COAL FACTS.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4228, 14 February 1921, Page 2

COAL FACTS.

A colliery used to be called a coalery. Goal-meter is an old name given to one who superintended. the measuring of coals. Coalstone is a species of hard, opaque, inflammable coal which does not soil or dirty the fingers when touched. It is jet black, and can be cut. Brown coa'^has been found at Bovey, Deavonshire, and,on the Continent. Coal-hod is an oldfashioned name for kettle. Gas-light can be traced back two hundred years. A Mr. T. Shirley, in 1669, at tributed a burning well at' Wigan to the presence of coal underneath it. Just about this time a Mr. Clayton procured gas light by distilling coal. Practical lighting, however, came very slowly. 'In 1792, a Mr. Murdoch illuminated his house with gaslight, and a very poor show it is said to have been. He lived at Redruth, Cornwall. In 1802, Birmingham, in celebrating tlfe Peace of Amiens, brightened up a large factory with gas-light. Thousands journeyed to see the wonderful sight—which led to gas-works being established at that place, and in Manchester and Halifax.