DISCOVERY OF "OIL"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19069, 15 January 1924, Page 8

DISCOVERY OF "OIL"

THE LAKE EVA CASE. THOMPSON BEFOEE THE COURT. PraM Association —By Telegraph—Copyright PERTH, January 14. The hearing of the charge against Thompson has commenced. He pleaded not guilty. The Crown case rested on the second of the three statements made by the accused since his arrest. He stated that last April Rothkehl told him that he had discovered oil, and asked the accused to go into partnership with him. He agreed, and gave Rothkehl £lO for a fifth interest in whatever was found. Five weeks later Rothkehl received another £lO. He stated that the oil was there, but he could not get it ,in quantity. Later the two of them went to Adelaide, where Rothkehl tried to get a prospecting area from the Mines Department. While in Adelaide Rothkehl said he had three barrels of oil, and explained that he was going to put it down the bore and “salt.’ the well. They went from Adelaide to Lake Eva, where a bore bole was put down about 50ft. A dugout was made, and a tank with a tap attached was put in the hole. They then made a hole a couple of feet from the bore, and a down pipe was put in at an angle, entering the bore about 10ft from the surface. Oil and benzine were then put into the tank in the dugout, which was timbered. There was a pipe running back from the tank This was fixed to the leg of a table in the tent, and led down through the dugout, and was connected to a tap on the tank, so that by turning the leg of the table the tap could be turned on and the oil allowed to flow through the bore. The case was adjourned till Friday next. It was reported from Perth in November last, following upon the alleged discovery of oil at Lake Eva that the Detective Department had found under the bunk of Robert Rothkehl, a German prospector from whom a syndicate had taken an option, a tank containing 80 gallons of oil, also six tins of other oils. From the tank pipes led to the bore where the samples of oil were obtained. Warrants were issued for the arrest of Rothkehl and his mate Thompson on charges of conspiracy to defraud. Both disappeared when the story of the oil find was first told. It was alleged that Rothkehl received a letter from a scientist in Germany who was alleged to have made the find before the war, and was unable to return to Australia. He sent the plans to Rothkehl. A company was being formed when the disclosures' led to police investigations. Thompson was arrested on December 27 on • a charge of conspiring with Rothkehl to defraud the public. •