THE COAL FAMINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11544, 1 December 1900, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE COAL FAMINE.

Me. Benjamin Taylor writes a timely article, on "The World's Coal" in Cassier's Magazine for September. He remarks that "'tis coal, not love, that makes the world go round," and then proceeds to inquire into the causes of the coal famine in Europe. Some people attribute it to the war in South Africa, but though the war has made use of large numbers of steamers, these would have used just the same amount of coal elsewhere. Mr. Taylor points to the phenomenal industrial expansion and activity of the past two years, and says: "The increase in the production of coal has been great, but the increase in the consumption has been greater. That is the simple explanation of the scarcity and of the consequently high prices." He gives a general survey of the different coal producers, and points out that the United States and the United Kingdom alone among the thirty odd coal-producing countries were able to increase their exports to any material extent. He thinks that: " The American supply seems destined to control the future situation in the Atlantic region, as the China supply is, in the writer's opinion, destined to control the ultimate situation in the Pacific region." A comparison of the output of the States with that of the United Kingdom will, as he says, probably be a revelation to the complacent Briton. In 1899 the total output of coal in Great Britain was 220,085,303 tons. For the same year that of the United States was 230,838,973, an increase over their output during the previous year of 54,500,000 tons ! The last British Royal Commission was in 1871, and its report" is sufficient evidence that another is needed. Mr. Taylor says: "The - reasons why another inquiry is deemed —though the Government has declined to nominate another Commissionmay be briefly stated. In 1871 the Royal Commission estimated that the population of the United Kingdom in 1901 would be 35,000.000; the census returns will probably show 41,000,000. They estimated that in 1901 the consumption and exports of British - coal would require an output of 174.400,000 tons; the output in 1899 was 220,000,000 tons. They assumed that the exports would not exceed 12,000,000 tons; the sales last year to foreigners exceeded 43,000,000 tons. It is probable that the output in 1901 may be 225,000,000 tons, or over 50.000,000 tons more than the estimate of the Royal Commission." Mr. Taylor does not view with much alarm the predictions concerning the exhaustion of the coal supply. He says :—" It seems to the present writer, however, that sufficient account is not taken of the probable development of mining dexterity. The term ' cheaply-worked,' applied to coal, is only a relative one, and future generations will be able to unearth the deepest seams at a cost which to us is impossible. This should be kept in view as a qualification of the alarmist calculation of the president of the London (1899) Conference of Mining Engineers, who actvahced reasons for thinking that all the best seams of coal in the United Kingdom will be exhausted within the next 50 years." Mr. Taylor writes strongly against the restriction of the export of coal. He says: — The stoppage of the export of coal would mean the ruin of the industries and the commerce of the British Isles. There is nu other heavy ' cargo' to give the vessels which steam outwards to all parts of the earth in search of cheap foodstuffs for the hungry people and of material for their insatiable mills and factories." Relief must be found in the use of liquid fuel and prevention of waste, which is extremely large at present. Millions of tons of coal per annum could be saved by the effective uso of water power now running to waste. On the whole the article is cheerfully optimistic.