May 3, 1918.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

901

typewriter Wanted, for spot cash. Any
make. Visible preferred. Full particulars to—
WHITE, Arcade, Northampton.

In Crown 8vo. Pp. i.-xvi. 4- 208. Handsome Cloth. Fully Illustrated.
7s. 6d. net.

THE EXAMINATION AND THERMAL VALUE OF

FUEL:

GASEOUS, LIQUID, AND SOLID.

By J. H. COSTS, F.I.C., and E. R. ANDREWS, F.I.C.

Contents.—Introductory. Part I.—Chemical and Physical Examina-
tion of Fuel -Sampling and Analysis of Gaseous Fuel and Flue Gases—
Sampling and Examination of Liquid Fuel—Sampling and Examination of
Solid Fuel. Part II.—Calorimetry of Fuel-Principles and Methods—
The Calorimeter and its Surroundings—Gaseous Fuels—Liquid Tests—
Solid Fuels—Bomb Calorimeters—Index.

In Large Crown 8vo. Pp. i.-xvi. + 310. Handsome Cloth. Illustrated.
7s. 6d. net.

THE CALORIFIC POWER OF GAS.

By J. H. COSTE, F.I.C., F.C.S.

LONDON : CHAS. GRIFFIN & CO. LTD., Exeter St., Strand, W.C. 2.

J. W. BAIRD AND COMPANY,

PITWOOD IMPORTERS,
WEST HARTLEPOOL.

YEARLY CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO WITH COLLIERIES.

OSBECK & COMPANY LIMITED,
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*** F°r Miscellaneous Advertisements see Last
White Page.

AND

Journal of the Coal and Iron Trades.

Joint Editors—
J. V. ELSDEN, D.Sc. (Lond.), F.G.S.
HUBERT GREENWELL, F.S.S., Assoc.M.I.M.E.
(At present on Active Service}.

LONDON, FRIDAY, MAYS, 1918.

The London coal market during the week has
been exceptionally busy. The public orders have
compelled merchants to lift a good deal of stock coal.

The colliery position in Northumberland is
strong, and business with neutrals is rather more
active at the. newly increased prices. All Durham
coals, except steam smalls, are in demand. The
bunker market is fairly good at the new figures, and
coke is dearer for neutral destinations. The market
in Lancashire appears to change very little from
week to week. South Yorkshire steam hards are
firm at 30s. for Allied shipment, and 35s. for neutral
shipment, f.o.b. Hull or Immingham. Nuts are in
heavy demand for manufacturing purposes. Diffi-
culties in the Midland output have occurred
through the calling up of miners. So scarce are
superior steam coals in South Wales, that business
for prompt shipment is difficult. As tonnage for
official purposes is plentiful, best grade coals are not
easily obtained by private contractors. The enquiry
for bituminous is good. Demand exceeds supply in
Scotland, and in many instances buyers have to be
content with less than requirements.

Anthracite coals of all descriptions are freely
offered in Swansea and Llanelly. The market tone
is easy.

Eife and Lothian coal masters have advanced the
prices of fuel exported to neutral countries. All Fife
coal and washed materials, with the exception of
third-class Fife coal, is increased by another 2s. 6d.
per ton over the prices stipulated for France and
Itffiy, and this increase applies also to Lothian large
coal and washed materials, with the exception of
second-class Lothian large coal. No increase in West
of Scotland coal has been decided on.

Freight business is slight, owing to the extreme
scarcity of tonnage, but boats for allocation purposes
are coming forward in fair numbers, Coastwise
shipping from Humber to London is small. Rates
are firm.

New regulations under the Coal Mines Act, T911,
have been drafted relative to the working of ganister
and other stone.

The final meeting of the Birmingham Metallurgical
Society will be held on May 9 (commencing at
7.45 p.m.) in the Birmingham Chamber of Com-
merce. A paper on “ The Blast Furnace and its
Resources ” will be read by Mr. W. J, Foster.

The Inter - Departmental Committee on Gas
Traction, in an interim report just issued, recom-
mends the further use of gas for traction purposes.

According to several unofficial statements this
week, more men are to be taken from the mines,
commencing with those not actually supplying war
needs.

The Committee on Commercial and Industrial
Policy after the War has issued four reports,
embodying a number of important resolutions.

