Cycling and Motoring Notes.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 29 January 1913, Page 4

Cycling and Motoring Notes.

I From the Dunlop Rubber Tyre Co., Christchurch, for week ending January 18th, 1913. # * # # * The continual riso in tho price of petrol in all parts of tho world is atf tractirig serious attention from experts with a view to finding ia cheaper (substitute. In [England alone doso on 70 million gallons of petrol were used last year, and tho recent increases in price in England now J represent a large sum of money, [ which has annually to come out of 5 motorists' pockets. The same' apj plies to almost every motoring centre in tho world. 80 fa.r recent developments point to Benzol, which is obtained fro„j coal, providing tho best and cheapest substitute. A new process known as Del Monte has recently been invented, which is said to yield a bigger percentage of benzol per ton of coal than any other known process. The inventors of tho Del Monte process claim that they can produce from 3 to 10 gallons of benzol por ton in addition to several other valuable products for which an active market exists. One colliery 111 England is already erecting a plant capablo of turning out over 7,000,000 gallons of benzol per annum, which can bo retailed at lOtl por gallon. It is computed that if only fifteen million tons of coal, out of the annual English output of 265 million tons, were used to produce -Benzol by tho Del Monte piocess, more than ample fuel would ho forthcoming to displace all the petrol imported into Great Britain. , Recent developments in the production of Benzol now give promise t that in the immediate future, the price, of petrol will come down, the 1 result of a large output of benzol, J which is said to give considerably more power than petrol. The pet- , ml companies .represented in this j part of the world state that the lat- j est increase in price of petrol is attributable to the extra cost of + freight charges. It i s also stated ( that the recent increases emanated from those who control tho eastern oil fields, and not from tho companies who handlo the American supplies.