COAL MINING INDUSTRY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 15 October 1926, Page 4

COAL MINING INDUSTRY

ECONOMISED USE OP COAL nei<;d for research (By Telegraph.—Special to Th« Mail.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. A primary industry, the welfare of which is closely bound up with the whole question of secondary industries, is coal mining and the utilisation of coal for the purpose of power and heat production, said Professor Denharn. when addressing members of the Industrial Corporation of New Zealand. The cost of fuel, said Professor Denharn, was often a severe burden on many of the dominions' secondary industries, e.g., the steel and iron trade, cement works, brick kilns, etc; and since the natural resources of cool in .New Zealand were by no means superabundant every effortshould be made to utilise to the best advantage her supplies. A complete chemical and physical survey of all known coal seams should be undertaken, and this should be followed by large scale distillation tests, especially of brown coals, either at the British Fuel Research Station or, if need be, in New Zealand. By such tests alone could one determine the method by which coal could be most economically utilised. Recent work had shown that by suitable treatment it was possible to obtain even from poor coals considerable quantities of motor and fuel oils, together with smokeless coke, which burns in the open grate as well as raw coal itself. In these days of diminishing oil resources every effort should be made to release New Zealand from entire dependence upon Imported oil fuel. This work should be mapped out by a committee of scientists, Government representatives, colliery owners, and possibly large-scale users of coal.