PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1889.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8665, 30 December 1889, Page 2

PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1889.

A Syndicate has been formed in London for the purpose of testing, by means of boring, whether the flow of petroleum at Moturoa emanates from wells which it will repay an English Company to work in connection with smelting the ironsand. The sum of £35,000 has been subscribed, and we expect to hear in a short time of a staff of exports being on their way to the colony with the necessary apparatus in order to satisfactorily settle the question of this being an oil district. We publish elsewhere an interesting article on "the petroleum deposits of the world " by Mr Charles Marvin, a well-known writer on the subject of which he treats. He there states that " the petroleum deposits of the Taranaki district have unique characteristics, in that they underlie enormous deposits of pulverised iron ore — the i famous ironsand beaches of Now Zealand. Through these deposits the oil oozes up to the surface, promising a Bupply of liquid fuel for smelting purposes as soon as the drill taps the subterranean reservoir." It is evident from this remark that Mr Marvin 18 better acquainted with the district tlmn the Wanyunui Herald, who says, " There is just the smell of petroleum and nothing more." Our contemporary has been wrongly informed in this matter, for in 1866, even with the credo appliances at command, laveral hundred

gallons of petroleum oil were obtained. It was even sold by Messrs Brown and Duthie— a firm id existence here at the time — to persons who used it in its crude state for lubricating purposes, and Dr Hector in hiß report of his visit to the borings in October, 1866, says : " Recently the Alpha Company's well has been pumped more regularly, and yields, I am informed by the directors, about fifty gallons a week." It is, therefore, something more than a " smell of petroleum " at Moturoa ; and it is quite worth the expenditure of a few thousand pounds to test whether the deposits exist in sufficient quantities to make it profitable to work. That petroleum exists there it is very evident — and in great quantities, too, we should say — for if it were not so it could not have been ■ filtering through the soil for ages as it has I done. It Avas noticed fifty years ago by Dr. Dieffenbach, who stated that the natives " whimsically attributed it to the decomposition of an atua, or spirit, who was drowned there." It was not, till 1859 that the first oil well was bored in America, therefore it is not surprising that in 1805-6 the amateurish attempt with little or no capital should have proved a failure. If the oil deposits should prove to be in abundance, it will cause a great change to come over this district, and, like Batoum, this town -in a few years will develop into a " powerful and prosperous mercantile community."

"Cheap light and more light," says Mr Marvin in his article in the Nation&l Review, "is the cry of the age. Towards the illumination of the two hemispheres we can contribute liberally from the ample store Nature has placed at our disposal in Asia and America. Up to now we have hoarded our assets like misers. Is it not time we placed the stores existing elsewhere at the service of humanity?" From 1859 to the present year the United States have exported £200,000,000 worth of kerosene ; but, as Mr Marvin remarks, there still lies latent and untouched in the bowels of the British Empire several times that value of petroleum. The asset is one of which Englishmen may be well proud, whatever may be their opinion regarding the lack of enterprise that has left this splendid resource up to now undeveloped. If the United States can boast of Pennsylvania, and Russia of Baku, why should not the British Empire have her oil wells tapped and help to Bupply the fast increasing demand for this light and fuel producing liquid. " New Plymouth," says Mr Marvin, l< possesses special advantages which in the future should tell in the competition with Baku and Pennsylvania, and enable New Zealand to occupy a uniq»e position among the petroleum powers of the world." Our petroleum exists close to the sea shore, whereas Baku is 250 miles from the Black Sea, and the United Stateß " oil fields" owners have to pipe their " crude petroleum" several hundred miles to refinerieß on the coast. "An enterprise," says Mr Marvin, "which has attracted more than two millions of the Rothschilds' money to Baku cannot surely be too speculative for "the average British investor,, who has squandered millions of late years on date coffee, bogus inventions, Moldacott toys, and other ephemeral enterprises of the professional company promoter." It is very evident that Mr Marvin does not refer in the manner he has done to New Plymouth without first making every enquiry and having all the information before him, and it is that makes him think with Professor Thorpe, of the Royal School of Mines, " that perhaps those capitalists who are so eager to rush into the ruby mines of Burmah might more profitably devote their wealth to exploring the " petroleum springs" ""near New Plymouth as well as in that country.

