30-MILE HOLE IN THE EARTH

Evening Star, Issue 17234, 26 December 1919, Page 3

30-MILE HOLE IN THE EARTH

SOLUTION FOB THE COAL PROBLEM. Sir Charles A. Parsons, the famous inventor of the turbine, in his presidential address to the British Association suggested the possibility of a gspopulated England and hinted that the doom might be averted by boring down into the earth for miles and lapping new sources of energy. " One cannot but realise," he said, " that, failing new and unexpected discoveries in science," such as the harnassinar of the latent molecular and atomic energy in matter, the great position of England cannot be maintained for an indefinite period. At some time- or other, more or lees remote, the population will gradually migrate to those countries where the natural sources of energy are the most abundant."

England was using up her coal more rapidly than most other countries, and Sir Charles suggested that long before they reached the point of exhaustion it might pay to import coal from countries where it is workable at lower cost. Ultimately water power will be more rapidly developed, although the cost of harnessing all the water power of the world would be about 8,000 millions, or the. cost of tho war to England. What should they do to be saved from the disaster threatened by the exhaustion of their coal and the competition of other lands -with plenty of cheap power? Sir Charles Parson's advice may be summed up in tho one word "Bore." There may be cheap power waiting, ready to be tapped, down deep in the crust of the earth. He recalled that some years ago he suggested boring a shaft 12 miles deep, or about 10 times draper than any in existence. At that time the cost was estimated at £5,000,000, and the time that would be required at 85 years 1 Since then, he added. experiments have been made showing that in limestone a depth of 15 miles is probably practicable, and in granite a depth of 30 miles might be reached, " Little is at present known of the earth's interior," said Sir Charles. "When we consider that the estimated cost of sinking a shaft to a depth of 12 miles at present-day prices is not much more than the cost of one.day.of the war to Great Britain alone, the expenae seems trivial compared with the possible knowledge that might be gained by an investigation into this unexplored region of the earth."

In Italy, at Lardarello, he" said, bore holes have been sunk which discharge large volumes of high-pressure steam, which -is used to generate about J. 0,000 horse-power by turbines. A. similar project is on foot near Naples to supply power to the great works in the distriot.

"Without promising that a-12-mile bore hole in England would yield- ready-made eteam power, Sir Charles Parsons urged- that the whole subject merits the most oareful consideration."

One of the points of Sir Charles's address related to a secret of the war. The Germans, and subsequently the' Allies, used insulated electric cable laid on the bottom of the sea to guide their ships throueh their own Jaime fields. It was called " leader gear." Cables' up to 50 miles long were used, and this device promises to be invaluable to ships navigating narrow, and tortuous channels and entering or leaving harbors in a fog.