THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

AND

JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES.

Vol. CXVL

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1918.

No. 3008.

COAL CONSERVATION COMMITTEE.

FINAL REPORT.*

We, the Coal Conservation Committee, have the
honour to report as follows: —

1.	We were originally appointed in July, 1916, by
the Prime Minister, then Mr. Asquith, as a Sub-
Committee of the Reconstruction Committee of which
he was Chairman, and it was referred to us to consider
and advise: —

(1)	What improvements can be effected in the

present methods of mining coal with a view
to prevent loss of coal in working and to
minimise cost of production.

(2)	What improvements can be effected in the

present methods of using coal for the pro-
duction of power, light and heat, and of
recovering bye-products, with a view to
ensure the greatest possible economy, in pro-
duction and the most advantageous use of
the coal substance.

(3)	Whether with a view to maintaining our in-

dustrial and commercial position it is de-
sirable that any steps should be taken in
the near future, and if so what steps, to
secure the development of new coalfields or
extensions of coalfields already being
worked.

2.	On the establishment of the Ministry of Recon-
struction we became a Committee of that Department.

3.	At our first meeting on the 16th of July, 1916,
we considered the method of procedure we should
adopt, and we decided to appoint sub-committees to
investigate and report to us on the several parts of
the extensive subject referred to us.

4.	Our reasons for adopting this course are, we

think, fairly obvious. The one end in view is the
conservation of coal, or the careful husbanding of this
great natural source of wealth: but its attainment
involves the investigation of a number of problems
each of which demands for its solution special scien-
tific and technological training and practical experience
of the subject. It appeared to us that this had been
kept in view in selecting the members of the Com-
mittee, and we thought the practical course was, in
the first instance at any rate, to give those members
of the Committee more specially qualified to deal
with each part of the subject an opportunity of con-
sidering and reporting upon it.	.

5.	Accordingly we appointed the following Sub-

committees: 1. The Mining Sub-Committee: 2.
The Power Generation and Transmission Sub-Com-
mittee :	3. The Metallurgical Sub - Committee:

4. The Carbonisation Sub-Committee: and 5. The
Geological Sub-Committee; and instructed them to
report to us on the matters referred to them.

6.	In order to strengthen the Sub-Committees we
authorised them to co-opt additional members whose
names were first to be submitted to us for recom-
mendation to the Prime Minister for his approval.
In this manner Mr. E. M. Hann, Lieut.-Colonel
W. C. Blackett, and Mr. John Gemmell were added
to the Mining Sub-Committee; and Dr. J. Horne,
E.R.S., was added to the Geological Sub-Committee;
and these gentlemen have given the valuable assist-
ance of their knowledge and experience to the sub-
committees on which they sat.

7.	At a meeting of the Committee on the 31st of
January, 1917, the Carbonisation and Metallurgical
Sub-Committees asked permission to amalgamate into
one Sub-Committee, and this was authorised.

8.	It was clear to us from the first that there were
many questions within the scope of our enquiry which
could not be decided on the basis of existing knowledge,
but necessarily involved research. Yet a transitory
body, such as a Committee, with no permanent staff
or other resources for the purpose, could not under-
take research work. We therefore approached the
Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Re-
search, in August, 1916, in order to ascertain how
co-operation with that body could be ensured.' We
informed the Council that until the sub-committees
we had appointed had had an opportunity of survey-
ing their respective fields it would not be possible
to form an estimate of the amount and kinds of re-
search work that would have to be done, but we
pointed out that there could be little doubt as to
the importance and immediate necessity of a chemical
survey of the coalfields of this country. This led to
further negotiations, which are more fully described
in the Report of the Committee of the Privy Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research for 1916-7,f and
ultimately to the establishment by the Government of
the Fuel Research Board. As appears in the Report
of the Carbonisation Sub-Committee this Board re-
lieves us of the responsibility of surveys and re-
searches in connection with fuel.

