THE Wellington Independent Saturday, September 27, 1862. KEROSINE.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1772, 27 September 1862, Page 2

THE Wellington Independent Saturday, September 27, 1862. KEROSINE.

Now that an extra premium is ©barged on account of kerosiae, public attention has been excited with a view to .ascertain whether thereis really anyespecial danger connected with its use, or whether the Offices are merely making a market out of a belief which the public has assumed without enquiry. However great the danger, there are always some who will deny it ; whileootheotherliand.lnsurance Offices are but mortal, and hare no objection to impose additional premiums whenever they can plausibly do so. Gas was at one lime thought to be as dangerous as these oils are at the present moment, and every accident or explosion was sure to drive numbers back again to candles. Now, the tables are turned, and private bouses light up gas in every room with less risk than when everything but moulds aud dips were tabooed. Just as ignorance in the use of gas led to prejudices against its general adop. tion, so we doubt not that when the Kerosine and other similar oils are understood, and properly prepared for the market, there will be as little danger in using them as there now is with lefewnco to gas. That the Insurance

Offices are right, under present circumstances, in charging an extra premium for storage, there can be no doubt, though it somewhat puzzles us to find the reason why persons should pay extra for consuming Kerosine in shops, while in private bouses no danger requiring stich payment is supposed to exist. The only reason we can snggest is, that Insurance Offices elsewhere have deemed it wise to tax the shopkeeper, and so it is not orthodox to do anything to the contrary here. In Cauada, where the nature of the oils may be supposed to be pretty well known, no extra premium is charged for consumption,— only for the storage; and even then, while the crude oils are uninsurable except in detached and thoroughly ventilated bnildin<js,andthe storage of more than from four to ten barrels of pure oils (such as Kerosine) inflcts an additional 20*. per cent on all the merchandise in the building, private are allowed to keep a_couple of gallons without subjecting themselves to ext raj premium.

The crude coal oil, as obtained from the wells, is according to all accounts a most dangerous article ; but when properly refined its storage is perfectly safe. If a spoonful of the crude coal oil is poured into a saucer of Water it will ignite when a lighted match is brought to within an inch aud a half; but if you put a light into a saueerful of the oil produced from it by refining, |no igaition will take place., The danger consists in the oils being impure, and when we recollect that out of some twenty "warranted" samples submitted for official analysis in Australia, one half were found to be most dangerous, it will be admitted that the storage in the town is a matter seriously affecting the safely of life and property. A late number of the Comhill furnishes us with much interesting information on the whole subject. It appears that this coal or well oil was known and has been in }use in medicine and otherwise for two or three thousand years, l he scanty supply restricting its use. la Persia, particularly, wells were dug and the product used for household purposes. In addition to giving light, it was mixed with clay and thus served for fuel.

The destructive property of this substance has been known for ages. An old Italian writer, in a curious treatise on metals, relates that a mason having to repair the sides of a well in which, at a considerable depth, petroleum was collected, took down with him a lantern, in order that he might see to do his work. Unfortunately for him[there were holes in its sides, and the gas coming thus in contact with fire exploded with a report louder than that of & cannon, and rushing up the shaft, . blew the man to pieces.. Nay, one of the most » ancient of Greek myths is believed to have bees connected with a knowledge of the petroleum gas. A jealous princess wishing without detection to destroy another who was her rival in love, anointed with petroleum the wreath she was about to wear upon her head during a sacrifice. On the lady's approaching the flame of the altar, the gas ignited, and spreading with the rapidity of lightning, her whole figure was Boon sheathed in fir© and reduced to ashes. Again when the Macedonian conqueror lay at his quarters in Persia, after the defeat and death of Darius, a native of the subjugated country resolved to amuse the son of fl'hilip by an extraordinary pyrotechnic display. Carrying a trailjof petroleum along the Btreeta leading to the general's quarters, he soon after dark set fire to it at the farther end, upon which a torrent of flame rushed along between the houses, bringing out as it passed every picturesque detail in strong relief, and blazing up in arches and columns in front of the palace, where Alex. ander and the other Macedonian princea stood gazing in astonishment at the novel spectacle. It is wonderful that so few accidents hare taken place in the vicinity of the wells, considering the distance at which the gas from the crude oil ignites. Fortunately, in this respect its strong and disagreeable odour gives uumistakeable warning of its vicinity ; so much so that everything which comes within its influence is rendered all but unendurable to others than persons engaged in it. "A truck, a cart, a waggon, a ship, which has once been employed in conveying petroleum, is thereby rendered for, erer unfit to carry wine, flour,' bacon,, cheew, • or any other article of human food. Iron, coal* or timber may, it is assumed, be convejed in such ships or carriages without detriment ; but it may well be doubted whether wood intended ■ for house building or furniture would not be so deeply impregnated by the offensive miasma as to be rendered completely worthless." One terrible catastrophe described in a local newspaper strikingly shows the peril attending the acceptance of this gift of nature. During the drilling of a well, a sudden rush of oil at the rate of seventy barrels an hour, took place, the stream ascending forty-one feet above the surface of the ; ground. From this mass of oil, the gas or benzine rose in a cloud fifty or sixty feet higher. All the fires in the neighbourhood were immediately extinguished, excepting one four hundred yards distant, sparks from which ignited the floating gas, and in a moment the whole air was in roaring flames. As soon as the gas took fire, the head of the oil jet was in a furious blaze, and falling like water from a fountain over a space one hundred feet in diameter, each drop came down a blazing globe of burning oil. In a moment the ground was in a flame, constantly increased and augmented by the falling oil. A scene of indescribable hoiror then took place. Scores of man were | thrown flat, and numbers horribly burned, rushed blazing from the spot, shrieking and screaming in their anguish. Just within the circle of the flames could be seen four bodies boiling in tha seething oil, and ca) man, who had been digging at a ditch to convey away the petroleum to a lower part of the ground, was killed while at work, and could be seen as he fell over, the handle ,of the spade - roasting in the fierce element. Mr. H. R. Boui, a gentleman largely interested in the wells inthat locality, and whose income 'from them amounted to one thousand dollars a day was standing near the pit, and was blown twenty feet by the explosion. He got up and ran .about ten or fifteen feetfarther, and was dragged out by two ' men, and conveyed to a shanty some distance from the well. When he arrived not a vestige of clothing was left upon him but his stockings and boots. His hair was burned off as well as his finger nails, hia ears and his eyelids, while the balls of his eyes were crisped up to nothing. In this condition ha lived nine houra. The heat of the fire was so ins. tense that no one could approach' within 150 feet without scorching his skin or garments. It was^ the most frightful and yet the grandest pyroteohnioal display ever vouchsafed to a human being. Several days after, the oil was still rushing up on fire with the same regularity and speed, throwing up. it was calculated, at least 100 barrels an hour, covering an immense space with flaming oil.—. A loss to the proprietors of the well, of from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars daily. No human power can extinguish the .flames, and the oil therefore must bum until the well is exhausted,

