History of the Local Oil Boom

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7545, 28 January 1896, Page 3

History of the Local Oil Boom-

Mr and Mrs William Cooper, of Gisborne, are at present visiting the Taranaki district, and in an interview with a Taranaki Herald [ representative Mr Cooper gives Borne interesting information respecting the history of boring for oil in Poverty Bay. The Herald says : — Mr Cooper has been for the past twenty - two years very largely identified with the working operations which have been carried on in the Poverty Bay district, and Ims also > taken great interest in the work of the local i company. Thinking that at the present time some interest might be taken in the history of what has been done in Poverty Bay, Mr Cooper has been good enough to give us the following information. He says that in 1872 Sir Julius, Chen (Mr) Yogel, and others first tried to obtain the lease of • the principal oil block in Poverty Bay, then in the hands of the Natives, but did not i succeed. A brother of Mr Cooper then went • to the district, and succeeded in obtaining n . lease, and a local company was formed by i Mr Cooper, in conjunction with Mr Stubbs, , who is now an expert borer in^Australia. Thinking they had a good thing on, they tried to keep ie to themselves. In 1874 they ' engaged a Pennsylvania borer named i Parsons, who, however, had no local knowledge. A shaft Bft by 4ft was put \ down to a depth of 110 ft, when the timbers began to cave in, and the men refused to work any longer in tho shaft. Oil accumulated in the shaft to a depth of 13 feet, and Mr Cooper sent 10 gallons of it to the Philadelphia Exhibition, i where it gained a first award. Boring was ' commenced in another spot, but tubing was not used, and the want of experience and >roper appliances brought failure, and after £3,500 had beeu spent, boring was abandoned. In 1881 Mr Cooper sent a man to the Sydney Exhibition with samples ot the oil, and there it cama under the notice of Mr William Fleming, a Canadian expert, who is still iv Sydney. He and Mr W. Clark, a Melbourne broker, visited Poverty Bay, and inspected the first block, with the result that they obtained from Mr Cooper's brother, who held tho freehold, a thirty-six years' lease, and a Sydney company was formed called the South Pacific.' Boring was carried on under three different Pennsylvania borers until ISB9, all failing, /ad tho whole of tho capital (£50.000) was lost. It was in connection with thiß Company that an attempt was made to 'salt ' tho well with oil collected from the hills. Shortly after tho formation of this Company, Mr Fleming and Mr Clark disagreed, and the latter, in conjunction with Air Stubbs and Mr Cooper, look up a lease of 4000 acres south of the East Cape, and formed the Southern Cross Company in 18S2, which eventually became purely a Christchurch Company. More Pennsylvanian men were engaged, and operations were pushed on vigorously for four or five years without success. A Californian expert was then engaged, and proved himself a thoroughly capable man, but as the capital of tho Company was by this time exhausted, only one bore was put down to a depth of 1700 ft., and this proving dry, the company was wound up. Undeterred by these constant failures, Mr Cooper and Mr Stubbs in 1887 promoted tho Minerva Company, but owing to previous failnres were unable to raise sufficient capital. Mr Stubbs for eighteen months gavo the whole of hi 3 time free, claiming only hia travelling expenses, but after boring to a depth of 950 feet, they were compelled to cease operations, Mr Stubbs having lost everything he hud. The company is still in existence und holds a lease, and Mr Cooper states that both lie and Mr Stubbs have still the utmost coufidonce iv the ultimata success of the industry at Poverty Bay. Regarding his visit hero, Mr Cooper states that it is duo in the first place to his having met Mr Ramuel on board tho Rotomnhana, when Mr Samuel was returning from Sydney on the business of the Petroleum Company. Mr Cooper had himself beeu to Sydney with tho view of forming another Company to bore at Gisborne, but on hearing what was being dono here, and learning Mr Fair's qualifications he decided to await the developments, being satisfied that nothing but tho highest skill, Bnch as he is convinced, Air Fair possesses, is of use. Asked his opinion of the prospect here, Mr Cooper says ho is most favorably impressed, the local Company have the best appliances, as well as the skilled director, and a competent stall", and ho is of opinion Hint, similarly favored, the operation in Poverty Bay would have been successful with one-tenth of the capital. He considers tho well at Moturoa a good payable one, and has no doubt that when the pipes aro adjusted tho oil will ilow freely. Mr Cooper is a large property ownor in Poverty Kay, and naturally takes very j great interest in the development of the oil I industry. From first to last he says he must have sunk £10,000 iv various ventures, aud today ha is as sanguine as when he first entered into it tw.uUy-two years ago. He instances the experiences of a Mr McPherson iv California, who, after spending £50,000 without result, induced onn friend after another to join him, until £200,000 had been sunk, aud then payable oil was struck, and the money was soon recovered. The oil found iii Gisborne is of a different nature from what ia found hero, and ia found over a length of country extending 1-0 miles north trad south.