THE WORLD'S COAL.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10215, 10 December 1898, Page 6

THE WORLD'S COAL.

The material variously known as'"black, diamonds," "bottled sunshine," and "portable climate," is the main, sinew of war and the lungs of peace. Lord Kelvin recently suggested that all the free oxygen of the atmosphere has been released by vegetation from a primordial atmosphere of carbonic acid' gas. He thinks there may be just enough of oxygen to burn all the coal, and that, when it is all burnt, there will be no oxygen left for furnace or the lungs of"animals. Hence itVis essential to life that'the coal should 4iot all be burnt. Yet' it. appears to be also essential to modern life that it should be consumed as rapidly as possible. The world's store of coal is, however, so amazingly great that there is no immediate danger of the exhaustion of it. The known deposits of Britain, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary .and Belgium are estimated at 360,000 millions of tons. More than half of this huge amount is in Britain. The world's present output is about 575 millions of tons per annum, so that at the present rate these five small countries could supply the world for, say, 650 years to come. The United States and Canada are believed to have more coal than the whole of Europe. China, India and Australasia probably have as much. Africa may possess unimaginable stores, and so may Brazil. The present output, however, is not the measure of the duration of the supply. In 1871 a Royal Commission reported that, on a much smaller .estimate of the unmined coal than is now adopted, Britain had enough coal to last her for 1200 years .if she did not increase the output, but only enough to last 360 years if the then rate of increase were main* tamed. Thus far the increase of output has been maintained, and last, year the enormous total of 202 millions of tons was reached. Twenty years ago it was only 134 nxillions of tons. About a" fourth of Britain's output is exported, and the other three-fourths are consumed at home. The export of coal is of course' a very important branch of British trade,, and it has increased in a. much greater ratio than the home consumption, having grown by about 140 per cent, in the h\st twenty years. Stilly therfe are grave reasons for doubting whether this trade can long be maintained. Rapid as is the British increase in the coal "brought to bank," other countries are increasing their yield still more rapidly. The practical question of the hour is not "How long will supplies last" j but, "How long can Britain lead the world as a coal supplier ?" Thus, in 1888 Russia raised less than 4,000,000 tons, or less than New South Wales does now. But in 1896 her output was nearly, 10,000,000 tons. For a number of years the German increase was from two. to three millions of tons annually. In 1893

the increase was six ana » nau in 1897 ten millions. It is the States, however, that is tho most midablecompetitor. In 1885 the British %M and American outputs were respectively & 159 millions and 99 millions of tons. in 1897 the figures were 202 millions and/1 j-J 178 niillions of tons, The American in-'' '4 crease is thus nearly double the British, ,igThere arefcwb fayis which make the gre„jS* ; i' strides with whic- the States are rush- $#, ing forward to claim first place formidable," % They possess a total coal area of 200,000 ''ft square miles. Yet the one State of T Pennsylvania, with but 12,000 squaro ;\- ---miles of the great total, yields two-thirds f ■of the output. When the other States ?■ get into their stride how tremendous the , pace will be I The second fact is that th« . American price at the pit's mouth is Is , Id per ton less than that of Britain. The . respective average prices are 4s 9|d and V , 5s 10^d —compared with 5s 9d in . South Wales and 10s in New Zealand. . In only one country of the world is the , average price at the pit so low as ia . America. That country is British India, where the output is small, four and a "' half millions, or the same as New South ' , Wales, and the price 3s B£d. America, ' course, has to contend with greater distances from the sea than Britain, but the low price cheapens transport itself, aswell as gives an enormous advantage ia all those industries, especially iron, ~ which depend on coal.