MOTION FOR A PAPER. (Hansard, 15 March 1872)

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE
, in moving for— Copy of the Report on the trials on board H.M. Ships Crocodile, Serapis, and Euphrates (Troop Ships), as to the comparative value of Welsh Coal and Welsh and North Country Coal mixed and burnt in equal proportions, said, that the necessity of having the best quality of steam coal on board Her Majesty's ships was quite equal to the necessity of having the best quality of gunpowder. The engines on board Her Majesty's ships of late years had been improved, and required, consequently, the best fuel to enable them to develop the results desired. Last year he had endeavoured to explain to their Lordships the nature of the two descriptions of coal used in steam navigation. One—the Welsh steam coal—was an anthracite, not a bituminous coal, and the other was the North-country coal, a bituminous coal. Formerly, the Welsh coal was deemed preferable to the other. No other coal, when it could be got, was 9 ever used on board Her Majesty's ships until lately, when there had been a change. Experiments had lately been carried on by the Admiralty with the object of seeing how far the North-country coal could be brought into use; but the general opinion amongst naval men and others was, and always had been, as far as he could make out, that there was no possible comparison between the two. Notwithstanding this opinion, Her Majesty's Government had thought fit—he did not know why—within the last two years, to introduce the North-country coal—that was to say, the mixture commonly known as "Baxter's Mixture"—for the use of the Navy. There had been various reports upon it, and as far as he could make out, they all tended to show that the maximum of power could not be got out of the engines by means of this mixed coal. The great steam-packet companies would not use mixed coal. The Lords of the Admiralty had thought fit to order trials to be made on board the troop ships Crocodile, Serapis, and Euphrates, and the First Lord of the Admiralty was questioned a short time ago as to the use of coals and the result of these trials. In his reply, the First Lord was reported to have said that the results of the experiments had shown a saving in Welsh coal as to quantity, but in mixed coal as to time; but he (the Earl of Lauderdale) could not understand how this could be, as all three were at a limited speed. He knew from his own experience that in hot climates North-country coal deteriorated more than Welsh coal. The loss from Welsh coal was in dust, but the dust was used to make patent fuel, which was as valuable as coal. In order to use "Baxter's Mixture," it had been necessary to alter the furnaces in every ship in which it had been employed, and to reduce the fire space by one-sixth, so that it was impracticable now to burn Welsh coal in those furnaces so as to get the maximum heat. To continue such a policy would be a mistake. He did not think that the experiments made with the troop ships had been conducted in a satisfactory manner. The best Welsh coal ought to have been used; instead of which, he had been informed, some of the coal used was of the worst description. That was not a fair experiment. One of the gentlemen appointed to superintend the experiments was Mr. M'Culloch, 10 who was now employed as coal broker to the Navy. He had nothing to say against that gentleman; but he thought it should be stated when that gentleman was appointed, what proof he gave of qualifications for the situation, and on what terms he purchased coal. A broker was allowed a certain percentage on every ton of coals bought, and it would be interesting to know whether any stipulation was made that he should not receive a gratuity from the person selling the coal. He understood that the Government did not receive the best description of Welsh coal.

THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN
said, he readily admitted that the question of the supply of coal to the Navy was one of national and of growing importance, and that it fully deserved the consideration of that House. He could, however, assure the noble Earl (the Earl of Lauderdale) that the most serious attention of the Admiralty had been directed to this subject during the last three years, as had been exemplified by the series of experiments that had been carried out; the results of some of which had already been, and the results of the more recent of which would be laid upon their Lordships' Table. On the part of the Government, he should have no objection to lay upon the Table the Returns which the noble Earl had asked for. The noble Earl had, in the first place, called attention to the fact that the furnaces in the various ships in the Navy had been altered, as he assumed, for the worse; whereas, in truth, the fire-producing power of the furnaces had been in no wise lessened by the alterations, and it was quite certain that both with regard to the Welsh coal and the mixed coal a great diminution of smoke had been caused by admitting the air beneath instead of over the coal. Whatever might be the relative merits of the Welsh coal and the North-country coal, it was quite certain that the amount of steam the question had generated in the breasts of their respective advocates was considerable, and he could only hope the 11 results would be beneficial to the public. He could assure their Lordships that the Admiralty did not regard themselves as bound by one series of hasty experiments to decide in favour of one or the other of these two descriptions of fuel. The result of these experiments depended so much upon circumstances—upon the state of the wind and weather, but most of all upon the care with which the stoking was performed—that it would be most unwise to found a theory upon the results of one trial. It had, however, been satisfactorily ascertained that the mixed fuel in the new furnaces produced hardly any more smoke than the Welsh coal in the furnaces of the old construction. The latest experiments had been conducted during the past winter in three ships, which had been selected because they were sister ships and had about the same rate of speed, and there had been no desire on the part of the Admiralty to show that one species of fuel was better than the other, but merely to ascertain which was the best coal for the service. Mr. M'Culloch, who purchased coal for the Admiralty, and who was in favour of the mixed fuel, was only sent on board one of the ships in order that he might see that that fuel was properly stoked and had a fair trial, as compared with the Welsh coal; but when he reported, due weight was given at the Admiralty to the fact that he was known to have a predilection in favour of one kind of coal. At the same time that was no reason why he should not have been present at the trial, and it seemed to him (the Earl of Camperdown) that the selection was a proper one. One remarkable result of the trial was that the three ships, instead of consuming, as heretofore, 9,000 tons of coal on their voyage, only consumed 7,000 tons; due allowance must be made for the fact that the stokers were now all Englishmen, whereas, formerly, on the Indian side of the Isthmus of Suez the stokers were generally natives of India; but still there was no doubt that the voyage of those three ships was more economical in regard to the consumption of coal than any voyage which they had previously made. That showed that the supervision of Mr. M'Culloch had been effectual. In point of economical consumption of coal, the result of the trial was slightly in favour of the Welsh coal; but it must be borne in mind that the 12 Welsh coal was on that occasion tried under exceptionably favourable circumstances. The greater part of the coal was taken directly from the colliers which had brought it to Bombay, and the remainder, which had been brought to Bombay from the Abyssinian expedition, had been screened at the depôt in Bombay before being put on board the ships; so that the Welsh coal then used was not a fair average sample of what they might expect such coal to be in that climate. If it were possible to obtain Welsh coal perfectly fresh for the use of Her Majesty's ships in all parts of the globe, he did not think anyone would dispute the fact that Welsh coal was better than mixed coal, and it was also less productive of smoke when a vessel was driven at very high speed. But it was shown by almost unanimous testimony that Welsh coal did deteriorate in hot climates far more rapidly than any other kind of coal; and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company, and other companies, he believed, employed that very mixed coal of which the noble Earl had spoken at their tropical stations. He quite agreed with the noble Earl that the Navy must always be regarded from the point of view of war. Therefore, not only must speed be taken into consideration, but they must also remember that, on the breaking out of a war, it would be most advantageous to have as large a stock of fuel as possible in their foreign depots, and he did not think it would be possible to keep, in a state fit for immediate and effective use, nearly so large a supply of Welsh coal as of other coal. With regard to smoke, in the altered furnaces the mixed coal did not produce appreciably more smoke than the Welsh coal did in the old furnaces, and hitherto there had been no complaints of the Welsh coal under the old conditions. For those reasons, it had been determined to follow the example of the companies to which he had referred, and to employ Welsh coal for shipment in the home ports; to employ two-thirds Welsh coal in Malta; and on the other side of the Isthmus to employ half Welsh coal and half mixed as heretofore. The Admiralty had no prejudices or foregone conclusions in that matter; and in any experiments which might hereafter be instituted in regard to different kinds of fuel, he could assure the noble Earl and the House that, while 13 fully recognizing the disadvantage of such a monopoly as might be created by limiting themselves only to Welsh coal, the only care of the Admiralty would be the welfare and the efficiency of the naval service.

§ THE DUKE OF SOMERSET
said, that when he was at the Admiralty frequent applications were made on behalf of the coal-owners of the North to get the Admiralty to use more and more of the North-country coal; but the language he had always held on the subject was, that as long as the interests of the Navy was best served by the use of the Welsh coal he should continue to use it. Since then, however, a sort of compromise appeared to have been arrived at to satisfy the Northern constituencies by employing a mixture of Welsh and North-country coal. The result was, that if they went out in one of Her Majesty's ships they would be almost smothered with smoke; and if they complained, the officer in charge would say—"Never mind; we shall soon get down to the good coal; the worst is all at the top." Experience showed that the Welsh coal was the best for the Navy. It was stated to be apt to deteriorate in the tropics. Well, Lord Dudley once observed that morality would not keep very sweet in those warm climates, and he was not sure that they could entirely rely on all the reports received from those latitudes. But he believed that naval officers all over the world, if fairly appealed to, would say—"Give us Welsh coal, and no mixture whatever." On every ground he thought the Admiralty ought to return to the use of the Welsh coal for the Navy.

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE
wished to know how Mr. M'Culloch know anything about stoking. In his opinion an engineer was a much better authority on such a subject than a coal broker.

THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY
said, he was rather anxious, in the interest of some of the colonies with which he was officially connected, that all further trials with different kinds of coal should not be quite put an end to. With respect to the mixture of North-country coal and Welsh coal, it should be remembered that the Peninsular and Oriental Company—no bad judges of such a matter—actually used that mixed coal, as his noble Friend had stated. The point in dispute was not whether Welsh coal of good quality was the best fuel, 14 but whether in certain parts of the world Welsh coal did not so deteriorate as to become inferior to mixed coal.