THE OIL INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3097, 23 July 1913, Page 36

THE OIL INDUSTRY.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) AUCKLAND. July 14. An Auckland syndicate obtained permission from the Whangarei High School Hoard of Guardians to bore for oil on the school x’cserve. The syndicate commenced operations, with a primitive plant, and obtained a liquid strongly impregnated with oil and a heavy gas pressure which, when ignited, burnt freely and was extinguished with difficulty. This gas, it :s thought, probably indicates the presence of coal in the vicinity. The syndicate, realising that it was • impossible to thoroughly develop the discovery without proper boring apparatus, sent Mr Isaac Coates to England with the view of securing sufficient capital to provide an up-to-date plant for proving the property. Mr Coates has now sent a cablegram stating that he had formed -a syndicate. which is finding £IO.OOO capital. In the event of the boring operations confirming the promising results already < hlained by the local syndicate, the English syndicate will undertake to form a coinpanv with a working capital of not loss than £50.000. Mr 11. R. Cooke, who represents ( he syndicate in New Zealand, interviewed the Minister of Mines (the Hon. W. Fraser) in Wellington last Thursday in order to obtain the: necessary Order-in-Conncil. The Minister has signified his and has promised to expedite the issue of the Order-in-Conncil.