TARANAKI PETROLEUM.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 6064, 25 September 1894, Page 4

TARANAKI PETROLEUM.

The Tarcmaki Herald of Monday last makes someremarki upju an appeal whioh m being made to the public to eubioribe £500 to pay the oost of a further trial of boring for oil near Mew Plymouth :— To carry out this project it is necessary to sink a new boro a thousand feet deep, whioh, it is said, oan be satisfactorily) accomplished for the above sum. Elsewhere we publish a statement made by a number of gentlemen who have spent £1025 m the purchase of the lease, aa well as the plant and machinery, I which had been sent out from England by a ' London eyndioate and erteted at Mbturoa at a ooit of between £3000 to £4000. The experts sent out with the machinery sunk to a depth of about 9oo feet, when they 'struck oil,' and tbe ohief dii'ler, m hit report on the work; said he was able to pump about! four barrels (160 gallons) per d*yof the most valuable oil he ever taw. Owing to tbe London syndicate running out of funds, the operations of the works were brought to a stand still ; and unfortunately, about that time the driller let tbe 'deep sinker 1 go, which blocked up the bore. For reasons unknown to us. the London syndioate abandoned their projbot, ani but for the fifteen enterprising gentlemen earning to the rescue and purchasing tho syndicate's claim tbe whole of the phot would have been sold and ditmsntled, and the quasMod as to whether we poiseit valuable oil wslU m this district would have bean left ungo.ved The looal eyndioate formed io Now Plymouth have spent & considerable sum of money m trying to dear the bore, which the former owners had sunk to the depth of 900 ft., but failing to do so, they bad to abandon this work, lhat petroleum exists at some depth from the surface of the earth is evideot to anyone who goes down to tbe bleakwater of a calm day, for they can see bubbles of oil continually nomiog to the surfaoe of tbe w.tter. That petroleum has been ptreolating through the soil for ages, is evident from the fact that the Maoris uotioed the peculiar smell at Mo turoa long before Europeans came to this part of the world; and Dr Dieffenbaob, m his work "Travels m New Zealand m 1839-41," *ay» : ' A strong smell of sulphuretted hydrogen gas may be observed about a mile from high water mark near Bugar Lca f Point. Tbe natives have a whimsioal story of an aiua (spirit) who they say wai drowned here, and is still undergoing decomposition." Hinoe the men hive lately been trying to raiie the " sinker bar" and olear the bore, the indications have been most encouraging, as an oil of a very valuable quality freely rose to the surfaoe. However, to test the matter thoroughly it will be neoessary to sink a new bore, whioh we are told will oost £500; and the local syndicate appeal to the publio of faranaki to cubiorihe that sum, teeing that if the test is success* fu< it will confer benefits incalculable on the whole distriot. The - railing of this amount should not be difficult ; for we feel that there ie as muoh publio spirit and enterprise now m the plaos ac t here, was 80 years ago, when the first boring operations for petroleum commenced. The excitement at the time was ereat, and more than one oompany was formed for sinking for the valuable oil that is known to exist m the | neighbourhood of the Sugarloaves. Money was then liberally subeoriood by the publio, and with very slight praotical knowledge of boring or drilling, operations were commenced m what even to an experienced miner would be a difficult finld to work on. Tbe result was that after getting down some SO feet the chisel broke, and the driller was unable to extraot it. Not discouraged by this another attempt was made, and with the same result, the second hole being stopped at a depth of between 30 and 40 feet by a similar aooident. The men engaged at the work were m no wsj* daunted by these mishaps, and their nest step was to sink a shaft, and when they reached a depth of nearly 60 feet the gas beo&me so averpoweriog that one man nearly lost his life by it. Boring was again resorted to, and at between 70 and 80ft the first petroleum vein was struck, ai>d samples of the ml, which is very inferior to what bai been got from the new well, may still be seeo at our office There were two companies m existence m 1865, end ao convinced were the share* holders that success would orown their efforts that they had boards painted and put up at their works, one having on it the inscription "To oil or London," "To oil or Dublin." Both oompaniss struck oil, and tbe wells would have been fully tested at that time had not a period of depression set m throughout Hew Zealand whioh was felt m this distriot with greater severity than other parts of the colony, owiDg to the Maori rebellion which had not at that time been suppressed The work at the petroleum welli had accordingly to be ttopped for want of funds ; and nothing more was done m 'he matter till the London ayndicate took it m hand.