TO DEVELOP OILFIELDS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12584, 14 October 1911, Page 2

TO DEVELOP OILFIELDS.

PREPARED TO SPEND^ OVER A . - MILLION. , ; (Prom our Parliamentary Reporter.) ■••WELLINGTON, this day. Mr O. S l . Engel, representing the Shell Transport and Trading Company of Great Britain, the British rival of the Standard Oil Trust for the oil supremacy of the Avorld, is at present m Wellington m connection with the large interests held by his company m New Zealand oilfields. In an intervieAV with a representative of the Post, Mr Engel said his company Avas prepared to spend a large sum of money m developing New Zealand oilfields, providing the conditions Avere satisfactory. He mentioned an amount over a million sterling. The great difficulty his company had to face, however, was that the mining laws of Ncav Zealand had reference to reef mining, not to sinking for oil. If the Government thought the oil industry worth fostering, some alteration m tlie laws Avould be necessary 1 before companies would venture much capital m the business. Mr Engel intends to approach the ; Government oh the subject of increasing .to 10,000 acres the area that may be held. His company: is interested m the Kotuiku fields, which he proposes to visit, and has also largo concessions m the North Island. They believed m -the future ot the oil industry m NeAv Zealand, which, on the opening of the Panama Canal, would become of vast importance, "In connection with the oil industry," said Sir Joseph Ward, "there are distinct signs that the industry is being brought into a workable condition, that it is likely to. give employment to a large number of people, and that it Avill result m the production of a large quantity of oil, not only for the use of the Dominion, but for export purposes. Under the law at present," he added, "there was no proper protection for those who bored for oil, and the legislation that he was introducing Avould be devised tp protect claims from being "jumped" by people boring just outside the area of a bore "which had reached the payable point. Once the originators of a boring scheme had found oil it was necessary to prescribe a limit ; so : as to prevent them from having their claims "jumped." Unless that was (lone it would prevent the im-estment Qf large sums of money Avhich he had reason to believe was ready to be invested m tho Dominion.

Mr Jennings: Would that affect the man holding private land! Sir Joseph Ward ;' Tlie hoti. gentleman had better wait for the Bill, It is too difficult for me to explain ih am off-hand answer. He AvemV on to say that experience m oil-producing countries showed that the oil went on a downward ■„ grade, and if people spent a lot of money m boring perhaps '40(30, oOpU,,' or 4000 feet, arid' struck oil m payable quantities, another person might oore 100 feet below them, and on an adjoining section, and rob them of their supply. . That sort of thing had been experienced m nearly evtery country jl) wluch oil-boring had been carried out. If they w«i n t e( l the industry established on ft pyoper |jasis ifr was .necessary to ensure that thp money'invested m the industry should not be thrown away for the benefit of those who would take advantage of the exploration work on which the money had been spent. Mr Jennirgs : It's a pretty big ques-

tion. i. Sir Joseph Ward : Yes, it has to be done; otiierwi.se we will have no oil industry at all, and it is of the first consequence that .we should h'.Wa it developed, riot drily because; avc requirg the pil for local consumption, but beGaiiise of tjie fact t)' a t Aye need to protect oi'rspH'Ps ftgajnsft outside monopolies. In aeldition, be gpn|']iued. the development of the industry Avould mean that a great deal of labor would be required, besides which it avouM mean the utilisation of large areas of land which are ; useless for other purposes, j'rom any standpoint it was the business of Parliament to help thosg Avho wanted to make a success of the industry m a reasonable way.