THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1903.

Grey River Argus, Volume 57, Issue 10520, 21 January 1903, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1903.

A .tost interesting article, from the pen of Benjamin Tayloi, appeared io the Empire Review f.r November last entitled the "Imperial aspects of tlie coal question." Coal has bscu well named the concentrated essence ox power, though how long it can retain it in these days of electrical developments it might ba rasb to speculate. We are in an age of many rapid transitions. Electricity is working wonders as a motive po v. Pr, and we are only awakening to the vast possibilities of Marconi's sy. tern of wireless telegraphy. What these extraordinary developments may yet come to it woul > be futile to speculate. In '.he meantime Bri'ain's foresight in the past has proved of incalculable value. With a d<m sort of feeling ©f what seapower was destined to become in" an essentially commercial age, Britain was ahead of all the other nations in acquiring coaling station .. Germany was quick to detect this advantage in later days ; hence her efforts in the Samoan business in order to obtain a good coaling station iv bhe Pacific. A similar reason no doubt actuated tlie United States in accepting the offers of the revolutionists of Hawaii to hand the Island over to "Uncle Sam." The importance of possessing coaling stations and sbores of ceal can only be fully realised during actiMl maritime war or when war of that kind is threatened. The conflict between America and Spain was an object lesson as to the importance' of coaling stations that has, no doubt, not been losb on the world. Ib will have been noticed thab since that short, sharp, ancl decisive war, the great commercial powe:s have evinced an anxiety bo acquire stations on the high seas with a vi.-\v to being prep ai ed for even tualit ies. Russia, Germany and France have been notably active in the Far East, while there is good reason to. suppose that Germany would welcome any excuse for trying to obtain a foothold on the main land of South America Without an ample supply of coal in a maritime war the most powerful navy must be useless. Consequently the nation that contro's the most numerous and best commercial 'coigns of vantage' in the shape of coiling stations must possess an enormous advantage a. against her enemies who hold few or none. As the writer of the article puts tho mat-tor, "It is, as ono may put it, the coal supply of bhe world thab will adjust the future industrial, social and poll ie .1 rclab'ous of the nations" ] and iv view of the coining importance of the South Pacific (when the Isthnnui Canal is opened) the question becomes of enormous itnpu* ance to this colon)', and especially to this portion of it in consequence of possessing the only possible real c®al porb in the South Pacific — namely Point Elizabeth. It is very doubtful whetliPi* tho attention habeen bestowed on this view of the question tbat its importance deserve*. At present Britain is bringing up from her " coal pits somewhere approaching 225,000,000 tons of the precious mineral annually, or fifty million tons more than the R >y._l Commission of 30 y-ars ago conceived couid bo possible before the close of the nineteenth century. How long the supply will prove equal to the rapidly increasing demand is the . question the Royal Commi.sion appointed last season has to inquire into and report upon. According to the returns for 1900 and 1901 the world's output af coal may be taken at 700,000,00010ng tons. Of that quantity the United States produces 235,000,000 tons, G-eat Britain 225,000,000, 110,000,000 tons by Germany, 32,000,000 by France, and 21,000,000 tons by Belgium. Wbile the coal resources of the other powers are confined to their own territories, the coal resources of the Empire are world-wide, and now being utilised. New South. Wales and British India each has an output of six million tons, Canada five millions, South Africa .hive millions, and New Zealand one million. The other colouies bring the total output of the Empire up to a total of 247,000,000 Ib will be seen from these figu-es bhab Britain holds not only the balance of c_»al power, in so far as Europe is concerned, but nearly three-eightsh of the p.espnt coal power of the wo»ld. While America is the chief competitor of the Empire on the Atlantic, and may conceivably displace Britain permanently from some coaling stations — say bho eastern coasts of South America ; in bhe Pacific Britain remains supreme — thab is until the coal resources of China are opened up, which is left for another period. Ono of the chief objects -of the article is to show that the coal heritage of the British people is not confined to Britain, and that pur future in the Pacific and in the East depends on the development of the resources of "British India, British' Columbia and Australasia, and on our relations to the unplumbed depths of the Chinese coal seams, not on tho whims and vagaries of Welsh and English colliers." And also that "Tis coal, not love that mak.o - the world go round, and that nation must lead the others which has cheap coal, good coal, and plenty of it.' " Consequently nothing is of greater importance to tha future of the British Empire than the active utilisation of the coal deposits in every branch of the Empire. It musb therefore he obvious that the full value of this coast as a coal producing region can never be realised until such time as we possess a port unaffected by floods and independent of bars. Nature has fortunately supplied ua wibh that coa venienco

almost ready made. Man only rinquires to do his share to make the Grey district a rival in the course of time to Newcastle, N.S.W. The coal deposits of Australia and New Zealand are the most valuable assets these communities possess, and every opportunity should be seized to make the mosb of them.