338 Sir Boverton Redwood [Jane 7, 



his £50, and never troubled us again. The next day I returned to 

 the spot with a man provided with the necessary tools, and we soon 

 dug a hole two or three feet deep, and took out some pieces of the 

 shale, from one of which the ' book ' you have was made. We had 

 numerous offers to lease the land, among them one from Young 

 himself, but ray father selected Mr. Fernie as his tenant for 719 

 acres. Mr. Fernie at once commenced erecting works, but the 

 difficultv of transporting machinery was very great, the site being on 

 a wild moor, and before the works were quite completed Mr. Fernie 

 died. Operations were continued by the executors. The Caledonian 

 Railway made a branch line four miles long on to the property, and 

 eventually the Caledonian Oil Company, Limited, became, and now 

 are, the tenants." 



I have mentioned the work carried out by Young on the crude 

 petroleum of Alfreton, and this leads me to refer to the prospects 

 of obtaining free oil in quantity in this country. For many years 

 there was an actual output of petroleum recorded in the General 

 Report and Statistics relating to Mines and Quarries in the United 

 Kingdom, issued by the Home Office. The annual output reached 

 its maximum in 1893, when it amounted to 200 tons, valued at 

 £4^8. It had fallen to 5 tons, valued at £12, in 1899, and was 

 returned as nil in the following year. There was a recorded pro- 

 duction of 8 tons in 1901, and 25 tons in 1902, none in the two 

 succeeding years, 46 tons in 1905, and 10 tons in 1906, the principal 

 locality of production for the latter years being Dumbartonshire. 

 Since 1906 no output has been recorded. 



Apart from the production referred to, there have been discoveries 

 of oil in this country from time to time, some of which were of a 

 very doubtful character. An interesting occurrence of free petroleum 

 was brought to my notice in 1892. It took the form of a sudden 

 influx of some hundreds of gallons of light-coloured oil into a well 

 which was the source of the water-supply of an isolated dwelling- 

 house standing on high ground near Shepton Mallet. Another case, 

 which is certainly genuine, is that of the oil-find in a test-boring 

 made for coal at Kelham, near Newark. From this bore-hole, which 

 at a depth of between 2-400 and 250(> ieet had penetrated a bed of 

 porous sandstone, a flow of characteristic crude petroleum amounting 

 to five or six gallons a day took place. The much-advertised dis- 

 covery at Ramsey, near Huntingdon, cannot be included in the 

 same category, for the oil, of which a specimen, together with one of 

 the Kelham oil for comparison, is on the table, had unquestionably 

 leaked from an adjacent store. 



It may be confidently asserted that in certain parts of Great 

 Britain the geological conditions are consistent with the existence of 

 valuable stores of petroleum, but doubt has been expressed as to 

 whether the drilling operations which the Government has decided 

 to undertake will be attended with success. It is, however, admitted 



