§ Mr. BATEYasked the Secretary for Mines whether it is the intention of the Government to assist in starting any byproduct works in the county of Durham whereby oil and other commodities may be extracted from coal under the low carbonisation system, and thereby find work for unemployed miners?
§ Commodore KINGThe steps which the Government are taking to assist and encourage the development of the more scientific utilisation of coal, the extraction of its by-products and the supply of British liquid fuel have already been stated in this House. I have no new measures to announce, either for Durham or for any other part of the country.
§ Mr. RENNIE SMITHasked the Secretary for Mines if his attention has been drawn to the developments in the liquefaction of coal reported to the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce by the Inter-nazional Gesellschaft Dye Trust, in which the initial difficulites which were to be expected in the liquefaction of coal have now been overcome; and whether he can give the House any information on these developments?
§ Commodore KINGI am advised that, from information derived from experiments at the Government Fuel Research Station and elsewhere, the initial technical difficulties in the liquefaction of coal have apparently been overcome. There remains, however, the serious difficulty of making the process commercially feasible. This, according to my information, has not been achieved either in this country or elsewhere, at any rate as regards bituminous coals.