WORLD’S OIL SUPPLY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3494, 22 February 1921, Page 36

WORLD’S OIL SUPPLY.

NEW YORK February 13. The New York Times Washington correspondent states that Mr Daniels (Secretary to the Navy), in a letter to the Senate Naval Committee, recommended that the President should be given far-reaching authority to lay an embargo on all oil exports whenever it was believed that conditions warrant such action. The correspondent adds : “Mr Daniels’s recommendations are of a particular retaliatory character, since the British mandate over Mesopotamia restricts the exploitation of oil and other resources to the nationals whose Governments are members of the League of Nations.” The letter indicates jnferentrail y that the Administrator favours retaliation against- the Allies, who apparently refuse to permit the United States to share in the commercial development of former enemy territory now hold under a mandate. It is also felt that this attitude has an indirect bearing on the action of the Allied Powers in giving Japan complete possession of Yap. Mr Daniels pointed out that, although the United States produces 50 per cent, of the world’s oil supply, yet America must import to meet home consumption.