388 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



If further evidence be needed of the well-known and 

 highly-dangerous liability of charcoal to spontaneous com- 

 bustion, I am permitted to cite the opinion of Colonel 

 Majendie, H.M. Chief Inspector of Explosions, in a letter 

 to me from the Home Office dated 28th August, 1890. 



Colonel Majendie says, " The liability of charcoal to 

 heat and fire spontaneously is a well-known and firmly- 

 established scientific fact, and has frequently formed the 

 subject of experimental investigation. Several fires from this 

 cause have come under our notice. So well recognised is this 

 risk that there is a special rule in ' The Explosives Act, 

 1875,' as to allowing any charcoal to remain in a danger 

 building." 



The general ignorance of the liability of charcoal to spon- 

 taneous combustion is the more surprising in the face of the 

 provisions of " The Explosives Act, 1875," some of which are 

 as follows : " Charcoal, whether ground or otherwise, shall not 

 be taken into any danger building, except for the purpose of 

 immediate supply. No maker of gunpowder shall keep, or 

 permit to be kept, any charcoal within twenty yards of any mill 

 for making gunpowder." 



The foregoing opinions and experiments of eminent autho- 

 rities show with sufficient plainness that charcoal is liable 

 to spontaneous combustion, and therefore highly dangerous. 



I shall now leave the region of scientific research, and 

 proceed to cite instances of fires which have occurred afloat 

 and ashore from the use of charcoal as the insulating-material, 

 premising that many mysterious fires have occurred without 

 any cause being assigned, owing to the prevailing ignorance of 

 the liability of charcoal to spontaneous combustion, and to 

 the difficulty of ascertaining the cause of a fire after the com- 

 plete destruction of a building or ship. 



The following memorandum of marine losses in steamers 

 carrying frozen meat from New Zealand (which I have been 

 kindly permitted to quote), by the Surveyor of the Canter- 

 bury Marine Underwriters' Association, dated Christchurch, 

 New Zealand, 11th April, 1890, is sufficiently conclusive : 

 " 1. Steamer 'Ionic,' sailed November, 1883 ; fire took place 

 in refrigerating-chamber ; 800 carcases scorched, and 5,000 

 carcases damaged. 2. Steamer ' Euapehu,' on fire (said to 

 be) through steampipes. 3. Steamer ' Selembria,' sailed Feb- 

 ruary, 1888 ; meat on fire ; 12,000 carcases condemned at 

 Monte Video, remainder condemned on arrival in London. 

 4. Steamer ' Kaikoura,' on fire (said to be) through steam- 

 pipes." 



Subsequently to the above fires, the " Ashleigh Brook " ar- 

 rived in London on fire (said to be) in her bunkers ; 1,025 

 carcases consumed. 