The Government has conceded to men up to 44 the
right of being legally represented before Military
Service Tribunals.

A meeting of coal exporters in Cardiff yesterday
(Thursday) decided that the question of legal
proceedings regarding brokerage should be deferred
pending further efforts at a settlement by negotiation.

The final report of Lord Balfour
Post-War of Burleigh’s Committee on Com-
Trade mercial and Industrial Policy after
Policy. th®. War has now been issued, and
the country is in possession of the
considered judgment of one of the strongest and
most representative bodies that could possibly have
been got together to deliberate upon this important
subject. The report itself is an interesting and
instructive document apart from the conclusions
which the Committee have drawn from the results
of their • enquiry. Its twelve chapters are packed
with information upon the various problems of
British trade, and it is impossible in the course of
this article to do justice to the value and variety of
its contents. We shall therefore not attempt to do
more than to direct attention to some of its most
salient features from a general standpoint, leaving
for further consideration their special application to
the coal trade. The Committee very appropriately
reviews, in the first place, the general position of
British trade in 1913, the last year before the war.
It shows that all was not well with our commercial
position at that time. It is true that many branches
of British industry were prosperous and expansive ;
but this was not the case with the iron and steel
trade, nor with certain other modern branches of
productive enterprise. Some of these, of the greatest
importance as a basis for other manufactures, were
largely under German control. The position of our
overseas trade was particularly unsatisfactory, and
British manufacturers were faced with a kind of
competition to meet which neither their enterprise
nor their organisation were adequate. In short,
British goods were in too many directions being
ousted from foreign markets.

The war, lamentable as it has been, has at least
had the result of putting a summary check upon
these adverse tendencies, and at the same time of
opening our eyes to their chief causes. British
manufacturers, whose adaptability and resourceful-
ness have been greatly stimulated by the position
which the war has brought about, have gained an
immense advantage1 from the experience through
which they have passed. They should therefore be
in an exceptionally strong position to recover after the
war the predominance which had previously been
slipping away from their control.

The object of the Committee was to determine
what measures were necessary to be taken to secure
this result. They have accepted the logical view
that the passage from war to normal peace conditions
will be marked by a period of transition. During
that temporary phase it will, they think, be necessary
to preserve some measure of the existing Government
control over importations of goods and the supply of
raw materials. To this end it will be necessary, to
continue for some period after the war a certain
amount of restriction both upon home and foreign
trade. But the Committee are strongly in favour of
the removal of all State control as soon as this can
be done without undue risk. Upon this point there
will certainly be general agreement.

With regard to the policy of a self-supporting
Empire, about which a great deal has been heard of
late, the investigations of the Committee have led
them to regard this as an unattainable ideal. There
are certain commodities which cannot be produced in
sufficient quantity within the limits of the British
Empire, and there are others which cannot be
obtained at all within that area. Although many of
these are not absolutely vital, the list is sufficiently
comprehensive to show that it would be both
impracticable and economically unsound to attempt
to make the Empire entirely self-supporting. But
this does not preclude a very considerable measure
of self-support, and the Committee recommends the
formation of an Advisory Bureau for determining the
resources of the Empire in respect to materials of
economic and military importance.

Passing over other matters, we note that the Report
approves of the establishment of the British Trade
Corporation, and rejects the proposal to set up an
Imperial Bank of Industry. It suggests the legalisa-
tion of combinations among exporting manufacturers
in order to minimise rivalry among individual firms,
and arguments are advanced to show that the
interests of labour would in the long run be improved
by the greater prosperity that would thus be
secured.

British manufacturers also will heartily support the
opinions expressed in the report concerning the
inadequacy of the percentage allowed for deprecia-
tion of plant and machinery in the assessment of
income tax. This serves as a useful reminder that
Governments are not always sufficiently considerate
for the best interests of trade where the question of
revenue is concerned.

