At the outbreak of the European War, it was forcibly brought home to us as a nation that we were in a position regarding our petroleum supplies of absolute dependence upon other countries. The refined products were an essential part of the war, for without them it would have been impossible to have continued for almost a single day, and yet, practically every gallon used had to be transported thousands of miles, and from a country which at that time was neutral. To make matters even worse, the Continental sources of supply from which we had been previously drawing large quantities of petroleum were closed to export, for, through the Dardanelles, the Roumanian and Russian export ports were effectively shut off from the outside world. Fortunately for Great Britain, the United States came forward with the offer of all the petroleum products required for the successful prosecution of the war, and we owe to the United States alone all success which has been the natural result of possessing ample requirements of petroleum products both on sea and land. The fact, nevertheless, stands out tragically prominent that we as a nation have not developed our own oil resources in a manner we ought to have done, although everyone conversant with the oil business has been for years advocating the giving of serious attention to this important subject. To-day, speculative drilling for petroleum is proceeding in England, and it is to be hoped that some success will be ultimately recorded, but, inasmuch as I dealt with the question of Petroleum in England in the previous chapter, I will at the moment pass over this very interesting phase of the problem, and briefly look at the subject from an Empire point of view. Under the British Flag, we already have, or control, some excellent oil-fields in Burmah, Persia, Egypt, Trinidad, and Assam, and each producing steadily increasing quantities of crude oil. The Burmah fields have achieved fame mainly owing to the very large profits made by the chief operating company--the Burmah Oil Company, Ltd., whose head offices are at Glasgow. These have of recent years been developed upon most up-to-date lines, and the producing limits of the territory greatly extended, until now the annual crude oil production is upwards of 1,000,000 tons. The fields of Persia are very prolific, and their control to-day is in the hands of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Ltd., an influential concern largely controlled by the British Government, by reason of the investment of large sums of public moneys a few years ago. The development of the Persian fields is more or less in its initial stages, and though huge quantities of oil have already been produced therefrom, the limits of the presumably oil-bearing areas have by no means been defined. In order to facilitate the export of Persian oil, a pipe-line has been laid from the fields to Abadan, on the Persian Gulf, and a programme has already been laid down under which large quantities of Persian