ON FUEL ECONOMY. 199 



report, it may be mentioned that information has been sought as to 

 the amount of fuel consumed and the coi-responding power developed in 

 such official publications as the Eeporfc of the Eoyal Commission on 

 Coal Supplies in 1905, the Census of Production for the year 1907, and 

 the Returns published annually by the Home Office for Mines and 

 Quarries, and various Shipping and Customs Reports. But although, 

 from such sources, fairly accurate figures can be obtained for the 

 amount of coal used annually for industrial purposes and shipping, the 

 corresponding figures of power produced are not obtainable from any 

 published returns so far as can be ascertained. 



The average figure of five pounds of coal per horse-power hour 

 which was given in the Report of the Royal Commission on Coal 

 Supplies in 1905 was, we believe, deduced from returns from a number 

 of typical industrial concerns where information could be obtained, and 

 ic is probable that this estimate did not exaggerate the actual coal 

 consumption per horse-power hour at that time. 



In view of the impossibility of obtaining accurate returns of fuel 

 consumption per horse-power hour from the whole of the power users 

 in this country, it has been decided to investigate the matter by asking 

 for detailed returns from typical factories in various trades and in 

 different districts throughout the country, selected by members of the 

 Sub-Committee who have special knowledge of particular trades. 



Special memoranda are in course of preparation on questions of 

 organisation of power production for industrial and transport purposes, 

 the use of lai'ge turbine and gas engines, and other important aspects 

 of the power question. 



E. 



Domestic Fuel Suh-Gommittee. — Mr. E. D. Simon (Chairman), 

 Mr. A. H. Barker, Professor H. B. Dixon, Professor W. W. 

 Hai.dane Gee, Professor W. P. Wynne, and Mr. H. James Yates. 



The amount of coal actually consumed for domestic purposes in the 

 United Kingdom probably does not fall far short of thirty-six million 

 tons per annum — nearly one-fifth of the total consumption for all pur- 

 poses in the Kingdom. To this would have to be added the ' coal 

 equivalent ' of the gas and electricity consumed for domestic purposes, 

 if a correct estimate of the total domestic coal consumption is to be 

 made. The Royal Commission of 1905 estimated that 50 per cent, of 

 the coal consumed for domestic purposes might be saved by the 

 installation of better appliances, so that there is clearly a vast field 

 for economy. 



The whole question of domestic uses of fuel bristles with difficulties 

 and complications. In the first place, it is necessary to discriminate 

 between fuel or enei'gy consumed in the kitchen for cooking and other 

 similar purposes, and that applied for the heating of ordinary living- 

 rooms. 



In the vast majority of the houses inhabited by the artisan popula- 

 tion the kitchen fire or stove is the only place in the house where fuel 

 is burnt; also in better-ciass houses it is only in the kitchen tliat fuel 



