The Norwegian government is doing its best to keep the oil industry under control. A new l

aw limits exploration to an area south of the southern end of the long coastline, production limits have been laid down, and oil companies have not been allowed to employ more than a limited number of foreign workers. But the oil industry has a way of getting over such problems, and few people

believe that the government will be able to hold things back for long.

Ever since the war, the government has been carrying out a program of development in the area north of the Arctic Circle. During the past few years this program has had a great deal of success. Tromso has been built up into a local capital with a university, a large hospital and a healthy industry . But the oil industry has already started to draw people south, and within a few years the whole northern policy could be in ruins.

The effects of the oil industry would not be limited to the north, however. With nearly 100 per cent employment, everyone can see a situation developing in which the service industries and the tourist industry will lose most of their workers to the oil industry. Some smaller industries might even disappear altogether when it becomes cheaper to buy goods from abroad.

The Norwegian government would prefer the oil industry to ______

A．provide more jobs for foreign workers

B．slow down the rate of its development

C．sell the oil it is producing abroad

D．develop more quickly than at present