BULK PETROL SUPPLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19234, 25 January 1926, Page 7

BULK PETROL SUPPLY.

WELLINGTON INSTALLATION. OFFICIAL OPENING TO-DAY. ARRIVAL OF FIRST TANKER. The Shell Company's tanker, the Mures, which has just arrived in Wellington, has the distinction of bringing to New Zealand the first shipment of refined petroleum spirit in bulk. The Murex is berthed at Miramar, and her bulk cargo, comprising some thousands of tons of motor spirit will be pumped from the Miramar Wharf to the huge storage tanks erected by the British Imperial Oil Company's installation in Park Road", Miramar. All is now in readiness for the commencement of operations at the Shell Company's works, and the installation is to be officially opened to-day by the Prime Minister., Mr. Coat.es. Wellington will thus be the first city in New Zealand to possess facilities for the bulk storage and distribution of petroleum spirits and kerosene. All other centres will almost immediately benefit under the Shell Company's comprehensive scheme of bulk distribution, for facilities are being provided immediately at all the main seaport towns throughout the Dominion. The expansion of the scheme will, in the ijear future, it is hoped, embrace all inland towns, but centres which cannot be served immediately by bulk will be supplied in tins and cases manufactured by New Zealand labour, at the company's works at Miramar. Miramar will be the main supply centre and will serve the subsidiary installations-, that will ultimately operate throughout the Dominion. The Miramar works of the company cover 28 acres of land, and the buildings and equipment comprise the most modern facilities for the handling of oil in bulk. From the Miramar installation, motor spirits will be redistributed in bulk by means of bulk tank motor lorries or rail tank cars. Tlio inauguration of the new system will no doubt be a boon to motorists, as the new policy of supplying motor spirit in bulk naturally affocds an immediate saving as compared with the old method of packing motor spirit in expensive tins and cases. In addition, the bulk system of distribution eliminates loss by leakage, both in transport and storage. This loss is a very real one as most motorists and garage proprietors know, for no matter how good the tin plate and casowood may be, it is impossible to safeguard entirely against the liability leakage. The Shell Company, which has pioneered the bulk system in Australia and also in New Zealand, has, by its enterprise, involved itself in an enormous outlay of capital, but the company apparently foresees the wisdom of making available tho most modern and efficient measures to provide adequately for tho ever-increasing motoring demands. MANUFACTURE OF CEMENT. NEW ENGLISH COMPANY. A recent bulletin from the Department of Overseas Trade states, with regard to the increasingly important developments in connection with the manufacture of Portland cement taking place at Hoiborough, Kent, that a company has beeu formed with a capital of £500,000 to acquire the property aat Holbofough, which consists of 258 acres cement works in I reduction, and with wharves and sidings served by ocean, river, rail and road transport. Raw materials of an excellent quality for the production cf high grade rapid hardening cement, it is stated, urderlio the whole estate, consisting of a bed of gault clay about 22Gft. in thickness, over-laid by chalk up to 600 ft. thick, the base of the chalk being an almost natural cement known as chalkmarl, 70ft. thick. The latter is found only on the River Medway at Burnham and Holborough, and is non-existent, it is understood, at all other Medway and Thames works. GRAMOPHONE TRADE. AMALGAMATION EFFECTED. The completion in London of what is claimed to be the largest gramophone combine in the history of the trade was announced recently. Negotiations have been concluded whereby some of the largest gramophone interests in eleven European and American countries have been united under the direct controlling interest of thp Columbia Gramophone Company in London. The countries concerned are France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Argentina, Brazil and the United States of America; The main foreign companies, which have thus become centralised under British interest, jaro the Columbia Phonoghaph Company of New York, the Carl Liildstrum A. G. of Berlin and the Transoceanic Trading Com pany of Amsterdam. *