§ MR. COGHILL (Newcastle-under-Lyme)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether his attention has been called to the use of petroleum, as fuel for steamers, by the Russian Government; whether any experiments have been made by the Admiralty Department to ascertain if oil could be used in the ships of the Royal Navy for that purpose; and, whether he has any information to show that oil is cleaner in its use than coal, less expensive to work, and occupies half the space in stowage?
§ THE FIEST LORD (Lord GEOEGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)The question of the use of petroleum as fuel for steamers is being closely watched by the Admiralty. Experiments have been carried out, from time to time, with various appliances to test the efficiency of the system, and it is the case that oil is cleaner in its use than coal and occupies less space. Hitherto, however, experiments show that, under present conditions, it is more costly than coal for a given power, and does not conform so well to the conditions necessary for the rapid generation of steam.