458 



NA^rURE 



[December 23, 1915 



Iti America the output is higher than in this 

 country, a result ascribed to the mo "e general use 

 of improved cutting machinery and the greater 

 capacity of mine tubs. But naturally economies 

 at the pit will, to a considerable extent, have to 

 wait, the whole energy of the management 

 being concentrated on increased output m face of 

 shortage of skilled labour. In the utilisation of 

 coal for power and industrial heating we have 

 been extravagantly wasteful in the past, but of 

 recent years there has been a marked improve- 

 ment through the introduction of more efficient 

 power-generating plant. In the case of steam, 

 the higher efficiency of engines, and particularly 

 the introduction of the turbine, has lowered fuel 

 consumption per horse-power. The extended use 

 of power-gas plants has given a very low cost of 

 fuel for both power and heating purposes, and 

 enabled poor-class coal to be employed efficiently 

 and valuable by-products to be recovered. Much 

 improvement may still be effected through further 

 developments in these directions, and particularly 

 in the more scientific control of methods of com- 

 bustion and gasification by trained fuel specialists. 

 In connection with the metallurgical uses of 

 coal, it is impossible to compute the amount of 

 waste in the past by the coking of coal in the 

 old type bee-hive oven, in which no mcon- 

 siderable proportion of our coke is still produced, 

 and as long as one of these ovens is in use, un- 

 necessary waste is being entailed. _ There has 

 fortunately been a steady increase in the intro- 

 duction of by-product recovery ovens, and about 

 two-thirds of the total coal carbonised for metal- 

 lurgical coke (more than 20 million tons) is treated 

 in recovery plant. When the valuable by-products, 

 which include benzene and toluene — so much m 

 demand for the production of high explosives— 

 and sulphate of ammonia are considered, it is 

 obvious that any coal carbonised in non-recovery 

 plant leads to absolute waste of valuable materials, 

 in addition to a prodigal waste of heat units. 

 Prof. W. A. Bone, in addressing the Chemistry 

 Section at the meeting of the British Association 

 in September, suggested that, in the public in- 

 terest, the Government might fix by law a 

 reasonable time-limit beyond which no bee-hive 

 coke-oven installation should be allowed to 

 remain in operation. 



The present writer, several years ago, in a lec- 

 ture on fuel economy, urged the necessity of a 

 comprehensive study of our coal supplies in order 

 to afford systematic information as to the suit- 

 ability of the different seams for various industrial 

 purposes, as being essential to the most efficient 

 use of our supplies, and advocated the establish- 

 ment of a Government fuel-testing laboratory on 

 the lines of the United States Bureau of Mines 

 laboratory. Prof. Bone, in the address referred 

 to, suggested a memorial to the Government for 

 the establishment of a similar central organisa- 

 tion. It may be that at present difficulties in the 

 provision of funds for this purpose would be great, 

 but there can be no doubt of a very adequate 

 return for the outlay, and if the committee ap- 

 NO. 2408, VOL. 96] 



pointed by the British Association can secure a 

 sympathetic consideration of this question, it will 

 have done an incalculable service to the com- 

 munity and have fully justified its existence, in- 

 dependently of the other fields in which its activi- 

 ties will find scope. J- S. S. Bramf. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND 

 RESEARCH.^ 



WE open the latest report on Grants for Agri- 

 cultural Education and Research wonder- 

 ing how the war is going to affect the liberal 

 policy adopted in recent years by the Board of 

 Agriculture. It is satisfactory to find that the 

 Board means to continue on the high plane on 

 which it started : economies there will have to be, . 

 but the main lines are, for the present at least, 

 to continue as before. 



Perhaps the most important change during the 

 year has been the framing of new regulations for 

 the distribution of grants for agricultural educa- 

 tion and I'esearch. Hitherto the grants have been 

 paid in several different ways; in future there is 

 to be more uniformity of procedure. When 

 Government aid was first given to agriculture in 

 the form of "whisky money," it was left to the 

 local authorities to decide how they would spend 

 the money. Some simply used it as a dole to the 

 farmer and applied it towards the relief of the 

 rates; others set up local schools; others, again, 

 realising the need for higher work, set up colleges 

 and aimed at having scientific investigations 

 carried out. 



This diversity of aim on the part of the local 

 authorities was accompanied by equal diversity 

 of procedure on the part of the Board, and the 

 schemes were aided on four different plans, viz., 

 by block grants made to colleges, by farm insti- 

 tute grants paid on a partnership basis, by grants 

 representing- the agricultural shares of block 

 grants previously paid by the Board of Educa- 

 tion, and by grants in aid of particular schools 

 and classes based on the number of pupils and 

 hours of attendance. By skilful management, an 

 astute county council clerk could manage to 

 draw the bulk of the money out of the State, 

 basing the claim for gants on expenditure which 

 was really being met by "whisky money." The 

 more progressive counties, on the other hand, 

 were hit rather hard, and substantial expenditure 

 by the ratepayers drew little or no assistance 

 from the State, because it was disqualified for 

 some technical reason quite unconnected with the 

 value of the work itself. 



It is gratifying to know that all this is now 

 being taken in hand, and a scheme has been 

 evolved for dealing with the matter. The main 

 trouble is, of course, that the taxpayer has parted 

 with his control over the "whisky money," and 

 the local authorities can do with it what they 

 think fit. The Board's scheme has therefore to 

 be attractive, or the backward counties will have 



> Annual Report on the distribution of Grants for Agricultural Education 

 and Research in the Year 1914-15. 



