The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 February 1913, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY

LEVIN

FRIDAY, FIOIMI'AJiY !iB, UU2

MOTOR FUEL

MoTOit car owners and motor cyclists are not unnaturally concerned i-.i the steady increase in the price ot' petrol. Tlio explanation Ls .simple: increased demand-laud the reine.ly must come from tin.' provision of iill effective substitute. Liquid l'licl from peab in beinjj; sought successfully in the northern parts of Germany. Government encoiiragmoiit is being hdd out to this new industry. This utilisation of peat, coupled with the .scientific recovery of its by-products, is promising to forge ahead side by side with the efforts to develop the production of benzol from ordinary coal. In Germany poat coke is now used to a relatively extensive degree, in many iron ;md steel works, and it is learned that this peat coke, on account of its comparative l'reeiiefi« from sulphur phosphorus and mineral matter, is found to be eminently suitable fir the purification of inferior iron ; in fact, the production of iron is quite oqual to tho host Swedish "charcoal" iron. For this reason, amongst others, peat coke is heeoming an article in largo demand, and is now commanding a high price. A correspondent in Oldenburg to the Motor supplies the foTlowin ganalysis of poat coke (parts per -00):

Carl)on, 85.9; hydrogen, 1.6; nitrogen, 0.7; sulphur. 0.3; oxygon .3.8: moisture, 1.7; ash, 3.0. From one ton of air-dry pent which contains an average of Id per cent, of moisture, the following products arc obtained :—Peat coke, 6 cwt.; ammonium sulphate, 101b; methyl alcohol, 1 gallon; peat tar, 801); gas, 13.000 cubic feet. Prom 100 parts of the peat tar the following products are obtained: —A spirit suitable for u.se in internal combustion engines, 421b : oil, 1611); paraffin wax, 61b ; creosote, 101b; tar coke. 61b. It appears that a plant which is capable of producing 20 to 25 tons of peat coke a day (and therefore, some 110 gallons of spirit), costs £17,000. This includes the plant for treating all the byproducts. The above figures will no doubt vary 'between one peat area and another, and- some of the works which are engaged upon the coking of peat arc stated to obtain better yields in by-products, including motor .spirit, than those quoted. This is duo to attention to detail in the method of heating the retorts. By far the most important business transacted at the recent meeting of the International Association of Recognised Automobile Clubs held In France, was the decision to offer a cash prize of £5D,000 for the best fuel, other than petrol, capable of being used in existing intemal-com-Bustion motors. The International Association represents practically the whole of the motor movement of Europe and Amreioa. the nations represented at the Paris gothering being France, Great Britain, America, Germany, Belgium, Italy. Sweden,

Denmark, Austria, Holland, Hungard, Austria, Switzerland, Rounuuiia and Egypt. It is evident, therefore, that the petrol crisis is not confined to any ■oue country. The big prize will be obtained by international subscription. MEN AND WOMEN. A correspondent's letter in Tuesday's Chronicle- is recalled by this paragraph, clipped from a southern newspaper— It is always pleasing tu hear of a seasonable word being .spoken in the interest of the King's English. This was done recently by a member of the Rangiora Borough Council, who entered a. protest against the word "gents' , being used on the notice board indicating the bathing hours at the Municipal Until. He characterised the word as ''an -abominable vulgarism." coined probably at some Icnv-dnss nipigor minstrel entertainment in the dim past. It was suggested that the words "Ladies" and "Gents" on the hoard should be altered at the first opportunity to "Females" .and "Males." The foregoing suggestion, howI'ver. is but a degree removed. "Male ■ind female" apply from the highest I'irms of creation until we get down io the lowest orders of animalculae. 'I lie Chronicle , * correspondent pickel the proper words when .she advo'■•■iti'd a repopiilarisalion of "men' , ■Hid "women." Chronicle Quips. Penned When Occasion Suits. CliEKl! IVI Kxpcrt change. >.'illi humid condition.-, and much ■ ■tin." Bad Weather Bates, diag.l :-l!eian. 127/"J/"l-"3. .'linn For the grass! Ilo! see the farmers smile! Alas, alas! cry syliarit.es Ijewhile; ! liese by their needs, those by their cnnforts swayed. S> jogs I.evin. And meanwhile. undismayed. 'Miilosopher.s observe them (as they go, I'rey to anxiety or hope or woe), Cheered by the thought thai myriad year'; by-sped Are si ill survived by Toy ,-ind Daily Bread. g.p.b.