All About Engines

338 All About Engines exploration for fresh fields has to be carried on if the supply is to be kept up. So far as those fuels which are derived from petroleum are concerned, the gradually rising prices will put a limit to their use, and the people in the countries in which they occur will have an advan- tage over those in the countries to which they have to be conveyed. Manufactures must, as a rule, be carried on in close proximity to the source of raw material or fuel, and if we in Great Britain had to import fuel our export trade would dwindle to in- significant proportions. Our greatest need of oil is for the Navy, unless that era of certain peace which is the hope of so many people shall begin in earnest. The submarine depends upon the Diesel engine, and the fastest vessels of other types are wholly or par- tially dependent upon oil fuel for raising steam. An adequate supply for the protection of our trade and the defence of the Empire will, ere long, be obtainable from British Colonies and Dependencies, but it is unlikely that this will be sufficiently plenti- ful or cheap to be used in providing power for manu- factures. For this we shall have to rely upon the bountiful but not inexhaustible provision of Nature beneath our own soil. Now while there is no vast natural store of liquid fuel in Great Britain, it does not follow that since we cannot get all we want from other countries we must go seriously short. For many years oil has been obtained by distilling certain shales in Scotland, and some, at present of inferior quality, is obtainable