ECONOMIES IN COAL.
[To Tar EDITOR or 7'IIN " SPESTAT011.") Sin,—Your correspondent "Homo" (Spectator, October 9th) has evidently not realized that the main difficulty in this country is to get people to appreciate the advantages of in- ventions lying at their doors until they are forced on them by urgent necessity. For some time, however, coal-dust has been turned into briquettes, which are at least as economical as the coal from which the dust is formed, and in many cases considerably better. Now, however, there is even a better use for this dust in the production of semi-coke, and gas and oils resulting from a semi-coking treatment. In countries whore coal is dear, such as Italy, for example, where nearly all good coal has to be imported by sea, great care is taken of the coal-dust, and practically the whole is worked up by one of the methods mentioned above. The present extremely high price of slack coal and coal-dust may result in some attention being paid to the coal-dust lying in private collars, which is of little use where it is and of considerable value in
the right place.—I am, Sir, &c., F. H.
Previous page
