At the opening of the International Smoke Abatement Exhibition at
the Agricultural Hall on Saturday Sir William Ramsay made some interesting suggestions as to the possi- bility of obtaining power from the coal in the earth without having recourse to mining. A boring might be put down to the coal strata and the coal lighted where it was. The resulting gases might be used in gas engines at the pit mouth for the production of electricity, which might be distributed by high-tension currents to any desired point. Such a plan might enable electricity to be used for heating at a price of, perhaps, one-hundredth of a penny per unit. Sir William Ramsay remarked that this would settle the strike problem, and warned the miners to consider what they were doing lest the country should discover that it could do without them. On Thursday Sir William in another speech announced that "a colliery proprietor was going to give him a chance of making experiments on a small scale." We may add a word of comment upon the interesting character of the exhibition itself. Not the least attractive of the coal substitutes shown was the exhibit of solid oil fuel.
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