§ 29. Mr. GINNELLasked the President of the Board of Trade whether the Board has ever tested or watched a test of the process invented and patented by Sir Edward Zohrab, Bart., for the utilisation of peat, especially the production of charcoal; and, having regard to the price of charcoal at present and the impossibility of producing high-class steel without it, whether he will institute a special examination of the process in question?
Mr. RUNCIMANThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. I have no reason to believe that the manufacture of steel in this country has been restricted by difficulties in obtaining supplies of charcoal or by the present price of charcoal, and I cannot in any case undertake to arrange for the examination on behalf of the Board of Trade of patent processes which claim to be of industrial advantage.