As a result of less than fifty years’ ceaseless endeavour Germany built up an industry specializing in the manufacture of tinctorial matters derived from coal-tar, capitalized at £50,000,000--$250,000,000--and had a list of 2,000 different colours of a synthetic character which she could supply, one thousand of which were in steady daily demand. We talk about the restoration of the British coal-tar dye-stuffs industry. The Americans voice a similar story. It is glib. How far have we got? As a result of five years’ hard work in Britain we are in the position to market about 300 of the 2,000 dye-stuffs which Germany has in her trade catalogue, while America can point to a list of about 200. True, these represent many of the colours which are in heaviest request, but it will be seen that we have a very long way to go yet before we can claim to have wrested the industry from Germany, while in comparison with the £50,000,000--$250,000,000--of capital invested in the Teuton industry, the £5,000,000--$25,000,000--sunk in the British enterprise appears paltry. To indicate how industriously and comprehensively the German houses have probed this particular waste utilization problem it may be mentioned that one of the leading houses in the industry has taken out approximately 6,500 patents to protect its activities, while it turns out a round 2,000 different products all made from coal-tar. The manufacture of the synthetic drugs--aspirin, veronal, sulphonal, phenacetin--and a host of others runs into stupendous figures. That concerning antiseptic preparations as well as the production of chemicals incidental to photography and the leather trades is equally imposing. It is estimated that the total capital sunk in German enterprises identified with the exploitation of coal-tar ranges between £140,000,000 and £160,000,000--$700,000,000 to $800,000,000. The return is exceedingly attractive, exceeding £80,000,000--$400,000,000--per annum in value.