230 REPORT— 1873. 



help thinking that there is here open to the talent of the mechanical engineer a 

 new field of enterprise, and one which, if successful, would tend to economize the 

 fuel we so much value/aud to leave more of it for consumption in metallurgical 

 operations asid in other operations requiring heat. 



Before quitting the subject of finding som'ces of power other than steam, the 

 Section will perhaps permit me to remind them of what has been done in the town 

 of Schafi'hauseu by a public-spirited inhabitant in the way of utilizing the water- 

 power of the Rhine, and of laying it on, so to speak, to every man's door. This 

 has been accomplished by erecting turbines, which are worked hy the river, and 

 deliver their power to endless wire ropes carried over pulleys placed alongside the 

 Rhine, the rope extending nearly from one end of the town to the other. This 

 rope gives off power at the end of each street abutting on the river-bank, and that 

 power is conveyed along those streets by a shaft in a channel under the paving. 

 Each manufactm'er can make his own commmiication with these principal shafts, 

 and thus obtain the power he may require. I believe that no more is charged 

 than is just sufficient to pay for the current repaii'S and for depreciation. 



I will now consider the question how coal is wasted in its use ; but before doing 

 so I will say a few words upon the loss that occurs in the coal-mine itself Hap- 

 pily this loss has for some years past been greatly reduced. More economic sys- 

 tems of working have prevailed, plans of dealing with small coal by washing away 

 its impurities, so as to render it fit for coking, have been largely adopted, and 

 thus a great deal of that coal which a few years since would have remained buried 

 in the mine, as not justifying the expense of raising it to the sm'face and of paying 

 royalty upon it, is now brought to light and is utilized. Nevertheless we know 

 that at ordinary prices of coal it is to the advantage of the colliery proprietor, in 

 many instances, to lea^'e a considerable percentage of the seams that are worked, 

 rather than to endeavour to lesson that percentage by the use of a more expensive 

 system of artificial support for the roof ; and, fiuiher, that it also pays him to leave 

 altogether unworked very thin seams of coal. 



Hereafter, when coal becomes scarce, there can be no question but what the 

 inhabitants of these islands would be glad to make use of the now despised 

 im worked seams, and also to recover the buried coal of the worked seams ; but such 

 seams and such savings, although they can be Avorked and made at present, when 

 the mines are open, if not at profit, yet with little loss, will then only be capable 

 of being reached by a reopening and pumping out of abandoned mines, a process 

 so expensive that great indeed must be the need of our successors if they are com- 

 pelled to resort to it. It is, however, difficult to see what remedy can be provided 

 for such a state of things as this. I am far from suggesting that Government 

 sliould interfere, and should say, " If you work your coal at all, you shall work the 

 whole of it, and you shall not merely select those portions which will make it the 

 most profitable speculation for you at the present day, but which will cause a large 

 percentage to remain ungotten." I am far from suggesting this, as I hold Govern- 

 ment interference to be in most instances such a mischievous thing that it is, as a 

 rule, far better to put up with' a certain amount of shortcoming and negligence 

 than to call in as a remed)' a power which is generally more injurious than that 

 which has to be remedied. But in the absence of any such interierence, it follows, 

 from the ordinary principles which regulate commercial transactions, that a con- 

 siderable percentage of coal in many districts will never be brought to the surface, 

 because at the present time it does not pay to bring it. Thus in the very outset 

 v/e are wasting fuel. But the prevention of this source of waste is a question quite 

 as much for the mining engineer and the political economist as for the mechanical 

 engineer. I have, however, mentioned it before this Section because the mechanical 

 engineer may contribute to such prevention by dcAasing new modes of extracting 

 coal in places where hand-laboiu' would press too heavily upon the men engaged 

 in the work, and where, therefore, their labom* would be "too costly. 



I now come to the question of the way in which -waste occurs in the use of the 

 coals that are brought to the smface. 



This use may be divided into two great branches, the domestic and the manu- 

 facturing. I will consider fii-st the domestic use. 

 ■ This is a highly important branch of the subject. It is believed that out of the- 



