§ Mr. CHARLES BATHURSTasked whether any complaints have been received by the Office of Woods and Forests, or by the Treasury, from manufacturers in the neighbourhood with regard to the proposal by the Government to carry on in the Forest of Dean the process of the destructive distillation of wood and the manufacture thereby of charcoal, naphtha, methylated spirit, ethyl, alcohol, acetate of lime, and other allied. products and byproducts of such distillation; and whether the Government will consider the advisability of purchasing acetate of lime from local manufacturers for conversion into acetone, rather than of entering into competition with them, with the possible result of the extinction of their business?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSENo such complaints as are referred to in this question have been received by the Office of Woods and Forests. The abject of the proposed works is to utilise produce which at present is almost unmarketable, and of which large quantities are annually available in Dean Forest and the adjoining woodlands. As it is not at present proposed to manufacture acetone in the Forest of Dean, the question of purchasing acetate of lime from local manufacturers for conversion into acetone does not arise there.
§ Mr. C. BATHURSTWhy is not the Government prepared to manufacture acetone when it is required for national purposes?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe hon. Member is not well informed, I understand, as to what is required. It is acetate of lime that is required, and not acetone.
§ Mr. C. BATHURSTIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that acetone is a further product of acetate, and is it not that that is required?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe facts are as I have stated.
§ Mr. C. BATHURSTasked whether the Government have altogether abandoned the idea of manufacturing acetone in the Forest of Dean; and, if so, whether, in view of the fact that this necessary factor in the manufacture of cordite for our national requirements is now obtained almost wholly from other countries with whom we may be at war hereafter, the Government will reconsider their decision?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe idea of manufacturing acetone in the Forest of Dean has not been altogether abandoned, but, acting on the best advice, the Commissioner considers it better in the first instance to stop short at the production of acetate of lime. When the manufacture of acetate has had a fair trial the question of manufacturing acetone can be further considered, if desirable.