§ 46. Rear-Admiral SUETERasked the Prime Minister, in view of the fact that money prizes in every important country have played no small part in the development of aviation, he will consider the advisability of offering substantial money prizes for the most efficient and economical process for low-temperature carbonisation of coal, high-temperature carbonisation of coal, and the commercial utilisation of the by-products yielded by the respective processes, and, in view of the fact that we are very far behind other countries in using pulverised coal, if he will consider offering a substantial money prize for the best system for obtaining complete combustion of powdered coal, as the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research have expended £124.380 for the years 1924 and 1925 without lifting any of the existing processes from the experimental stage to be commercially practicable; and will he set up a small committee, the members having no connection with the coal industry, to get out conditions governing the award of the prizes, these prizes to be open to the scientists of the world, the committee to be formed on the lines of Lord Rayleigh's and Dr. Glaze- 21 brook's Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, that did sound reasoning and research work in helping aviation in the early days, and to be entirely independent of all existing coal-research organisations, and to have the first call on the resources of the National Physical Laboratory and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in making a really big attempt to restore prosperity to the coal industry?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of EDUCATION (Lord Eustace Percy)I have been asked to reply to this question on behalf of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The suggestion made in the question was brought to the notice. of the Royal Commission on the Coal Industry (1925) (Question No. 11,152), and they have made no recommendation of the kind, though they recommended several other means of promoting the end in view. Nor are the Government prepared to adopt the suggestion. I should add that the expenditure by the Department mentioned in the question applies to the whole of the Department's work on fuel research. Only about one quarter of the figure quoted has been devoted to research on low-temperature carbonisation.