§ 9. Mr. HANNONasked the Secretary for Mines if he will give the figures, up to the latest convenient date, of the total expenditure on low-temperature carbonisation experiments conducted by the Government since experimental work in this branch of research was first undertaken?
§ Mr. W. GRAHAMI regret that it is impossible to give the figures for which the hon. Member asks owing to the fact that experiments on low-temperature carbonisation form but a part of the general programme of research on fuel conducted by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research the cost of which was given by my hon. Friend the Secretary for Mines in reply to a question asked by the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Freeman) on 22nd May. The different parts of the programme are so interdependent that it is not possible to say in terms of expenditure how much of it has been devoted to low-temperature carbonisation. For a fuller explanation of this interdependence I would refer the hon. Member to the report of the Fuel Research Board for the year ending 31st March, 1931, pp. 9–12.
§ Mr. HANNONAs the right hon. Gentleman cannot ascertain the precise figures, would he say if the expenditure incurred up to the present has been justified by the results achieved by the experiment?
§ Mr. GRAHAMThis is undeniably a very difficult problem, but I hope the research has been justified.