INDUSTRIAL MIRACLE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10277, 12 May 1919, Page 7

INDUSTRIAL MIRACLE

AGE OP STEAM IS PASSING. The age of steam is passing. Its reign Is over. The handwriting has appeared —not on the wall, but in an official pamphlet, which may ba purchased for threepence from any bookseller (writes John Chester in the "London Daily. Express"). This important document is comouflaged under the long and dreary title, "Interim Report on Electric Power Supp!v in Great Britain." It was prepared by tho Coal Conservation sub-Committee of the Reconstruction Committee. Antl now, having given credit to whom credit Is due, let us get down to the facts, pud proposals, which are hidden in this'iepor£. Our factories, using steam power, c< nsume 71b of coal per horse-power per hour. If we scrap all theso inefficient old steam engines, and provide an up-to-date electric power supply, our factories will consume only 1.571 b of coal per horsepower—a direct saving of 78 per cent, in fuel. The total saving will be 55,000,000 tons of coal, and not less than .£100,000,000 a year. These are the facts in a nutshell.

How is thi9 industrial miracle to te worked P By erecting super stations for the production of electric power by. means of super dynamos, driven by super gas engines. These super stations will be erected in the coalfields; the coal will go direct from the pits' mouth into gas letorts. The retorts will extract from the coal aniline dyes, motor spirit, heavy Rubricating oil, sulphate of ammonia, and many other valuable by-products, and last gas. The gas" will go on to drive the super gas engines, and so be transformed into electric power. From the power stations the power Till be carried by high-tension mains to the various railways, towns, and factories in the area. AH the railways will be electrified. Lighting, heating, and cooiiing will be done entirely by electricity. Tho transport of coal by rail and road will be a thing of the past. >fh.e supply or cheap power will mean higher wages and shorter hours for fie workers. The wages paid increase witn the amount of power used. In the United States the amount of power employed per worker is double that employed in Great Britain, with the result that the American worker drawe higher wages, lives tinder better conditions, and lias more money to spend. The~cure for low wages i 3 more motive power.