PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 33 



Corin's figures are apparently for the minimum quantities, 

 doubtless due to the belief that the South Coast coal, com- 

 pared with English coal, is poor for the production of by- 

 products. 



There may be some difficulty with regard to the utilisa- 

 tion of the gas, just as there is trouble connected with the 

 fire-bricks and the building of the ovens, but even if we 

 look at the matter in the most pessimistic way, and com- 

 pare the values of the groups of by-products with that of 

 the coke, we feel that something should be done to prevent 

 what appears to be a scandalous waste of valuable material. 



Fat Waste, 

 Quite a number of industries have fatty bodies as a waste 

 product, and the question of their utilisation has been dis- 

 cussed. The recovery of wool fat for the manufacture of 

 lanoline, the waste soapy and fatty waters from the wool 

 scouring, the fat in bones, in meat meal and in fish meal 

 are a few examples. Even the fat in old sewage beds in 

 which I found 2% might be considered. For the recovery 

 of fat from solid materials it is usual to employ steam as 

 with bones, meat and fish meals. A certain amount is 

 always left behind, and to remove this a cheap solvent 

 would be necessary. The only one available at present is 

 benzine, but our climatic temperature is too high for its 

 economic use as for the greater part of the year one must 

 work near its boiling point. Before the residual fats can 

 be economically extracted a less volatile, equally effective 

 and cheap solvent must be obtainable. If trichlorethylene 

 could be manufactured cheaply, there would be some hope 

 for the recovery of these fats. But there is another aspect 

 of the case that must be considered, and that is that in our 

 climate, bones and fleshy material quickly decay, and putrid 

 fat is not sought after by soapmakers and others, although 

 if it were cheap enough, some means might doubtless be 

 devised for deodorising it. 



C— May 3, 1916. 



