COAL AND ITS USES

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21118, 20 March 1934, Page 6

COAL AND ITS USES

(iRKAT COMMERCIAL VALUE \I)I)KLSS BY MR F. W . .1. m; I/lON 11.0 very many use*-. to which coal a;id its products were put in the commercial life of the community were briefly outlined by IVlr F. YY. J. Bcltnn, chief engineer to the Christchurch Gas Company, in an address to the Canterbury Advertising Club yesterday. Mr J. Stout was in the chair and there were 17 members present. Air Helton's subject was "What Commerce Owes to the Miracle of Coal," and he said he could sum his nr;,imient up very easily in the word "everythinj;." People were inclined to think that the present was the most wonderful a;-;e that there had ever been and that all the most marvellous discoveries had been made during thr.t nse. That, however, was far ' from correct.

The earliest mention he could find df the use of coal was by the ancient Greeks. The Romans, too. know of coal and used it in the manufacture of their pottery more than 2000 years a.uo. Isolated mentions oi its use durin ; Saxon and Norman times were to be found, but with the fall of the Kmnan civilisation a great deal of learning was lost and it had never been regained. It was not until the year 1234 that coal was, mined and :.eul to London by sea and in 13U0 the smoke nuisance from coal was so meat that its use in London was forbidden. The use of coal to any extent, however, seemed to have been forgotten since Roman times and charcoal was used extensively, but so many trees were being used that their felling was prohibited. Lord Dundonald, in 1781, patented a process for the manufacture of tar and other by-products of coal and he m emed to include them all except gas. which was not discovered till 11 years later. The use of coal for mechanical transportation brought great developments in machinery and tiie generation of electricity by the use of coal was also discovered. Gas. also, was used fur a tire at many purposes because it could be controlled so completely.

The use of rosins hail become common and Mr Helton spoke of their u*e by chemists as containers for strong iii'ids, such as hydrochloric acid, which aiTeeted most of Ihe usual class of containers. The coal-tar dye industry was another development of the discovery of coal, and the use of tar macadam on roads had greatly benefited transport, lie also spoke of the carbonisation of coal into motor spirit. At the conclusion of his address, Mr Belton was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.