OIL FOR THE FLEET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15730, 3 October 1914, Page 8

OIL FOR THE FLEET.

CONTINENTAL SOURCES. RELATIONSHIP TO THE WAR. BRITAIN'S ADVANTAGE OYER GERMANY. The relationship of Continental oil sources to the war forms a section of Mr. J. D. Henry's interesting book on the "History and Romance of the Petroleum Industry," which was published by Bradbury, Agnew and Co., Ltd., England, a few days after Great Britain declared war upon Germany. The first experiments of burning oil to create power were made 50 years ago, says Mr. Henry. That was some five years after the birth of the oil industry. Twenty-five years later oil fuel became one of the greatest of Charles Mam*.» patriotic and political ideas. He made the subject'of Great Britain's active participation in the Baku oil business part of his still remembered Central Asian policy, and it was in this connection that he pleaded with the politicians of his day not to ignore the aggressive attempts « enterprising Germans to get hold of the lucrative oil business of Baku and .the 'Jav pian Sea. "Fortunately," continues air. Henry,. " the Germans never have bc-*n, and certainly are not to-day, our masters in any branch of oil commerce and industry and we can see this greatest of all wars through feeling absolutely certain that so far as the naval engineering methods of application are concerned and on all vital questions affecting the supply and distribution of oil we are the lucky possessors of a fairly safe, if not, a considerable margin of superiority." Why the Sleet Should do Well. There are several reasons why the British fleet should do well with oil fuel, Mr. Henry says. Simply stated they are as follows.-—(1) We are generally believed to possess the best systems of oil-burning, | composite in character, and absolutely the secret of the fuel oil department of the Admiralty; (2) we have sent into this great war the largest and most powerful oil-fired battleships in the world, and the most numerous fleets of oil-fired light cruisers and destroyers and petrol-driven submarines, waterplanes and aerial craft; (3) our engineers have from the start kd th» world in the use of oil fuel; (4) we own the largest number of naval auxiliary tank steamers, and fully two-thirds of the oil-carrying vessels afloat carry the British flag; (5) possessing a secret and ample oil reserve standard, we start the war with large stocks of oil fuel and petrol at our naval bases, and . practically nnthreatened sea routes to and from the most important oil-exporting ports of allies and friendly neutrals; (6) our adversaries can only rely on one home source of any consequence, the Galician oil fields, /which will probably bo raided by the Russian Army. These Galician oil fields and refining centres constitute one of the most valuable mining and industrial possessions of Austria, and their acquisition by Russia is quite a possible result of the war.

Germany's Declining Oil Industry. Britain certainly has Germany at a great disadvantage in the matter of oil supplies. It is perfectly true that Germany has two small oil fields—one at Wietza, in flanover, and the other in Alsace, hear-Stras-burg. and not far from the French frontier —but they are of very little importance.. Germany's oil industry is declining, and it is Mr. Henry's opinion that there is scarcely any prospect of German operators increasing the gross production of the fields. They have been greatly discouraged by the fact that individual wells never yield large quantities of oil; there have been no genuine oil fountains in Germany, where operations have been limited to the bringing in of numerous small producers, which invariably, owing to the almost total absence of gas pressure, ~'i ail to yield by natural flow, an*- have to be pumped. ..'•'.'. Recent German. Activity. Recently there have been many signs of Germany's increased activity var oil spheres. The German Government recently completed arrangements for the despatch of geological experts to West and East African colonies, where it had been informed there was & reasonable, prospecting chance of German companies being able to open up and develop several important new oil sources.' The AustroHungarian Admiralty, following the example of the British Admiralty, purchased from the Mexican Eagle Oil Company, Ltd., 45,000 tons of crude'oil for use as fuel in the Austro- Hungarian Navy. "There is no doubt that Germany and Austria have large quantities of oil afloat, and some of these valuable cargoes are almost certain to be captured," declared Mr. Henry. . (

" Our own country, Irrance and Russia, and indeed every country with which we are allied in this war, are in an infinitely, better position than Germany in relation to the world's chief oil fuel and petrol exporting centres. And yet, strangely enough, only one of us—Russia— oil territory. If, as I have pointed out, it were not for the Galician field, Germany and Austria would be practically without a protected source of supply. Russia should experience no difficulty in maintaining unbroken transport connections with her vast oil fields in the Can-

casus. ' These should be ample to meet, her needs right up to the end of even a prolonged war, and if the Mediterranean route is kept open it will be possible for her to ship oil from the Black Sea porta of Batoum and Novorossisk to Marseilles, the western coast of France, and even to this country. Need for Command of the Sea.

"It is scarcely possible to conceive a situation in winch we will be prevented from drawing supplies from New York, Philadelphia, the Gulf of Mexico, and other oil ports of 'the United States and Mexico. The recent statement* of Mr. Churchill applies. He said: —" If wo have the command of the sea, which 13 vital to us in this as in other matters, we shall bring the oil to these islands at our convenience. . . If we cannot secure the access to this island of oil-ships, we can-; not secure the access to this island of the whole great volume of our "trade. . . „ In war our policy is to protect our trade by destroying the armed force of the enemy wherever found. If we cannot do that we cannot do anything. . . ." " With Holland's consent we should get oil in still larger quantities from the Dutch East Indies, where the fields have been largely developed by British and D.utch capital over a period of some 20 years. We and our allies surely control the Suez; Canal, but if for any reason, under war conditions, it is closed against tank steamers oil can be brought to this country by way of the Cape, a route by which oil-fired vessels can make non-stop runs in less than 50 days. British oil companies, the Shell and Royal Dutch group, several French concerns", and the K-oumania-Araerican, an offshoot of the Spaniard, all control properties in Roumania, and we should have equal rights with other belligerents, for and against us, of buying the oil of that country for war and other purposes.'-'

Warships Burning .Oil. Sir. Henry supplies a list of the vessels in the British Navy which are fitted to burn oil fuel. The number of vessels entirely dependent on oil fuel include five battleships of the Queen Elizabeth type; ono battle cruiser, the Tiger; 16 fight cruisers; 109 destroyers, the fastest vessels in the fleet; and 56 torpedo boats. The number equipped to burn oil and coal include 38 battleships, 17 battle-cruisers, and 21 light cruisers. There are 'also several smaller vessels partly fitted to horn , oil and coal-. ' . • : * ~?;-,