COMMERCIAL ALCOHOL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 173, 19 August 1919, Page 2

COMMERCIAL ALCOHOL

At the meeting of the Council of the Dunedin Chamber of 'Oommerce, held recently,, the ■ secretary (Mr P. Barr) submitted correspondence respecting the .Distillaton Amendment Act, a matter whch wag introduced alt a recent meet--1 ing by Mr A. S. Malcolm, M.P., who expressed the fear that the Act, as it stood, would Send to create a monopoly value in the case of industrial alcohol.

In connection with this matter, the 'Comptroller of Customs, Wellington (Mr W. B. Montgomery) wrote as follows: —I would suggest that the supply of industrial alcohol' within the Dominion! can never become a monopoly so long as there is free importation of foreignmade spirit and motor spirit and fuel oils to the amount of 10,000,000 gallons annually. The foreign-made spirits of wine at present imported l are chiefly used for the manufacture of medicinal •ttinctures in the manufacturing warehouses under Government control, and for th© purpose of making methylated l spirits, for household use, and for making varnish and lacquers; but taken' together the quantity required for consumption does not at present exceed 100,000 gallons per annum. To make any venture a commercial success, and to compete as a source of fuel for internal combustion engines,' It would: be necessary for any plant established to turn out enormously in excess of this quantity, and alt! the same time to compete in price with the importers of fuel oils and of spirits from' abroad. I notice from a newspaper report, of- the meeting of your chamber that there* is a fear that the breweries might he turned into distilleries in the event of prohibition being carried. If research is made into the sources of alcohol, their cost, and the yield: per ton of potatoes, grain, or fruit, it will he at once apparent Hint the brewers cannot make a. commercial suecessi of the distillation of spirits. The only hop© _of success- in New Zealand at Present lies, first, l,n the fermentaiilion of the sugars contained in the juices of flax,, and necessarily this can only Ire conducted as a subsidiary industry to flax milling and where flax milting is canted on on the largest scale. ThealcohoT from this source would not be likely to exceed 300,000- annually; secondly, iti a scientific and carefully conducted treatment of sawdust and wood waste, t'o ertxaot sugars, or to form them by chemical conversion. This could' also only succeed, as an industry subsidiary ot sawmill® having a huge outpnS and a long prospective life. The sawdust and wood waste ■ used per day would have to amount to .something like 30, toms tb yield enough alcohol to make the venture nay, and at the best .a mill of this capacity oouldl only produce 200,000 gallons of alcohol per annum. I talkie it that the Government is not prepared to take over all flwxmill.? or sawmills producing enough waste to make distillation worth while. There is much talk of tb© manufacture cl alcohol from sawdust, but it is interesting • to note that with all her _ large lunmber rams there is no such industry m the whole of- Canada, and that only four distal Jeries for recovering alcohol from, wood have been set up in the' United Spates, and that three of three have been failures. The subject is a very proper one for experiment oh the parti of the ForeStry Department, but at present there are no data from which cxactl calculations can be made as to the amount, of alcohol which can be recoyered from New Zealand woods, ate Compareu'Vritih the wood of coniferous trees of North America,” ” :i ■ ■'-.■■■■ It was decided tb forward the corre. spondence. from thetdther chambers to Mr Malcolm., and to write to Mr Montgomery thanking him for his initlene.sti.nig fetter.