322 Tr ansae tions. — Geo logy : 



of the capitalists. The sinking at the Minerva well has not 

 reached more than 750ft., but the prospects are reported as 

 being good, and the working manager anticipates reaching the 

 oil-beds at 1,000ft., or 1,100ft. at the furthest. I fear the 

 manager is too sanguine on this point ; but in any case the 

 working of this second well, and of a third well midway be- 

 tween the Minerva and Pacific Company's wells, will provide 

 data of great importance as to the dip and character of the 

 oil-bearing strata along the east coast. At present everything 

 in connection with the oil industry is tentative. Facts have 

 to be gathered together and careful observations made before 

 inferences can be drawn as to the future success of the east 

 coast as an oil-producing district. But the subject is of special 

 interest to this colony, for the question as to the employment 

 of petroleum as a fuel is growing into prominence every day, 

 and I look upon it that no opportunity should be lost by the 

 Government in providing for the accumulation of facts ai:id 

 statistics bearing on the question of sinking and the produc- 

 tion of oil, which might prove of great value in the near 

 future. 



The east coast district north of the Kidnappers is mainly 

 composed of rocks of tertiary age, and it is among the 

 tertiary rocks that evidence is forthcoming as to the existence 

 of oil. 



In America the oil is found in the silurian rocks ; but in 

 Burmah, in Galicia, in Austria, in France, and in the cele- 

 brated district south of the Caucasus, the oil is found in x'ocks 

 of tertiary age, as in this country. 



As far as I can judge from the sections (see Plate XXIV.), 

 the sinking at the South Pacific well shows no rocks except 

 tertiary ; but it is a curious circumstance that what are 

 known in the American oil-fields as the first, second, and 

 third sand-rocks are reported as having been passed through 

 in the South Pacific well, and latterh' in the Minerva well. 

 These sand-rocks vary in structure, depth, and thickness 

 in the different localities of the American oil-regions, but 

 from each bore oil is obtainable, the best flow, though not 

 the most valuable oil, being in the third or lowest sand- 

 rock. The manager of the South Pacific well has had 

 an extensive experience in America, but he is no doubt 

 mistaken, notwithstanding, as to the similarity between 

 the sand or oil-producing beds in America and the rocks 

 passed through in this country. There may be some likeness 

 between the sand-rocks, or what are called sand-rocks by 

 some oil-sinkers, in America and in the Poverty Bay district ; 

 but in America the sand-rock is the true oil-bearing rock, 

 whilst in the South Pacific well, according to the sections 

 shown on the manager's plan, the so-called sand-rocks simply 



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