HOPES FOR OIL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4956, 16 February 1937, Page 2

HOPES FOR OIL

PROSPECTS IN TARANAKI. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VIEW. “The only practicable industry that would result in trade expansion in New Zealand is oil,” said Mr. D. F. C. Saxton, president of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce, at Thursday night’s meeting. He added that companies still seemed to be interested in New Zealand as a field for exploration. “It is a remarkable thing that the well at New Plymouth is still flowing as regularly as ever,” he said. He did regard it as more than a possibility that a great future lay for Taranaki in oil. * One theory was that Paritutu and Mikotahi formed clogs and that the oil must be on the other side of them. It was thought that the oil was seeping through and coming out in small quantities on this side.

Mr. Saxton said he had heard it authoritatively that there were sufficient known supplies of oil in New Zealand to keep the whole of the Dominion going with petrol and other oil products. That, however, did not interest the big companies. “I am satisfied that oil is there in bigger quantities than is being obtained at the present time,’’ he said. The view was expressed by another member that Governmental assistance should be forthcoming to foster the industry.