A reward is offered for a lost pony. The " Spanish Students " have taken to street playing for a living. In view of Mr C. W. Govett's departure to England on a trip next month, it is said that a deputation of ratepayers of the West Ward will wait on him and ask him to resign in order that his seat in the Borough Council may be filled in hiß absence. We have to acknowledge the receipt of almanacs from the following Insurance Companies : — Mutual Assurance Society of Victoria, Mr C. Rennell, agent; Northern Assurance Company, Mr J. C. Davies, agent; Norwich Union, Mr Newton King, agent; Sun Fire Office, Mr W. J. Shaw, agent; Phoenix Fire Office, Messrs Goldwater Brothers, agents. Mr J. A. Jones, Stratford, has an advertisement of interest to persons wishing to stock their streams or ponds with English trout. The programme for the New Year's night entertainment will be found in another column, upon reference to which 'it will be seen that the number of prizes in connection with the art union attached to it have been increased from 50 to 75, in consequence of which the committee have decided to sell extra tickets for the drawing at Is each, but it will also be noticed that holders of a 2s entertainment ticket will also have a chance. We understand that the prizeß range in value from five pounds downwards. The vacant seats in the Borough Council have been filled up without contest. Mr A. C. Fookes has been returned as a membe r for the East Ward, and Mr A. Goldwater for the West Ward. A Press Association telegram states it is reported that District Judge Rawson, of Taranaki, takes the place at Invercargill of Mr H. McCulloch as Resident Magistrate, and will also act as District Judge. Amongst the passengers by the s.s. Arawa from London on her last trip, wbb The Hon. Alfred Egerton, M.P., who comes to New Zealand in search of health, and also the Marquis of Downshire. A sensational trial, which has excited much interest throughout France, was brought to a conclusion at Nancy on December 7th. D' Auger, the prisoner, was charged with having murdered several women in a peculiarly atrocious manner at Pont-a-Moussons. He was found guilty, and sentenced to death. A curious thing has been noticed lately during the warm weather in connection with the trout in the Hutt river. They appoar to have become suddenly affected with disease, and are reported to be dying in large numbers. The circumstance is not accounted for, but some persons attribute it to the water having become stagnant and poisonous, owing to the want of rain. It is said that the fish in the Acclimatisation Society's breediug ponds at Masterton are similarly affected. At the tennis tournament now being held in Dunedin, Mr F. G.^Dalziell beat Mr A. E. Holmes in the second round of the championship singles, for. which the first prize is of the value of £10 10s, and will play off in the third round. In the Exhibition Cup Mr Dahriell wbb beaten in the second ronnd by Mr Barrows. In the ladies singles Miss Hitchings drew a bye in the first round, and is one of eight left in. At the Land Board meeting to-day 359 acres of land were disposed of. Two sections were oa deferred* payment, and ope 00 lease, -

