The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-14
COAL BRINGS $35A TON IN ARGENTINA Fuel liar dtO Buy Even at
 That Figure DRASTIC REGULATIONS Even Ships of Argentine Navy Are Impotent Owing to Lack Of Fuel. Oil and Wood as Hard Almost
 to Get as Coal
DRASTIC REGULATIONS

Buenos Aires, May 1.-(Correspon- dence of the Associated Press.)-Coal for ordinary consumption in the Argeh- tine is now $35, gold, per ton. and nara to purchase even at that figure. TO prevent the reduction of the present ! meagre supply, the national government 1 has ordered the principal steamship ! companies not to put on board any out bound vessel more coal than necessary to carry it to the nearest Brazilian port of call. This coal is the nroperty or the steamship companies stored here as a precautionary measure. and the fact that the government has been obhged to place an embargo on this prlVate property is indicative of the seriousness of the fuel problems in thls cSuntrS. The railroads likewise have been forced to economize by cutting down the summer time tables of trains, and in the meantime they have placed or ders for 500, 900 tons of hardwood TOT fuel But even wood has gone up 30 6 ton within a week, and is now quoted at $33 paper, or $l4 gold. Charcoai, which is largely used for domestic pur- poses, is also s5 ton dearer
 NAVY TIED UP
 The situation is such that even the ships of the Argentine navy are de clared to be impotent owing to the lack of coal. The American built battlesh1ps Rivadavia and Moreno were constructed to burn oil, but apparently the oil prob lem is nearly as serious as the coal sit uation. Crude petroleum from the Ar genuine wells is being offered in linn ited quantities at $50, papers; $34, gold, per ton. Although reported inferior only to the best Roumanian oil, the Argentine government and people have displayed a skeptical attitude toward the native oil. The deposits have been said to be un- limited, but despite this the output has been small and neither the navy nor man. ufacturers generally avail themselves Of the native product. The German EIec- tric Light and Power company, which supplies this city and suburbs, and which formerly used coal exclusively, began to use the Argentina oil after the outbreak Of the war, but has lately discontinued that and is burning the Mexican product This notwithstanding the recent grant by the government of s15,00oOO0 to develop the Argentine oil regions.
 IN OIL FIELDS
 An official report of conditions pre- vailing in and around the Comodoro- Rivadavia oil area shows some inefficient conditions under which the development of the field is being undertaken. Water lacking in that region and has to be brought from a place more than 90 miles away, and labor is also scarce. Beng a government monopoly, and heavily fiscal ized, the operations have been elaborate and costly, but, it is charged, extremely inefficient. It is said to be doubtful whether the oil fields will ever respond to the elaborate hopes based upon the casual discovery of them in 190l gov ernment inspector, just returned from the district, expresses his surprise that the locomotives plying to and from the pe- troeum zone are still being fired with costly coal
 The peat deposits of Tiefra del Fuego are declared to contain inexhaustible supplies of that fuel, but with scarcity of coasting vessels and the difficulty of securing labor for that bleak region it is more than doubtful whether it will ever pay. Of wood there is enormous supply, but it grows in the remote and generally salubrious regions
 As for American coal, the freight charged 90 shillings per ton, rules it out of consideration, ill view of the fact that the British product is shipped at $50 a ton. This can be done because freighters are sure of picking up profitable char ters in the River Platte for England ol France.
 To give an idea of the manifold ways in which the lack of fuel affects the cur rents of commerce. it is sufficient tt note that the great hotel proprietors hav met and deliberatd upon the best cours of action in view of the increased llitchei and laundry expenses, which are nearl double what they were.