The Daily News. FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1912. OIL v. COAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 242, 12 April 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1912. OIL v. COAL.

One of the most noticeable results of the great coal strike at Home is that the thinking powers of thousands of people have been stimulated to search for an effective substitute for coal. The problem is entering equally into the factory and the home and the offices of transport companies of all kinds. In thife extremity it is only natural that renewed attention should be hopefully directed to- oil fuel, the practicability of which has already been demonstrated. The question of the general commercial adoption of oil fuel is, according to an article in the London Spectator, simply one of the more systematic exploitation of existing fields and the successful search for new ones. "When the resources of oil at our disposal all ovec the world are realised, it may happen that the methods of some of our chief industries will be completely changed. We may no longer need l coal as we need it now. We may fye to-day standing at the beginning of a new era in the history of the world. It may be that the English coal strike of 1912 will be regarded by the historian of the future as definitely ending the age "of coal and introducing the age of petroleum." The Spectator has been moved to this commentary by the discussion of an interesting little volume just published, entitled, "The Coming of Petroleum." The book gives some striking facts and figures concerning the area and extent of the oilfields of the world, as well as discussing, in not to'o technical language, the possibilities of the industry. The descriptions of a number of celebrated wells are extremely interesting, and the large companies of America seem to have been faced by much the same difficulties in the early stages of their existence as have had to be grappled with in New Plymouth. According to the book not one of the big fountains has been brought wholly under control, the force of the uprush of oil being too violent for "capping" or shutting in the oil flow, so that, as a rule, the bulk of the oil has been lost. The Lake View well in California, for inspouted' for

have produced 1,000,000 tons of oil, of which only one-half was saved, and at one time it was yielding over 10,000 tons per day. The cost of sinking wells varies in different localities, from as low as £2OO in' certain parts of Texas and California, to as high as £BO,OOO, according to the depth and the nature of the strata encountered, and this prevents, to some extent, the discussion with any approximation of certainty of the potentialities of the existing oilfields. The possibilities of utilising oil as. a substitute for coal seem to unfold themselves along two main lines with subsidiary issues. One of considerable importance is the use of petrol gas in place of coal gas for lighting purposes, 'but more important still is the use of the oil as fuel and the employment of oil-driven engines. There has never been any doubt of the advantages of oil as fuel for heating the boilers of a steamship, and the fact that it has not been generally adopted has been due to the lack of a regular supply. From an economic point of view the results obtaining from the use of oil fuel are astonishing. Here are the estimates of two vessels built for the same purpose, one using coal and the other oil:—(For the vessel using coal: Capital cost £40,000 to £50,000; fuel 30 days, 3000 tons; space occupied, ISO,OOO cubic feet; weight of machinery and 15 d!ays' ■fuel, 2700 tons; repairs and depreciation, £5000; men required, 40 to 50. For the vessel using oil: Capital cost, £15,000; fuel, 30 days, 650 tons; space occupied, 30,000 cubic feet; weight of machinery and IS days' fuel, 470 tons; repairs and depreciation, £1000; men required, 7. The difference in favor of oil is too staggering to be idly passed by, and there is no need to insist upon the exact significance of each figure quoted, for the main points of the comparison are clear. The problem of using the more or less ■ refined oil has been already practically solved by the motor ear, but it is the crude oil, which remains after the extraction of the by-products, that threatens to revolutionise the fuel industries. For some time to come coal and oil will probably be used side by side, but in the process of evolution science now admits that the ultimate triumph of oil is not long removed. The coal strike may materially hasten that time. It is an ill wind that, blows nobody good, and this unfortunate industrial dispute may yet prove to have been a blessing in disguise for our own district. . , • I