SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
nye 
AL 
POWER-ALCOHOL. 
In view of the shortage of petrol, it is not surprising to find that 
the question of utilizing alcohol as a liquid fuel is being taken up in 
many countries besides Australia. The practicability of producing 
motor fuel from molasses has recently been investigated by a Special 
Committee appointed by the Hawaiian Chemists’ Association at Hono- 
lulu. Already one distillery has been established for the manufacture 
of alcohol for use as a fuel, and it is asserted that the results obtained 
have shown conclusively that, if the molasses from all the sugar mills 
in the island were used for that purpose alone, it would be sufficient 
to meet all Hawaii’s demands for motor fuel. In the Bulletin issued 
hy this Institute on power-alcohol, it is pointed out that, if the whote of 
the 10,000,000 gallons of molasses which are produced annually in 
Queensland were used for the distillation of alcohol, the yield would be 
4,100,000 gallons. From the economic point of view, the main difficulty 
is to get a sufficient quantity of molasses collected at one centre for 
distillation; but, until the existing Excise duty of 1s. a gallon is 
removed, there is no possibility of developing the industry in Australia 
so as to compete successfully with petrol. 
POWER-ALCOHOL INVESTIGATION OFFICERS. 
It is announced that Colonel Sir Frederic Nathan, K.B.E., late 
R.A., has been appointed Power-alcohol Investigation Officer, under the 
Fuel Research Board of the Department of Scientific and Industrial 
Research. The appointment of this officer has been made as a result 
of the consideration given by the Committee of Council for Scientific 
and Industrial Research to the report of the Inter-departmental Com- 
mittee on the Production and Utilization of Alcohol for Power and 
Traction Purposes, which recommended the establishment of a small 
permanent organization, under the Department of Scientific and Indus- 
_ trial Research, to continue investigations into these problems. The Fuel 
Research Board proposes to begin by bringing the work already being 
done, both as regards production and utilization of alcohol, into proper 
focus. Sir Frederic Nathan, who, before the war, was Superintendent 
of the Royal Gunpowder Factory, at Waltham Abbey, and later, Works 
Manager of Messrs. Nobel’s explosives factory, Ardeer, was the officer 
in control of aleohol under the Ministry of Munitions during the war, 
and Chairman of the Production Section of the Inter-departmental 
Committee above referred to. He has been intrusted with the survey 
of the present position, and with making proposals to-the Board for 
such experiments and research as may from time to time appear to be 
necessary. Professor Pierce Purcell, who was Secretary of the Irish 
Peat Inquiry Committee, has also been appointed to act as Peat Investi- 
gation Officer under the Fuel Research Board. The duties of the Peat 
132 