9.	With regard to other questions involving re-
search the general view we take appears from the

* Published by H.M. Stationery Office, London [Cd.
90841, price Is. net.

+ Published by H.M. Stationery Office, London [Cd.
8718], price 3d. net.

Interim Report of the Mining Sub-Committee which
recommends the establishment of a Ministry of Mines
and Minerals, and describes the relations which we
think ought to subsist for purposes of research be-
tween this new Department and the Committee of the
Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
on the one hand and the proposed Imperial Mineral
Resources Bureau on the other.

10.	In February, 1917, we received the Interim
Report of the Geological Sub-Committee on the Work
and Powers of the Geological Survey, and as in our
opinion the extension of the powers of the Geological
Survey recommended in this Report was a matter
calling for early attention we submitted the Report
at once to the Prime Minister.

11.	In April, 1917, we received the Interim Report
of the Power Generation and Transmission Sub-Com-
mittee on Electric Power Supply in Great Britain,
and this Report also, on account of the urgency of
the matter, we submitted without delay to the Prime
Minister. It has already been presented to Parlia-
ment and published as a Parliamentary paper with
the addition of a Note by you.

12.	When these two reports were made each of the

Sub-Committees concerned was of opinion that it
might desire to make a further Report. But the
question of the relations of the Geological Survey
and Museum to the Department of Mines and
Minerals has been dealt with in the Interim Report
of the Mining Sub-Committee, and further considera-
tion of it by the Geological Sub-Committee was re-
garded as unnecessary. Again, the question of what
steps should be taken, by legislation or otherwise, to
ensure a cheap supply of electrical energy throughout
the country, especially for industrial purposes, is one
upon which the Power Generation and Transmission
Sub-Committee intended to report. But this ques-
tion is already under the consideration of a new De-
partmental Committee of the Board of Trade of which
the Vice-Chairman of the Power Generation and
Transmission Sub-Committee is a member. In these
circumstances the Sub-Committees concerned have
informed us that they do not propose to make any
further Report.	:

13.	We have since received two Reports from the
Mining Sub-Committee—an Interim Report dealing
with the question of a Ministry of Mines and
Minerals, and a Final Report dealing with the
other questions referred to that Sub-Committee.
Finally, we have received the Report of the
Carbonisation Sub-Committee, so that all our Sub-
Committees have now reported to us on the parts of
our reference which we asked them to consider.

14.	Notwithstanding the earlier submission of the
two Reports referred to above, we append all the
Reports we have received from our Sub-Committees,
and we have the honour to submit these Reports to
you as a whole, and as forming, together with these
preliminary explanations, our Substantive Report
upon the whole of the questions referred to us. The
members of each Sub-Committee are no doubt pri-
marily responsible for their Report, but (subject, in
the case of some of us, to such reservations as we
have made in signing this or any of the attached
Reports), we, as a Committee, have considered and
approved all the Reports. We concur in their con-
clusions, and adopt their recommendations as our
own. There is one matter, however, which we must
refer to specially. We appreciate the importance of
the question referred to in paragraphs 29 to 32 of the
Carbonisation Sub-Committee’s Report, and in Mr.
Talbot’s Memorandum appended to that Report
(p. 81), but we are of opinion that this question raises
economic problems of a far-reaching character, and
that these problems lie beyond the scope of our
reference. We therefore abstain from expressing any
opinion on a subject which raises more than one point
requiring careful investigation.

15.	We desire to express our high appreciation of
the valuable services of our Joint Secretaries, Mr.
McNair and Mr. Stanners.

We have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient
Servants, Haldane (Chairman), George Beilby,
William A. Bone, W. Forster Brown, Guy Calthrop,
Charles Carpenter, Arthur Cooper, J. S. Haldane,
John Kemp, Charles H. Merz, Adam Nimmo, R. A. S.
Redmayne, C. E. Rhodes, Robt. Smillie, Charles P.
Sparks, A. Strahan, Benj. Talbot.

Arnold D. McNair and Robert W. Stanners, Joint
Secretaries.

