1912, Page 5

TARANAKI PETROLEUM.

ENGLISH EXPERTS ON FACTS av D PROSPECTS.

During the past few years aiosfc ueonle have heard a good deal about we3 fe^m an T d h Possibill>ies of Tarauaki r Si O . leum There arrived i v Wellington on Ihursday night two well-kacwn E%Hsh oil experts, who are qualified to espre« ;;*tative opixnon on the'-mSttS ?• £? lr testimony should give farS nak*Warty satisfaction. ■ iLy iipS sent the British Empire OilJ?iel&, Ltd, an influential body which must i o t be confused with Standard Oilor :t s ramT

n^ VA' DV I He?J'* v ' the well-known coTomal oil authority, visited New Zealand fnf th T wi*h .the object, of iSjScS £ 5 ,r {aranaki. field and satisfying himself whether it was worthy of' exploitation. Returning to London, his it-port was very favorable. Since that he has produced his book on the "Oilfields of New Zealand," and is now engaged on a report for the Government, b •J, c 2* sbor*\ °, f London's connection witsi the petroleum industry of New Zealand is not without interest. It started as far back as ten years ago, when Mr George Adams, described as the doyen or the petroleum expert profession, came to Aew Zealand and made statements wmch were looked upon, both on this side and m London, as indicating that there was an extensive petroliferous territory m the Taranaki district. It is from this experience that, quite recently, Mr J D. Henry and Mr H. J. .brown, and their associates found good reason to take up seriously the ci <?s----tion of getting oil on a larger scale in, laranaki, while being prepared, if necessary, to take an interest in other fields in the Dominion.

'When Mr Henry came to London " ■said Mr Brown, "his report was suffieutly satisfactory to induce our group to taKe the matter up. Mr Henry confirmed everything that Mr George Adams had said —and, more. It is interesting, 1 think, to notice that, since then Dr J. M. Bell has reported on the property, m association with Mr Henry and has fully borne out Mr Henry's earlier rey.ort. It is on the reports of these two gentlemen that the present connection is being worked. I thought it was quite good enough to make my trip out here. I spent five weeks on the held, studying it from every quarter and I am thoroughly convinced that everything snid by .Mr Henry and Dr Bell was absolutely correct, and that laranaki possesses a very large oil-field at present undeveloped." And the quality of the oil? "The quality of the oil," said Mr Brown, "i S the finest in the world. There is nothing to touch it anywhere. The percentage of paraffin-wax is larger than; that in any other field on earth." "The statement," said Mr Brown, '•can be made on the authority of the most eminent refining company of Scotland that this field is. in the matter of the value of the products, the finest in tn© world. The percentage of paraffinwax is 17.7, which is 10 per cent, larger than the yield of any other oil. Paraffinwax, I may tell you, sells at the very high figure of from £30 to £40 per ton. I want to say that we have been immensely pleased by the indomitable pluck the faranaki people have shown in sticking to this thing from the start. Nothinghas shaken their faith. Mr Carter, the chairman of the local company, who has just returned from London, went there on our invitation to complete negotiations. Negotiations were duly completed. Under the arrangement, the London group has to bring out a company with a nominal capital of £400,000, of'which £275,000 is for working capital, and the general expenses of the company. Fifty thousands shares are held in l-eservp for future issue. The directors include the Earl of Ranfurly, Mr Joseph Brailsford' (chairman of the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron, and Coal Company, Ltd.), Sir John Harrinarfcon- (chairman of the Oil Trust, Ltd.), Mr A. L. Homer (direction of tKe» South African Territories, Ltd.), and Major D. H. Alexander."

In the course of further conversation it was gathered that the Taranaki shareholders of the present company, under the agreement entered into by Mr Carter with the London group,* have- theright to participate in the underwriting of shares in the new company. The Taranaki men have shown their confidence in' the undertaking by fully availing themselves of this opportunity.—The Dominion, Jan. 26.