188 



REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — 1916. 



directions atlainable, but also that the question of the general adoption 

 of more scientific methods in regard to these matters is one of vital 

 importance, in view of the trying period of economic recuperation 

 which will immediately succeed the war. 



For some years before the war the average price of coal at the pit- 

 head had been decidedly on the up-grade, owing chiefly to deeper 

 workings, higher wages, and greater precautions for ensuring the safety 

 of the mines. The result of the great coal strike of 1912, and the 

 legislation which it provoked, was to accentuate this tendency. And 

 if, as seems probable, prices continue to rise for some time after the 

 war at an accelerated rate, as compared with the pre-war period, the 

 question of the best utilisation of fuels will be of increasing importance 

 to the nation. 



If anything ought to arouse public opinion to the gravity of the 

 situation, it is surely afforded by the statistics published in the Eeport 

 upon the World's Coal Eesources, issued by the International 

 Geological Congress in the year 1913. According to this estimate, the 

 geographical distribution of the world's total possible and probable 

 reserves of coal of all kinds available within 6,000 feet of the surface 

 (amounting in all to 7,397,553 million metrio tons) may be represented 

 diagrammatically as follows : 



OCEANIA=2-4 & A F R I C A = O • 8 



^EUROPE = lOSyy 



'7//////////////////////// ////////////////A 



AS lA = 17-3 



Percentages of World's Total Coal Eeserves. 