To the Right Honourable

Christopher Addison, M.D., M.P.,
Minister of Reconstruction.

January 23, 1918.

Reservations.

(1)	I find I am unable to agree unreservedly with the
Final Report of the Mining Sub-Committee of the
Coal Conservation Committee, and I accordingly

desire to record my dissent as regards the clauses
which deal with coal left for support.

The Report of the Sub-Committee appears to me to
travel considerably beyond the question remitted to
them, and indeed to deal with matters having little,
if any, bearing on the Conservation of Coal. The
right of a coal owner to receive payment from Statu-
tory Companies for unworked coal may be a matter
well worth consideration, but the only question in
this connection which, as it seems to me, can properly
call for an expression of opinion on our part is whether
or not means ought to be found for enabling coal to
be worked which a coal owner may be prevented from
working, and which might be worked without undue
risk of damage to works on the surface. It is to be
noticed that in the case of private surface owners a
remedy is proposed by the Sub-Committee raising no
question of compensation to the owner, and no ex-
planation is given why a different remedy is suggested
in the case of public companies, nor is there any
indication that the Sub-Committee even considered
the possibility of applying the same remedy to both.
The fact is that the clauses of the Acts referred to
in the report of the Sub-Committee form a code of
mining laws as applied to statutory undertakings,
and have to be looked at a whole. It may be that
the time has arrived when this could could be amended
with advantage, but it appears to me that such a
question is outside the purview of our investigation,
and that any enquiry would have to be conducted by
an expert body, on which are various interests affected
would have to be represented, and that in any such
enquiry the whole of the clauses would have to be
considered.	Guy Calthrop.

(2)	I desire to make a similar reservation to the
preceding on the grounds that consideration of these
matters appears to me to be outside the terms of
the reference to the Committee.

Charles Carpenter.

APPENDIX I.

Power Generation and Transmission.*

The following is a summary of the chief points dealt
with and the conclusions arrived at: —

(1)	The coal consumption involved in the produc-

tion of motive power in the United Kingdom
amounts at the present time to 80,000,000
tons per annum; equivalent in value to say
£40,000,000 at pit head.

(2)	In the industrial re-organisation which must

take place on the termination of the war
the further development of power is of great
importance. The present use of motive
power per employee is only about half that
in the United States of America. Large
quantities of electrical power will be re-
quired for the development and carrying on
of new processes not at present undertaken
in this country. Processes involving some
millions of horse power at present worked in
America, Norway and Sweden, Germany,
&c., can be profitably carried on, and, hav-
ing in view the desirability of making all
essential products in the Empire, should be
carried on in this country.

(3)	It is only by largely increasing the amount of

power used in industry (by two or more
times) that the average output per head
and as a consequence the wages of the indi-
vidual) can be increased. The pre-war
earning power, or wages, of each individual
was far too low.

(4)	Power may be most efficiently applied to in-

dustry by the medium of electricity.

(5)	The economical generation of the electrical

energy so required is thus of great impor-
tance, and the first question to be answered
is whether the best economy can be obtained
by each works or municipal area providing
for its own individual needs, or by a com-
prehensive scheme.

(6)	Technically and economically the electrical

energy can be best provided by a compre-
hensive system, as may be amply proved
from experience gained in those parts of
the world where such systems are in exis-
tence, notably in Chicago (Illinois), on the
North-East Coast of England, on the Rand,
and in certain industrial districts of Ger-
many. Power production in large super-
plants, with generating machines of 50,000
h.p. or more, will not only be far more
economical than in a large number of smaller
plants, but will ultimately involve great
economies of capital by securing a better
load and a more effective use of .the plant.
Such super-plants, if suitably situated on
large sites, would make it possible—so far
as it was economical to do so—to extract
the by-products in the shape of oils, motor
spirit, &c., from the coal before using it as
fuel, thus avoiding to a large extent the
necessity of importing them.	_

* Published separately, April, 1917 (Cd, 8880).