If this be true, the danger to which the oil districts are exposed must be beyond conception great. The daily product of the best yielding wells is estimated at 150,000 gallons, aud the whole of the Delaware district is socovered with the wastings, that "should any mischievous person apply a torch, a candle, or eveu a lighted cigar tojthe oily pellicle, the whole expanse of the Delaware would be instantly in a blaze, and all the ships in the river, and towns on its banks, would probably be cousumed, since water, instead of extinguishing the fire of petroleum, only causes it to burn more fiercely"

The refining process — the process by which this destroying aud disgusting monster is tamed, deprived of its fetid odour, and made fit to render service safely even in the sick chamber — is accomplished belter and cheaper in England than in America, hence most that finds its way to England is in its crude state, to the danger of the railway that conreys it to the coast and to the ships that freight it across the Atlantic, no less than to the alarm of the citizens of London and Liverpool.

A cargo of gunpowder would be much lsss perilous : for should the gases which incessently exhale from the casks come in contact with fire, instant ombustion must ensue; and the whole ship, crew and all, would be utterly consumed. Still, out upon the ocean, the danger, imminent as it may be — and it is so gre-it that few shipmasters will consent to take the materials on board, unless at an extremely heavy charge for freight — the danger, we say, involving the fate of but one vessel, is trivial when compared with that whichexists in a vast river like the Thames or the Mersey, crowded with shipping, where, if a single barrel of petroleum were ignited a conflagration of unparalleled fierceness and destructiveness might instantly rage along tiie whole line of the stream, involving everything afloat in fire, and communicating itself to docks, warehouses, and private habitations so that the half of London or Liverpool might be reduced to ashes before the progress of the flames could be stayed. Apprehension of consequences so frightful induced, some months ago, the directors of numerous insurance companies to bring the subject under the notice of the Lord Mayor. While they were engaged in stating their objections and justifying their fears, petroleum enough to set half the island on fire was making its way with Bail and steam across the Atlantic towards our Bhores, stinking like Phlegethon, and diffusing around it the most deadly gases. To judge of the immense amount of this ingredient of destruction thus set in motion, it may be sufficient to observe that the Government of the United States calculates upon realising an annual revenue of two millions and a half of dollars by a slight tax upon its exportation, while there are those who believe that the petroleum trade, which they. compare to that in gold, will amply make up any deficiency that jnay be caused by the intarruption of the trade in cotton.

The oil when deprived of its dangerous properties is expected to find its way as a substitute for coal wherever gas is used, and entirely to supercede coal for that purpose. Meanwhile that which at present more immediately concerns us is that our merchants should exercise the greatest care with reference to the storage, and that consumers should " try .before they buy." The crude well oils, with which the inflammable horrors above described are chiefly connected) will of conrse not find their way to these colonies ; but the badly refined, and, therefore, more or less dangerous oils of theKerosine class will be sure to reach us both from England and Australia. In both countries they are sold largely. The Lancet informs us that nearly one half of the Kerosine sold in London is of this character, and the official report bj Dr. Macadam of Melbourne, previously alluded to, states that out of twenty one samples purchased in shops in Melbourne, only eleven were fouud to be safe, five being dangerous, and five highly so. Much of these latter qualities will be sure to be shipped here, if only to get it out of the way, and consumers will best consult their own welfare if- they try whether the Kerosine offered them for sale will ignite when a light is placed to a small quantity floating in water. If it will not, the Kerosine is pure and then, we believe, that with ordinary care and attention to the instructions in the letter of Mr. Pierce, published in our last, there will be no danger ; but if itdoes, nothiag ought to induce the admission of so dangerous an article into the house.

Mr. Pierces letter shows that if carelessly attended to the use of Kerosine lamps, however pure the oil may be, involves considerable danger. The other day an explosion took place in a store in ibis town, while tbe heated lamp was being replenished ; aud probably similar accidents may be every nuw and then occurring, until those who attend to them learn to do so intelligibly. But why a distinction should be made iv the premium between the use of Kerosine lamps in shops and dwelling houses, is to us most unaccountable ; and it will be very surprising, if shopkeepers take . such conduct patiently.