A new Household Fuel and Lighting Order, though published on
Wednesday, took effect from Monday. Its object is to save a quarter of the coal available for domestic use in the shape of fuel or of gas and electricity. Seventy-five thousand miners have been called up, the output of coal has been reduced by 22,500,000 tons, and the transport of coal by sea and land is becoming more and more difficult. Thus coal must be used more sparingly if the Navy and Army and the Allies are to be supplied. The Order applies to England and Wales, and rations heat and light, 15,000 cubic feet of gas or 800 electric units being taken as the equivalent of a ton of coal. The scale for Northern England and Wales is a little more liberal than the scale for London and the South. In the South, for example, the yearly allowance for an eight-roomed house will be seven tons of coal and 15,000 cubic feet of gas or 240 units of electricity. The careful householder will probably find little difficulty in keeping well within the rations.
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