Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 1906. PETROLEUM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10691, 15 May 1906, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 1906. PETROLEUM.

The interest that is being taken in the discovery of oil at Taranaki, which presents such enormous possibilities for tho future of that province, naturally causes attention to be turned to the prospects of oil being found in payable quantities on this- side of tho island. Mr G. C. Fair ,in stating the other day that in his belief an oil belt extended right across the island from Taranaki to Gisborne, was only expressing what has been in the minds of those who have studied the geological conditions of the country, and confirming the sanguine expectations held by men experienced in petroleum in other lands who haye visited this district. We have found so far back as thirty-two years ago, in the first volume of the Herald, reference was made to the strong indications that existed of the presence of petroleum in this district, and prior to 1874 local enterprise manifested itself in the formation of a company known as the Poverty Bay Petroleum and Kerosene Company, to find and test the oil measures of the East Coast. That Company introduced to the district an expert with twelve years of experience of oil boring in Pennsylvania, a Mr Parsons, who , arrived in September of that year, after a seven months' passage from New York, and who, after his first examination of the field, pronounced emphatically as to the favorable prospects it presented, Mr Parsons added a saving clause to his report that it might take some little time before success was attained, and subsequent attempts that were made by other coiiipanies after the failure of the first one to strike oil proved the wisdom of the qualification. We need not here repeat the history of the oil boring operations in this district, with their periods of promise and disappointing hopes, nor would we enter into a discussion of the vexed question on which many local residents hold contrary views, whether oil was genuinely struck in 1887, when there was a burst-up and conflagration at the South Pacific works. What has taken place here has only been the experience on oil fields air the world over. The. point that we Would desire to bring out is that though local indications are fully as good as those on the West Coast there has as yet been no such thorough and satisfactory test as was made in Taranaki. The companies previously operating here, through inexperience, mis management, faint-heartedness, shortness of capital, or half a dozen other reasons, did not go to anything like the depth that Mr Fair, with splendid pluck and persistence,, attained to before striking the measures of oil that are endeavouring to burst through the sealed pipe at Moturoa , to-day. The South Pacific well wa a sunk to a depth of 1321 feet in 1887. when the untoward, incident occurred which caused a cessation of operations, and we believe the Southern Cross bore in the Waiapu district was carried to a depth greater than that by about 200 feet. The depth of the Moturoa bore is 2331 feet. Now if the geological indications here are as good as in Taranaki, and we have the word of a geologist whose opinion we value highly, that they are, then it appears to us highly desirable that the strata below us should be tested to, at any rate, an equal depth: It is the expert opinion that we should not have to go to 2000 feet. Of course., once the success of the Taranaki operations is assured beyond all doubt it will only be a matter of a short time before prospecting is undertaken here. Already the avaunt courier ,of syndicators from outside- ltas been on the field, and we have heard of other enquiries being made by people with capital from other districts. Some few years -ago options over a largo area of country were secured by Mr Brett, representing English capitalists, and possibly the developments at Taranaki may induce them bo , 0 forward with operations, as their leases a 1 ' 6 understood not to have run

aut. There is, however, we are confident other country than that secured by them that could be tried, and the mutter appears to be fraught with such immense possibilities that in the interests of the district it seems to us something should be done to preserve to the district as far as possible the benefits, if any, that may be derived. Whilst it may be a good thing to have outside experience and capital come in and discover the oil, and incidentally to mop up the profits, it would be immensely better, as has been the case in Taranaki, to have the discovery made by local enterprise and the enormous profits that would accrue conserved to the district. We are not going to advocate or support any "wild cat", mining proposals, but it has been suggested to us that a comparatively inexpensive test can be made. It is not necessary to go in for a company yet, but if twenty or thirty, or fifty gentlemen would join together and* guarantee, say, £1000, a test bore of two or three inches in diameter could be put down to 2000 feet, quite sufficient to test the strata and ascertain whether the oil is there. It is suggested that men of known integrity such as Mr Gilberd or Mr Leipst, of Hawke's Bay, or Mr Osborne, of Canterbury, should be employed under the supervision of a local committee, and with the modem appliances they have for well sinking it is believed a bore to 2000 feet would be put down in a comparatively short time. It is a businesslike suggestion that at once commends itself. Times are prosperous, and it should not be-difficult to raise the necessary funds. Let the thing be tested, and if there is anything in it the capital will readily be 'forthcoming for the carrying on of operations on a larger scale; the enterprise will belong to the district and the profits will be retained. How infinitely preferable that would be to having, say, the Standard Oil magnates come in and reap-the golden gain which Nature has provided for the residents of the soil. We believe that in the event of some such movement being initiated, the patriotism of property holders in the district could be successfully appealed to, and that they would grant no prospecting rights to outsider*! for six or twelve- mouths? until the bore of the local people had been sunk, and the ground thoroughly tested. We hope the suggestion may be taken up as a district enterprise. The more peo. pic that go in for it the better. Two hundred five pound shares in these days of high 'prices for Wool should be readily available, and although admittedly it is somewhat of a gambling speculation, the enterprise is one tdiat, if successful, will result in a return to the contributors and the whole district of immensely greater profits than the investment of a like amount, easily procurable in a few hours on any race day, would produce by means of the totalisator.