Wellington Philosophical Society. 491 



referred to the existence of a mineral spring on Sutherland's station on 

 the Pahaoa River, which j'ielded inflammable gas, freely escaping from 

 the older rocks of the district, and which had not been included by Mr. 

 Park as gas-bearing. He thought that possibly the Blairlogie gas-spring 

 might have its source in the same rocks. He thought the author had 

 under-estimated the so-called oil-bearing belt at Poverty Bay at four to 

 five miles, his idea being that in some places it was not far short of twenty- 

 five miles in breadth. 



Mr. Higginson pointed out that the distillation of oil from shale had 

 been abandoned in Scotland, owing to the flooding of the market with oil 

 from the Black Sea ports. He did not think it would pay to distil the oil 

 in New Zealand. From what he observed he thought the pL-ospects at 

 Poverty Bay appeared good. Of course, it was now a question of quantity. 

 The raw material was now in great favour for use in all kinds of steam- 

 engines, and very startling results had been published. It would revolu- 

 tionise the manufacture of small engines. 



Mr. T. W. Kirk did not think there was much chance of the hopeful 

 anticipations regarding oil-production in New Zealand indulged in by the 

 author ever being realised — at any rate, for a great many years. In 1886 

 the export from Baku alone was over 370,000,000 gallons; America 

 added 28,000,000 barrels of forty-two gallons each ; and the supply from 

 these places was still increasing : so that our being able to compete with 

 the foreign article was unlikely. 



Count Jouffroy d'Abbans hoped that when the Government sent the 

 New Zealand minerals they had promised to the Paris Exhibition they 

 would include specimens of the New Zealand petroleum and shales, so 

 that they might be tested by the experts who would no doubt be present 

 to report on such products. 



Mr. A. S. Paterson (advocate, Edinburgh) regretted that, having just 

 arrived in the colonj', he was not a member of the Society, but hoped he 

 might be allowed to answer some of the difficulties referred to in the 

 discussion. Permission having been granted, Mr. Paterson stated that, 

 having been lately in contact with the shale enterprise ua Scotland, he was 

 in a position to assure the Society that since the opening of the Baku 

 ■wells, and, still earlier, the introduction into Scotland of American natural 

 oils, the working of shale had enormously increased. This was due to the 

 fact that shale was no longer distilled merely for the oil it contained, but 

 was treated by a new process for ammonia and other products previously 

 regarded as by-products of little or no value. At Burntisland, Straiten, 

 and other places in the vicinity of the Firth of Forth, large works had 

 sprung up, and gave large returns, in some instances 30 per cent, being 

 earned. There had been difficulties with the workmen at Dalmeny and 

 elsewhere, resulting in strikes of a disastrous character; but these vyere 

 no indication of anj' loss of trade. It was a curious fact that for many 

 years this valuable shale had been lying in strata exposed to public view 

 in road and other cuttings in the vicinity of Edinburgh and elsewhere, 

 but only within the last eight or ten years had its full value been dis- 

 covered. He was not in a position to saj' that the New Zealand shale 

 would give the same return when similarly treated ; and, indeed, one 

 specimen he had seen appeared to differ — at least, outwardly — from the 

 best Scotch shale. He concluded by thanking those present for having 

 heard him. 



Mr. Gordon said that, with regard to Mr. Park's paper on the mineral 

 oil in the Poverty Bay district, the author held out very little chance of 

 success at the place where boring operations are now being carried on ; 

 but the reasons assigned did not appear sufficient to warrant this conclu- 

 sion. Before we can tell definitely where petroleum is likely to be found 

 we must understand its origin, and that is a subject on which scientists 

 do not agree. We are pretty certain it is formed by the decomposition of 



