THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, November 18, 1937. OIL RESOURCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23352, 18 November 1937, Page 10

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, November 18, 1937. OIL RESOURCES

There is not likely to be any opposition in principle to the Bill, introduced into the House of Representatives in the name of the Minister of Mines, providing for the nationalisation of the petroleum industry in the Dominion. It has been known for some time that the Government intended to bring down such a Bill. Speaking at New Plymouth in August Mr Webb intimated that legislation was being prepared which would not only vest in the Crown the ownership of all natural oil resources, but also make generous provision for the encouragement of prospecting by private enterprise. Oil is certainly a natural product over which the State is justified in exercising a strict control. Its discovery in New Zealand in quantities sufficient to enable commercial exploitation on a large scale would mean a great deal more than wealth to the country. Ot deep significance would be the assurance of independence in respect of a group of products which have become absolutely essential to social as well as economic progress. In the event of war the possession of oil resources by this country, having regard to our geographical position, would be a factor of almost incalculable importance. Government control of the industry in such circumstances would be an imperative act of high policy, and it is just as important that production and marketing in peace-time conditions should be so regulated as to ensure, first of all, that domestic needs shall be satisfied, and, after that, the reasonable conservation of supplier, against whatever need may arise. The Bill, so far as can be judged from a perusal of its contents, takes these important (considerations fully into account. It also provides elaborate machinery for the regulation, under licence, of prospecting by private interests, absolute powei regarding the issue of such licences and the conditions under which they may be retained being vested in the Minister. It is to be presumed that these powers will be exercised with a proper discretion, and that a just view will also bo taken of questions of compensation that are bound to arise as a consequence of the right of entry to private property which it is proposed to grant to the holders of prospecting licences. Whether the Bill, in its present--form, is adequate in the latter respect will be one of the questions for the Goldfields and,Mines Committee of the House to take into consideration. That committee may be expected to examine the proposed legislation with scrupulous care, for it is un-

doubtedly a measure of national importance in the widest gense of the term. The encouragement of the search for oil is an interest in which the present Minister of Mines has rightly shown concern. He antici-1 pates thaf the enactment of the Bill will result in the quest being prosecuted with a new vigour, and he has previously intimated that the Government will not be unwilling to assist in any prospecting venture in which the promoters are prepared to call to their aid the most modern appliances that can be The possibilities, according to authoritative opinion, are hopeful enough to justify large-scale prospecting. Dr Marsden, Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, has spoken of the large number of seepages that are already known to investigators. Some of the areas under examination, he states, are really promising, particularly in the light of modern survey knowledge, but he also emphasises that “ organisation and technique of a vastly different nature from those employed in the past ” are absolutely essential if the efforts of the oil prospectors are to be rewarded. It is gratifying to know that the Minister takes a corresponding view.