asked the Secretary for Mines the number of years that benzole has been produced in this country, and why a committee was appointed to report on it?

Benzole has been recovered as a by-product of the high temperature carbonisation industries for many years past on a steadily increasing scale, and the difficulties of further increasing the quantity recovered are becoming progressively greater. As the maximum production is required in the national interest at the present time, an inquiry into the means of overcoming these difficulties was desirable. I would add that the committee in question is not dealing solely with benzole recovery, but with the important and wider subject of all the liquid products of high temperature carbonisation, including the most advantageous ways of utilising such products in war-time.