io6 Transactions of the Canadian Institute, [vol. ix 



largely from the coal reserves and the oil and gas pools for the means of 

 production it becomes apparent that more economy must be used in 

 mining and waste of gas minimized. Less expensive means of power 

 production are also necessary, since it has been proven that even the best 

 type of steam engine gives scarcely 50 per cent of the power capable of 

 being obtained from coal. The utilization of all the natural water power 

 and the use of fuels that can be replaced or regrown (such as alcohol made 

 from straw, wood, &c.) will be necessary. 



The coal reserves of Great Britain and Germany are being anxiously 

 scrutinized and mining methods carefully supervised so that little waste 

 is allowed. By careful mining Great Britain estimates a reserve of 60,000 

 million tons. Germany, although exact figures are not to hand, esti- 

 mates a total reserve of 52,000 millions, and the United States claims of 

 easily mineable coal 1.922,000 million tons. 



We have with this estimate in Canadian territory over three times 

 the amount of coal that the British Isles contain, and four times that of 

 Germany. The United States claims about 10 times the amount given 

 for Canada. This represents a block of coal 7^ miles square and of the 

 same depth. The Canadian reserve is a modest cube 3^ miles on each 

 edge, or a thickness of 30 feet for an area the size of Lake Ontario. 



The indication of the possible approach to hard times is given by 



the fraction of the reserves that is being used each year. For 1909 the 



figures for Great Britain, Germany, United States, and Canada are: — 



Country. Reserve Output 1909. Fraction 



of reserve. 



Great Britain 60,000 mill. 264 mill. 1/227 



Germany 52,000 " 217 " 1/239 



United States 1,922,000 " 492 " 1/4807 



Canada 172,000 " 11 " 1/15636 



These figures show the time required to exhaust the coal at the pres- 

 ent production. This is the maximum unless, as was noted before, the 

 production is kept down. The United States production is still increas- 

 ing at an enormous rate and when it has reached the per capita production 

 of Great Britain it should then follow about the increase of population 

 even this change of rate will not assure the U.S. a supply for much over 

 400 years. 



Canada is possibly better supplied with water power, so that our 

 production per capita for power need not be drawn exclusively from 

 coal and we may be in a position to supply some coal to the neighboring 

 country to the south. 



