The sympathy which one has for the mining interests of south Wales in their endeavour to induce the British Navy to take coal again instead of of must be tempered with the outlook of the sailor on that question. It, only recently that the last British cruiser was converted froma coal to an oil burning vessel, and it has got to be home' in mind that the predominating influence which rust, make fits effect felt in a question sich as this is the final officigney of the fleets as fighting usits. Herein lies the crux of the question as between coal and oil, for it is not.only the structural alterations which have. to be considered, but a very much more important aspect of. the ole ease, Ore useful point may be learned the epic fight between the German armed ner Cap Trafalgar nda similarly equipped Bri h Cunarder, the Carmania, which took place in the early days of the war. The British ship found the enemy coaling in the Atlantic, wit tw" colliers alongside. and although out-gunned,~ she _attacked and sank "the—Cap Trafalgar. The point is made by naval officers that the man boat was at such a disadvantage through—decks being strewn with coal-dust and everything aboard ship equally} cumbered, that it was hardly} ing that its efficiency was} tly impaired. This fact, added to the enterprise of the, captain of the Carmania, ensared success. It is a war lesson Which. it is satisfactory to see, Mr, Amman, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, has] apparently noted.
Possibly, and probably, Mr. Amman had more in his mind the enormous cost which would take to convert the major-y of the ships of the British Navy into coal instead of oil-duners. The structural altera. tions would be immense. For instance when an oil-burner goes to sea she uses the oil in her! tanks a3 ballast, and when it! has been consumed water takes its place. It would not simply! be a matter of knocking out] partitions to make coal bunkers, but in the circumstances the whole ballasting of the ship would have to be re-designed. Not only would it be an expensive business, but from the experiences of warfare, which must be the criterion in these matters, the relative efficiency of the two fuels—not by any means from the point of view of steaming alone—is bound to be the deciding factor, although at Home an industry happens to be hard-hit thereby
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.