TJu s.s. Gdirloch will arrive at Waitara early to-morrow morning, anl sails for Onehunga in the afternoon. See advertisement. An accident, unattended with any serious results, occurred to James Hannigan, the driver of a flax waggon, on Saturday. While coming up the Petone hill, near Mr Cutfield's farm, at Tataraimaka, the express, which was drawn by four horses and loaded with flax, ran back from the top of the hill to the bottom, and caused a capsize. Beyond breaking parts of the express and shaking the horses and driver, no damage was done. The load of "flax was brought into town by another driver. Mr Pinyon, a well-known resident at Wanganui, found on the beach, two miles from the Heads on Boxing Day, a corked bottle containing the following pencilled message :—": — " Ship County of Carnarvon, September 8, 1889. Anyone who shall find this bottle will earn the dying blessing of three men who do not expect to live an hour, by letting our friends and relations know our fate. We are sinking fast. All hands but us three were washed overboard last night: We were dismasted, and binnacles and everything washed away by one sea. Every sea washed over the deck fore and aft. I don't know where we are, but by the skipper'e reckoning midday yesterday, we were about 100 miles from New Zealand. We have been sinking fast ever since the squall struck us. May God help us, for we may sink at any minute. — ' George Wright. The other men with me are Vincent Wallace and James King." The writing on the paper from which the above is copied is rather faint, the paper soiled and the name " James King" scarcely legible. On account of the valuators not having yet completed their work, the Land Board would not have considered the applications under "The Selectors Land Revaluation Act 1889 "at their meeting to-day (Monday). It is probable, however, that a special meeting will be held on Monday next, for the purpose of considering the applications and reports thereon. A big tan;i is being held at the Manukorihi pah, at Waitara, over the death of a native named Whare, who died suddenly at Tikorangi on Thursday last. Fully 700 natives are at the pah. The reason of keeping the body so long is to enable deceased|s wife to come from Waikanae, from which she is expected to-day (Monday). A serious accident occurred on December Ist, at Barnum's Show and Menagerie, which recently arrived from America, and is being exhibited at South Kensington on an unprecedented scale. While some of the elephants were gambolling in their enclosure one of them slipped, and falling heavily on the keeper, crushed him to death. Referring to the late controversy between the Auckland and Wellington papers as to which place could claim the honor of being the birth place of the colony the Christchurch Press says :—": — " Where is Dunedin ? How busy the good people of Otago must be with their Exhibition not to have in their claim on behalf of the Athens (or is it the Edinburgh?) of the South ! Tins is the first time we have ever known the citizens of Dunedin admiC, even by implication, that any other town in New Zealand was ahead of their own in anything, even in age. Our own private opinion is that, if controversy goes on much longer, it will engage the attention of Parliament, and that the certain result will be that a statute duly made and provided will next session solemnly declare Dunedin the official birthplace of this Colony — the few paltry years which elapsed between 1840 and the founding of Otago not withstanding. What, after all, are half a dozen years? 'These divisions of time are purely arbitrary,' aB Nanki Poo rightly observes, and Mr Fish and other southern patriots would argue that New Zealand without Otago was in no possible sense New Zealand at all." Speaking at a banquet in an up-country New South Wales district, Mr David Christie Murray said a three months' passage through the Colonies had taught him at least one thing. Without being an abnormally stupid or an exceptionally ignorant man, he had yet to confess that he had known absolutely nothing of the real current of Australian thought before coming out here. He left behind him in the old Home Country thousands who were, if possihle, more ignorant than himself. The Motherland rested in perfect easy satisfaction in the loyalty of the Colonies to England, but what he personally desired to hear more of was the loyalty of England to her Colonies. There was at home an ignorance and an indifference which augured ill if it were continued for the complete friendly association of England with her dependencies. But after all there was this sterling comfort, of which the last words he had used in pnblic before leaving England would best express his feelings — the Mother-land and ncr Colonies were bound together by no ties of red tape which might be broken in a moment by the mere wave of a free people's hand ; by no paper convention which might be shrivelled into nothing by the fierce heat of any passing controversy ; but they were tied together for ever and for ever by the bonds of a common origin, a common language,^ common faith, and a universal hope. Writing of the Earl of Hopetoun, the aew Governor of Victoria, the Melbourne i correspondent of the Otago Daily Times says : — No Governor in the history of the colony has been welcomed with half the interest. Intense curiosity is manifested still about him and his doings, because the fame of his riches and position has preceded him. We are told he has £60,000 a year, and as he has £10,000 from the colony, that gives us a leader of society with £70,000 a year to spend. His first levee is to be held to-day, and on Friday Lady Hopetoun will give her first garden party. He lost no time in appearing in public. He patronised the bicycle sports on Saturday afternoon with the countess, and sent the Caledonians into the seventh heaven of delight on Saturday night by assisting them to eat their annual dinner. He was the only Scotchman who left the hall sober. On Sunday he showed up at the Scots Church. Lady Hopetoun set Collins-street in a flutter the first day after her arrival by going shopping, and the poor woman could scarcely get across the sidewalk to her carriage for the curious crowd. Gay doings are promised at Government House. In Scotland the Earl kept 17 carriages, but in Melbourne he has made up his mind he will not require more than nine. Several of these are being got ready for him by a local builder, iucluding a stage coach, which is to be a much uiore pretentious vehicle than has been &eon in Melbourne streets before, and is to cost £450. In another column Mrs Hood invites inspection of cheap and useful presents for Christmas. As an additional attraction, she offers a discount of 2s in the £ oa all purchases made during the season. — Advt Laundrine Soap is the most economical and best brand in the market. Kept by all grocers. Registered name and trade mark, " Laundrine " ; heart transfixed with arrow, For further particulars gee op fourth nagj,