EDITORIAL. 
Sir John Fowler, in Vhe Times’ trade supplement, insists that the 
production of power alcohol is not a question which admits of being 
dallied with; and, unless a decision is arrived at quickly, Great Britain 
will be forestalled in overseas markets for the raw materials for the 
manufacture of aleohol. The reasons why the use of power alcohol has 
not progressed in this country are Customs and Excise restrictions, the 
cost of production, apathy and want of foresight on the part of the 
Government, and regulations strangling the initiative of producers. 
Most unfortunately, from the point of view of its use as a fuel, alcohol 
is also an essential component of the beverages from the taxation of 
which considerable revenue is derived. Sir John says that, to give our 
industries the benefit of a competitor with petrol, all that is required — 
“is that a suitable denaturant be approved; that any duty on import 
should be removed; and that the regulations for the distribution and 
use of power alcohol should be as inexpensive and as free as is compatible 
with reasonable protection of revenue and safeguards against misuse. 
It is essential that the regulations shall be drawn up in a broadminded 
spirit by practical men, and not made so irksome as to defeat the 
whole object of giving us cheap liquid fuel. 
The Fuel Research Board appointed by the Department of Scientific 
and Industrial Research, Great Britain, has issued an interim memo- 
randum, in which reference is made to the difficulties of obtaining 
locally sufficient supplies of raw material for the manufacture of power 
alcohol. In a brief review of the present position it is pointed out 
that the production of alcohol in any considerable quantities from 
vegetable materials grown in the United Kingdom is not economically 
possible, owing to—(1) insufficient acreage; (2) the high cost of 
cultivation and harvesting; (3) the high cost of manufacture; and 
(4) the fact that the most suitable raw materials are also important 
foodstuffs. There is, for these reasons, no prospect of replacing any 
considerable quantity of petrol by home-produced alcohol. The cul- 
tivation of plants containing starch or sugar within the Empire is being 
investigated; but, even in the event of it being ‘possible to produce 
alcohol in the British Dominions and Colonies at a price at which 
it could be imported, distributed, and sold in Great Britain, it must 
be a matter of time before supplies ‘in any great quantity could be avail- 
able. However, having regard to the future, some of the legislative 
questions which arise in connexion with the use of alcohol for power 
purposes have been dealt with in the Finance Bill. One important 
point is that the Board of Customs and Excise is given power to make ; 
regulations as to the composition and quantity of a denaturant for 
“ower methylated spirits,” and a denaturant will shortly be autho- 
rized which it is hoped will reduce to the minimum the cost of 
denaturing spirits to be used for this purpose. 
ITALY TO USE EXPLOSIVES IN AGRICULTURE. 
With a view to disposing of the surplus supply of explosives, and 
at the same time benefiting agriculture, a series of experiments has 
been conducted by the Italian Ministry of War in connexion with the 
breaking of ground. The results have been so satisfactory, states 
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