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REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



tons, and of steel 9,067,300 tons; in 1921 these figures had fallen to 2,611,400 

 and 3,625,800 tons respectively. The following analysis of the corresponding 

 productions for each quarter of 1921 is very instructive in this connection : — 



January-March 

 April- June 

 July-September 

 October-December 



2,611,400 3,625,800 



On operations being resumed at the mines, production at iron and steel 

 works restarted on a very restricted scale, and with the low prices then 

 prevailing was carried on at a heavy loss. Despite subsequent reductions in 

 wages due to the operation of sliding scales and other mutual arrangements, 

 and in the excessively high railway rates, which gave manufacturers less relief 

 than had been hoped for, there still seems little hope of further reductions in 

 the present prices of pig iron and steel, the cost of fuel delivered to the works 

 being still too high. 



From a fuel-economy point of view the position is most unsatisfactory, 

 because at present the prices of coke as compared with those of coking coals 

 delivered at the works offer little inducement to iron and steel makers owning 

 self-contained plants to start up the coke ovens connected with their steelworks, 

 since coke can be bought at prices below the cost of making it in their own 

 ovens, even after crediting the values of all the by-products produced in the 

 process. This condition is entirely abnormal ; and it is hoped that with 

 improved general trade, freedom from industrial disputes and unrest, and an 

 increase in demand, more blast-furnaces and steelworks will be put into opera- 

 tion, and that the demand for the raw materials will then tend to re-establish 

 more normal conditions in the coal and coke trade, and thus restore the balance 

 in favour of pursuing a policy which ensures the greatest fuel economy in the 

 operation of plants, which is so desirable in the national interests. 



II. Oil Fuel Supplies— Present and Future. 



The Present Situation. — During the past year the Committee has had under 

 consideration the important question of present and future supplies of oil fuel 

 which are now needed for certain purposes (chiefly motor transport) for which 

 at present coal cannot well be used. In this connection they have had the 

 valued help of Mr. J. E. Hackford, who was co-opted on to the Committee on 

 the nomination of the Institution of Petroleum Technologists. 



As a first step towards the exploration of the subject, the Committee decided 

 to collect authentic information as to the importation of petroleum products into 

 the United Kingdom during each of the five years 1917-1921 inclusive. For 

 purposes of reference the data so collected have been analysed and tabulated 

 as follows : — 



Table I. 



Imports of Petroleum Products into the United Kingdom for tlie years 1917 to 1921 



inclusive. 



(Tons.) 



