WIDER USE OF COAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21248, 30 July 1932, Page 7 (Supplement)

WIDER USE OF COAL

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION Mr. Isaac Foot, Secretary far Mines in Britain, spoke at a recent luncheon of the Coal Industry Society on "The Wider Uses of Coal." As examples of the immense changes which were taking place iti the industrial sphere where coal met its competitors, Mr. Foot said that owing to improvements in methods of manufacture an increase of 45 per cent in the output of gas since 1913 required an increased use of only 8£ per cent of coal, and aii' increased output of 139 per cent of electrical units required an increased use of only 35i per cent, of coal. Had the quantity of coal used for these purposes increased in the same ratio as the output of gas and electricity, 12,000,000 tons more coal would have been required. But these improvements of method were not to be deplored; rather were they to be welcomed, said Mr. Foot. They were necessary if coal was to maintain its place in competition with other fuels and if our manufactures were to be able to keep down their costs of production. There had been a vast increase in the use of oil during the last 20 years. Even when the whole of the motor spirit was excluded there remained a very large increase in the use of oil products at the expense of coal. In the new conditions salesmanship and service becamo of increased importance. Large scale experiments with pulverised coal were being mado in British ships. That day's newspapers contained news of an experiment with a now fuel, a mixture of crude oil and pulverised coal, that was being made by the Cunard Company in the liner Scythia. The experiments were concerned not only with methods of combustion, but also with improvements in boiler and engine design. This was a matter which called for close co-operation between the four industries of coalmining, shipping, shipbuilding, and marine boiler-making. The use of pulverised fuel was more widespread than was generally realised, and the Mines Department was at present engaged in an inquiry as to the quantity of coal consumed in this .form. In the development of new methods, added Mr. Foot, there must be a coordination of practical experiments and scientific inquiry—co-operation between the industrialist and tho scientist. Coal tar was formerly a waste product, but the research of the scientist had turned it into wealth. The industry's battle had to be won in the laboratory. Immense issues were involved, some scientific and some social. Tho chemist and the scientist were dealing with issues affecting tho lives of tens of thousands of their fellow countrymen. ELECTRICITY IN FISH The Musee Permanent des Colonies in Paris has received a consignment of six boarders fro,ln the tropical regions of Bout.li America in the shape of six fish called " Gyinnotes " or, to give them their scientific appellation, " Electrophorus Gymnoticus electricus." The fish, black in colour on the back and sides, with orange-red spots under the head and belly, is like a big eel. interesting part about it is that it carries a .real electric works, so to speak. While its essential organs occupy only about one-fifth of the body, the other fourfifths are occupied by its electric organs, these consisting of muscular tissues modified and transformed by a series of accumulators of from five to eight thousand elements —the most powerful existing of all known electric animals, being capable of discharging a current of 300 volts. One of the professors of the museum stated that so powerful is the discharge of these fish that successful experiments were mado in lighting electric lamps from the discharge of the " Gymnotes." A live fish was thrown into the aquarium —for the " Gymnotes " only eat fresh fish-—the tail of the former touching a carp for the fraction of a second, killing it instantly with the electrical discharge. One of the peculiarities of these fish is that they can only live in water warmed to 27 degrees. They are proving a great attraction to visitors and scientists at the aquarium.