South Wales 32,456
Forest of Dean 265
Bristol 4,219
Warwickshire 459
S. Staffordshire, Shropshire, Forest of Wyre and Clee Hills 1,906
Leicestershire 837
North Wales 2,005
Anglesey 5
N. Staffordshire 3,825
Lancashire and Cheshire 5,546
Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Northumberland 18,172
Black Burton 71
Northumberland and Durham 10,037
Cumberland 405
Scotland 9,844
Ireland 156
It is important to bear in mind, that out of the 170 million tons of coal
now being raised annually we only use a small proportion, viz. from 5 to
6 per cent. for gas-making. The largest amount (33 per cent.) is used for
iron-smelting,[3] and about 15 per cent. is exported; the remainder is
consumed in factories, dwelling-houses, for locomotion, and in the smaller
industries.
The enormous advancement which has taken place of late years in the
industrial applications of electricity has given rise to the belief that
coal-gas will in time become superseded as an illuminating agent, and that
the supply of tar may in consequence fall off. So far, however, the
introduction of electric-lighting has had no appreciable effect upon the
consumption of gas, and even when the time of general electric-lighting
arrives there will arise as a consequence an increased demand for gas as a
fuel in gas engines. Moreover, the use of gas for heating and cooking
purposes is likely to go on increasing. Nor must it be forgotten that the
quantity of tar produced in gas-works is now greater than is actually
required by the colour-manufacturer, and much of this by-product is burnt
as fuel, so that if the manufacture of gas were to suffer to any
considerable extent there would still be tar enough to meet our
requirements at the present rate of consumption of the tar-products. Then
again, the value of the tar, coke, and ammoniacal liquor is of such a
proportion as compared with the cost of the raw material, coal, that there
is a good margin for lowering the price of gas when the competition
between the latter and electricity actually comes about. It will not then
be only a struggle between the two illuminants, but it will be a question
of electricity _versus_ gas, _plus_ tar and ammonia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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