PROSPECTING FOR OIL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16476, 21 October 1927, Page 7

PROSPECTING FOR OIL

far-reaching MEASURE TO BE HELD OVEE MINISTERIAL EXPLANATION (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Tho Petroleum Bill, introduced by the Minister of Mines, was reported back to the House yesterday afternoon from the Lands Committee, and it was announced by the Prime Minister that the measure was so far-reaching in its effects on lauded interests that the Government had no intention of putting it on the Statute Book this session. Time would be given for its provisions to become thoroughly understood, and for full representation to be made to Parliament. The search for oil in New Zealand, said Mr. Coates, had been hampered by tho necessity of making many agreements for boring rights, and what the Bill proposed was to set up a system under which, if the capital was offering to prospect for oil, that process would be made as easy as possible, at the same time conserving all the reasonable rights of those who occupied the land, and who might be interested in the oil after its discovery. The Bill could be sent to the Native Affairs Committee, because native lands would be involved, and it was not intended to proceed further with it this session. It had been drafted at the present stage because the Government desired that the people affect- • ed should have a full opportunity of understanding all its provisions. Mr. T. W. Rhodes suggested that the Bill, as a mining measure, should also be sent to the, Mines Committee.

GREAT BESPONSIBILITY Mr. H. E. Holland, Leader of the Opposition, expressed his surprise at the introduction of a Bill which it was not intended to pass, because the Government wished it to be considered by all parties interested. This process might as well have been carried out with certain labor measures. What was the reason for this concern over petroleum? The Prime Minister: Because it is very far-reaching, and it is advisable that landowners should have an opportunity of expressing their opinion. Mr. W. H. Field pointed out that this was not the first occasion on which, a Bill had been introduced simply to enable its provisions to become generally known before the House legislated. It was a measure of an arbitrary character, affecting property rights for the purpose of private profit. While it was the Government's duty to encourage prospecting for oil it was equally necessary to safeguard property owners' rights.

■ Mr. T. M. Wilford declared that the measure was undoubtedly required, but its preparation meant a great deal of responsibility for the Government because it must have a far-reaching effect on vested interest in land. Wherever it was necessary to prospect for oil, gold, or precious stones, it was always a gamble which would only be undertaken by private money. He would bo glad to help the Government to hold out inducements to capital to test out New Zealand prospects for oil winning.

The Hon. G. J. Anderson, Minister of Mines, explained that the Bill had been drawn up on the experience of oil legislation in various countries, and he was satisfied that only by this means would it be possible thoroughly to test the country. They had to give inducements .to people with large capital, and an assured position to the landowner that all his rights would bo conserved, and this was what the Bill endeavored to do.

Mr. W. D. Lysnar: Question!

Tho Minister aMded that the Bill had, as its foundation mining legislation, and there it was a principle that while tho rights of the individual should be preserved this must be subject to tho rights of the State oil possibilities.

BEST ADVICE NEEDED "The oil formation in New Zealand runs into 45,000 square miles," continued Mr. Anderson. "Whether those oil formations have been so disrupted in the past as to have lost their oil we can only,tell by systematic prospecting, and that can only be done on the advice of the best geologists we can secure, and the only way in which capital can bo found for prospecting is privately. On several occasions tho late Prime Minister, Mr. Massej', was approached by the AngloPersian Oil Co., but on each occasion the matter was not gone on with. Until they can get an assured legal position without <thc trouble of going to the owners of all the land in an oil-bearing district nothing can be done, and this Bill endeavors to obtain those rights so that the Crown can let them to people in a position to thoroughly carry out prospecting, and, . sccuro the necessary capital. I was told bv a man high up in one of the oil companies that it cost £3.000,000 or £4,000,000 to find oil in British Guana, and another £3,000,000 or £4,000,000 before they got it on the market. I I understand that in that country the oil resources are more stable and defined than they are here. Our country is broken and deeper." The Minister further explained that the Bill gave the Government power to stop people from spoiling oil fields by injudicious boring, for by this means water had been let into one field''in New Zealand. A company boring for oil in the north had been badly hampered by th# legal difficulties of getting boring rights, and he was satisfied that only by means of this legislation could prospecting be properly undertaken. The Bill was referred to the Nativt Affairs Committee, and it will subsequently go to the Mines Committee for the taking of evidence.