OUR LIQUID WEALTH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3392, 7 December 1911, Page 2

OUR LIQUID WEALTH.

OPINION OF MR J. D. HENRY

Everybody has heard of Rookieller’s millions and of the richness <4 the oilfields in some parks of Europe and America, but few people have any idea of the reserves of liquid wealth that re- • main untouched within the borders of ■ our own Empire. To-day England buys j her oil from the foreigner, but there is ! no rofifson, in the opinion of Mr J. D- : Henry, one of the best-informed oil--1 experts, why Brititsh Empire wells | sliould not supply the rapidly-growing j demands of British oil-users, including I the Navy, with its oil-1 uel ships. ”J i believe there is more oil in British pcs- | sessions and dependencies than there is in some of the greatest producing fields in Europe.” This is a statement which wild cause astonishment to those who ; have not Mr Henry’s knowledge, and his book on The Oilfields of Xew Zealand’ will awaken the interest of those 1 who have hitherto been unaware of the . fact that New Zealand is already an i oil-producing country. In the Nortlij west of Canada also oil exploration j work has been begun this summer, and | operations in New Brunswick leave no j doubts that in this region of the Dominion production on a commercial scale will be effected. Thups. in Australasia- and in Canada there is a prospect of a great oil industry being built I ’ . yet Mr Henry emphasises the. fact that ‘•'nothing has occurred to secure for it more than a few spasmodic rises in public favour” “There is a.reason for this,” Mr Henry says, in explanation of the lack of appreciation of the : Empire's oil resources, and ho gives the I reason in plain words. It is the disas- ; ter in foreign oil concerns which lias befallen speculators. Ho mentions i ail instance in which a London com- : pany plunged into a “wildeness. called an oilfield” in America in which “a million of capital gave the shareholders nothing better than two dry holes. Wo have a shameful record of mistakes in ■ foreign oilfields,” he adds. “In many ; fields we seem to have only invested \ money to lose it. . .. . We can only ! make a. success of this colonial business j if new concerns operate on the lines I which have made outstanding successes j of scores of foreign companies working !at their own centres of industry. . . ! We must hasten tho time when we shall ■ have our supplies of oil guaranteed by t our colonies and dependencies, and a home system of ordinary and reserve storage ample in capacity and protected against attack by an enemy.” —London correspondent.