Ch. X.] QUALITY OF LABUAN GOAL. 159 



as long as the tubes and the fires are clear ; but the former 

 require cleaning every 24 hours, and the latter every eight 

 hours. Owiug to its rapid combustion, it gives out a very 

 considerable amount of heat, so that it is necessary to be 

 careful that the red-hot flues are protected and watched, 

 •while the flames issuing from the funnel extend sometimes 

 six or eight feet, and endanger the rigging. In burniag it 

 produces a large quantity of soot and imperfectly consumed 

 fragments, which render everything gritty and dirty. Still 

 it is better than Ke-lung coal ; and I have heard several 

 engineers assert that a mixture of half Labuan and half 

 Welsh coal forms a fuel which is excellent for aU practical 

 purposes. But being a much inferior coal to Welsh, it 

 naturally reqtdres more room for stowage, the difference 

 beiug weU expressed by the fact that Her Majesty's ship 

 " Scylla" consumed in 24 hours 37^ tons of Labuan coal 

 instead of 27 tons of Welsh ; and again, the average quan- 

 tity of water distUled in the condensers by one ton of Welsh 

 coal was 7*2 tons, while Labuan coal, although mixed with 

 one-third of Welsh, only condensed 6"25 tons. There are 

 various quahties of Labuan coal, however ; the best is far 

 inferior to Welsh ; and though the quantity of ash is small 

 compared with that left by Ke-lung coal, the amount of soot 

 and unconsumed carbon is very large. 



Labuan coal is supplied by the Company to ships of war 

 by contract with Her Majesty's Government, at the rate of 

 11. per ton, and to merchant vessels for 11. 5s. The Labuan 

 Coal Company have depots in Shanghai, Hong Kong (where 

 it fetches 2* 2s. per ton), Singapore, &c. ; and they are 

 anxious to extend their operations.* But it must be con-: 



• At the time I was at Labuan the prospects of the China Steam-ship and 

 Lahnan Coal Company looked rathe? dark, and they have, since the ahove was 



