THE BOLE OF GAS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 112, 7 November 1935, Page 5

THE BOLE OF GAS

ITS VALUE TO WOMEN

Millions of hours of work for women in Britain have been saved by the substitution of gas for raw coal, according to Mr. Walter Muter, president of the British Commercial Gas Association, who outlined the future programme of the industry before the annual conference in Edinburgh recently, says the "Daily Telegraph." The association's aim, he said, was to secure shorter working hours, especially for the woman in the house, to provide healthier and better living conditions for all, and to aid in the revival of the British industry. The wealth and health of the British Isles alike depended upon the wise utilisation of their coal resources.

The household grates of this country were responsible for the consumption of more than 30,000,000 tons of raw coal per annum. The abatement of coal smoke, which destroyed property and cost enormous sums of money, and which, above all, was the insidious enemy of public health, was hardly less urgent.

The two objectives—coal conserva-

tion and smoke abatement—could be achieved by the same;means, carbonisation of coal. The substitution of gas for 17,000,000 tons of raw coal had not only saved millions of hours of work for the women of this country, but had helped to conserve our fuel resources and to clear the: air in our towns. Mr. Muter added "that the gas industry was so constituted that the needs of the public came first. Every increase in productive efficiency was passed on to the consumer as an economy. The law forbade statutory gas companies to raise the price of gas without lowering their dividends.. In no other industry had the consumer been so fully protected.by. legislative enactments. More than one-tenth of the total gas output of this country was sold to industrial users, and it was significant that the use of gas was expanding rapidly in the new industries.

The gas industry, he continued, was the first to start co-operative advertising oti a national scale.

Since we began to advertise in the newspapers," he declared, "our sales of gas have increased by 50 per cent., and this development has enabled us to give consistently better service to our customers at lower cost. Today, with a larger appropriation than ever before, Press advertising remains the backbone of our publicity campaign."