president's address. 19 



herself possesses less than 1 per cent, of the water-power of the world. 

 Further, it has been estimated that she only possesses 2| per cent, of 

 the whole coal of the world. To this question I would wish to direct 

 our attention for a few minutes. 



I have said that England owes her modern greatness to the early 

 development of her coal. Upon it she must continue to depend almost 

 exclusively for her heat and source of power, including that required for 

 propelling her vast mercantile marine. Nevertheless, she is using up 

 her resources in coal much more rapidly than most other countries are 

 consuming theirs, and long before any near approach to exhaustion is 

 reached her richer seams will have become impoverished, and the cost 

 of mining so much increased that, given cheap transport, it might pay 

 her better to import coal from richer fields of almost limitless extent 

 belonging to foreign countries, and workable at a much lower cost than 

 her own. 



Let us endeavour to arrive at some approximate estimate of the 

 economic value of the principal sources of power. The present average 

 value of the royalties on coal in England is about Qd. per ton, but to 

 this must be added the profit derived from mining operations after pay- 

 ing royalties and providing for interest on the capital expended and for 

 its redemption as wasting capital. After consultation with several 

 leading experts in these matters, I have come to the conclusion that 

 about Is. per ton represents the pre-war market value of coal in the 

 seams in England. 



It must, however, be remembered that, in addition, coal has a con- 

 siderable value as a national asset, for on it depends the prosperity of 

 the great industrial interests of the country, which contribute a large 

 portion of the wealth and revenue. From this point of view the present 

 value of unmined coal seems not to have been sufficiently appreciated 

 in the past, and that in the future it should be better appraised at 

 its true value to the nation. 



This question may be viewed from another aspect by making a 

 comparison of the cost of producing a given amount of electrical power 

 from coal and from water-power. Assuming that one horse-power of 

 electrical energy maintained for one year had a pre-war value of 51., 

 and that it requires about eight tons of average coal to produce it, 

 we arrive at the price of 6s. 3d. per ton — i.e., crediting the coal with 

 half the cost. The capital required to mine eight tons of coal a year 

 in England is difficult to estimate, but it may be taken approximately 

 to be 5/-., and the capital for plant and machinery to convert it into 

 electricity at 101., making a total of 15L In the case of water-power 

 the average capital cost on the above basis is 40Z., including water rights 

 (though in exceptionally favoured districts much lower costs ai-e 

 recorded). 



