﻿1 04 RICHMOND. 



Japanese sulphur. — The nearest and no doubt cheapest source of a 

 supply of sulphur for industrial use in the Philippines, is Japan. The 

 output of the Japanese sulphur mines for 1904 was 20/000 tons. About 

 three-fourths of the total product is exported, the United States of 

 America and Australia being the chief consumers. Eecent quotations 

 are $17.50 a ton for the best grades and $15.50 for seconds and thirds. 

 As the yield of sulphur from Japanese ore is probably the highest in 

 the world, this cost will allow it to be laid down in Manila, duty prepaid, 

 at a price but slightly if any in advance of the market quotations on 

 American sulphur. The fact that Japanese sulphur enters the United 

 States in competition with the home product bears out the above state- 

 ment. Five samples of Japanese refined sulphurs submitted by the 

 Mitsui Bussan Kaisha were found to assay from 99.3 to 99.82 per cent in 

 extremes of fineness. 



FUEL. 



Coal of a fairly uniform quality is found widely distributed through- 

 out the Islands. The largest known deposits are located on the Islands 

 of Batan, Cebu and Polillo, but it also occurs in greater or less quantities 

 in Negros, Mindanao, Samar, Masbate, Mindoro, and in the Provinces 

 of Bizal and Nueva Viscaya on Luzon. 



Eecent work 17 in this Bureau on the Philippine Coals has shown that 

 they are of much better quality for steaming purposes than was hitherto 

 supposed, and that the poorer grades are very satisfactory from the 

 standpoint of producer gas manufacture. 18 For more detailed accounts 

 of the distribution and fuel properties of Philippine coals, see The Coal 

 Deposits of Batan Island 19 and The Coal Measures of the Philippines. 20 



Wood for fuel is both cheap and abundant in many localities. The 

 principal source of firewood is found in the widely distributed man- 

 grove swamps of the seacoast. The mangrove forests are composed of 

 a number of trees which produce dye and tan barks for local use and in 

 which there is some trade. Work on Philippine mangrove tan barks is 

 in progress in this Bureau and it is believed that they will compare 

 favorably with the similar species which are handled commercially in 

 Africa, Borneo, Java and elsewhere. An exploitation of mangrove tan 

 bark will materially increase the available supply of cheap fuel for lime 

 burning and other industrial purposes. 



Oil for fuel. — The possibility of the use of oil as fuel in the Philip- 

 pines is as yet uncertain, although a small quantity of oil is known 

 to exist in Tayabas Province, Luzon, and gas has been encountered in 

 drilling artesian wells in Pampanga Province. 



17 Cox, A. J.: This Journal (1907) 11,41. 



13 Cox, A. J.: Ibid. (1906) 1, 877. 



"Smith, D. D.: Phil. Mining Bureau Bui. Manila (1905) No. 5. 



"Burrett, C. H. : U. 8. War Dept., Div. Ins. Affairs, Bui. (1901). 



