§ 37. Captain FANSHAWEasked the Secretary for Mines if his attention has been drawn to an invention of a Mr. Turner, of Coalburn, Lanarkshire, for the extraction of oil from coal; if Mr. Turner has requested the Fuel Research Department to test his process; and whether Mr. Turner's process is capable of producing successful commercial results?
§ 40. Mr. JOHNSTONasked the Secretary for Mines whether his attention has been drawn to the categorical statement by Mr. Charles Turner, of Coalburn, Lanarkshire, that his plant for producing oil from coal has been visited by three or four experts from the Fuel Research Board since March, 1927; and whether every facility will now be afforded Mr. Turner for securing an early Report by the Fuel Research Board?
§ Commodore KINGAs I stated in reply to the hon. Member for Dundee (Mr. Johnston) on the 19th July last, the Fuel Research Board are aware of the nature of this process, and the plant has been visited by the Board's representatives on several occasions. A report on a low-temperature carbonisation plant cannot be issued by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research after mere inspection, but only after the plant has been tested under the conditions specified. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is, and has always been, willing to make a test and issue a report on Mr. Turner's plant, but, as I have previously stated, no application for a test has been received from Mr. Turner.
§ Mr. JOHNSTONHas the attention of the hon. and gallant Gentleman been called to Press reports of the speech which he made in public declaring that this Mr. Turner had declined to allow Government experts to see his plant, and will he say whether this statement was correctly reported or not?
§ Commodore KINGNo, Sir, I certainly never said that this gentleman had declined or refused. What I said was that I believed he was unwilling, and I based that on a rather natural assumption. In July of 1927 the Director of the Fuel 684 Research Board wrote a letter to Mr. Turner, and in July of this year, when I answered the hon. Member's question, no acknowledgment or reply to that letter—that was over 12 months ago—had been received, and therefore it was not unnatural for me to assume that Mr. Turner was not willing to meet the Department.
§ Mr. JOHNSTONIs the hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that Mr. Turner has categorically stated in the public Press that he has on three occasions requested the Fuel Research Board to visit his plant, and is he also aware that there is no serious difference between a visit and a test?
§ Commodore KINGOh, yes, a very serious difference. A mere inspection cannot give the experts any idea as to what the value of the products of the plants may be. I should like to say that Mr. Turner did, in September, since answered the previous question, write a full apology to the Director of the Fuel Research Board for having overlooked the letter of July, 1927.
§ Mr. SHINWELLOn the question as to whether a visit to the plant should be made, is it not the case that the Director of the Fuel Research Department and his assistants have made frequent visits to different plants throughout the country?
§ Commodore KINGOh yes, Sir.
§ Captain FANSHAWECan my hon. and gallant Friend tell us roughly what period of time is required to carry out the test of any plant of this sort?
§ Commodore KINGNo, Sir, I think that it would depend on the process. But as I understand an official test, they wish to see a whole charge put through the process before they can report on it.
§ Mr. SHINWELLMay I put my point to the hon. and gallant Gentleman again? In view of the fact that the Fuel Research Department have inspected other installations throughout the country, why will they not agree to the inspection of Mr. Turner's plant before he submits his process for an actual test?
§ Commodore KINGIt is not the custom of the Fuel Research Board or 685 the Government Department to suggest inspections or request to make inspections. They are at all time willing, as everybody interested is fully aware, to make a test on application being made.