The main interest of this report, however, centres
about the question of future fiscal policy in the
light of war experience. Although expressing an
opinion adverse to a comprehensive tariff, the Com-
mittee is in favour of Government action for safe-
guarding “ pivotal” or key industries, which are to
be maintained at all hazards, and at any expense. In
addition to this it is recommended that Government
assistance should be given to industries which are
important for maintaining our industrial position,
and whose development is checked by undue foreign
competition or other causes. There are also other

provisions for facilitating trade with the Dominions,
the Colonies, and India, and for according favourable
commercial terms to our Allies. It is held that pro-
ducers in this country are entitled to protection against
“dumping” and the introduction of “sweated”
goods ; and, in fact, generally where either national
safety is concerned or where important industries
are in danger of being brought under alien control
or otherwise threatened. The whole fiscal scheme,
as laid down in this report, amounts to the adoption
of a limited amount of protection, controlled by a
strong and competent State Assistance Board.

While deferring comment upon the important
principles here set forth, involving as they do a
complete reversal of our pre-war policy, it may be
said that the recommendations of the Committee are
in themselves a satisfactory answer to the economic
war designed by Germany to ruin British trade. In
many respects the measures advocated are no more
than a legitimate defence against the methods which
that country adopted before the war, the full signifi-
cance of which has only been made manifest since
the rupture of peaceful relations. The eyes of the
whole civilised world have since been opened to the
dangers of “ peaceful penetration ” ; and that
country which refuses to profit by the experience
which has thus been gained must be accounted
wanting in the instinct of self-preservation.

We called attention some time ago
National to the Interim Report on Electric
Electricity Power Supply in Great Britain,
Supply: issued by the Coal Conservation
A Criticism. Sub-Committee of the Reconstruction
Committee appointed by the Ministry
of Reconstruction. Dr. Addison, in a preface to this
report, notes that important issues affecting
municipalities and public bodies are raised in the
report, and that these will be explored in all respects
before any action is proposed to Parliament upon the
subject. We now have before us a criticism of the
whole scheme, drawn up by Mr. Ernest Hatton,
engineer and general manager of the Newcastle-
upon-Tyne Electricity Undertaking. The scheme has
also been criticised by Mr. H. L. Pearce, electrical
engineer to the Manchester Corporation. It is of the
greatest interest and value to have the views of
these prominent representatives of existing municipal
power stations, whose special attitude with regard to
the scheme proposed by the Reconstruction Com-
mittee, deserves careful consideration. As Mr.
Hatton points out, engineers of municipal power
stations have already for many years been working
in the direction of fuel economy, and their success
in diminishing the coal consumption per unit of
electricity generated has been an outstanding feature
of progress in recent years. But there are other
factors which govern cheap power supply besides
low fuel costs, amongst which are capital expenditure
and the utilisation of waste heat.

In the latter direction the north-east coast area
has achieved particular success, for in no other
district has the development of electricity as a
by-product been pushed to such an extent. But, as
Mr. Hatton points out, the situation is here remark-
ably favourable on account of the premier position
occupied by Durham coking coal. The eleven waste
heat stations in operation in the north-east coast
area are estimated to effect a saving of 150,000 tons
of coal per annum. Even if equally favourable
conditions existed throughout the country, calculated
upon the same basis, Mr. Hatton finds that the
economy in coal consumption that could be effected
by utilising waste heat would not represent more
than 1,110,000 * tons, equivalent to a value of
£550,000 per annum. This economy would not go
far towards the saving of 55,000,000 tons of coal,
worth £27,500,000, contemplated in the Government
scheme. «

Mr. Hatton then proceeds to examine the condi-
tions of success of this new proposal: He assumes
that it would be essential in the first place to take
over all the existing power stations in the country,
both those of local authorities and also those of
commercial undertakings. For this would be the
only way of providing the new schemes with a
nucleus load, indispensable for its economic success.
Since these works are, on the whole, to be regarded
as examples of fairly economical power production
under existing conditions, merely to take them over
and work them from a few super-stations, taking
into account losses in transmission and conversion,
could not in itself effect any material saving in coal.
Thus, as Mr. Hatton shows, the saving of 55,000,000
tons of coal could only be accomplished by electrically
equipping works, manufactories . and collieries
throughout the country in order to utilise the
supplies from the proposed Super-stations.

With regard to the proposal of the Sub-Committee
to stop the extension or multiplication of uneco-
nomical works for public supply, pending the erection
of the new super-power stations, the assumption is
made that after the war there will be a temporary
lull in manufacturing output, of which advantage
may be taken for the conversion from the old to the
new order of things. There are, however, many
who believe that the work of reconstruction will
result in even greater manufacturing activity than
has existed hitherto. If, therefore, full advantage