Brown, Stewart and Co., Ltd.

The report of the directors of this company, to be submitted at the eleventh annual meeting, to be held to-day (Friday), states that :- "The accounts for the year ending 3rd May, 1892, are submitted herewith. Including the sum of £1,365 5s. ld. brought forward from last year, the amount at the credit of profit and loss account, after paying debenture interest and other charges, is £6,849 10s. Old. The directors recommend that a dividend of 6 per cent. should be paid to the preference shareholders, that the sum of £2,000 be written off the addition to plant, and that the balance, £1,849 10s. 04d., be carried forward. The adverse manufacturing conditions referred to in last report continued during the first half of the financial year. Since then the conditions have gradually become normal, and the result is accordingly more satisfactory. The arrears of dividend on the preference shares amount to £15,000, and the directors have under consideration the question of dealing with this matter. When their plans are matured, they will submit them to a special meeting of the company."

The following are the accounts :

Air-Lift Pumps.

Some interesting results of the trials of a new patent air-lift pump which has been fitted at the power stations of the Central London Railway and at Ilford have been published in the Financier and Bullionist. These trials show that the efficiency of a deep-well pump is only between 40 and 50 per cent. after it has worked some time, while the efficiency of the ordinary air-lift pump is 25 per cent. at the best. The new air-lift pump, however, designed by Mr. Price, of Messrs. Le Grand and Sutcliff, Bunhill-row, E.C., brings about a considerable saving of the waste of power inherent in the design of the ordinary air-lift pump. In this pump the rising main is of equal diameter throughout its length, and the water and air rise in alternate layers. The action of the air as it rises in the main can be best understood by taking an illustration. Suppose the height to which the water must be raised is 80 ft., and the immersion of the tube is 120 ft., thus making a total length of rising main of 200 ft. The air is pumped down the rising main through a small tube at a small pressure which in this case would be 60 lbs. At this pressure it will occupy about one-fifth of its original value. This air gets blown out at the bottom of the inner air pipe amongst the water of the rising main, and as it lightens the water and rises the pressure above it will become less and less, and at the top of the well will only have the atmospheric pressure about it. If it can it will expand gradually on its way upwards, until at the top it will Occupy a length of the tube several times what it was at the bottom. In order to allow of this expansion the water above the layer of air must have been caused to travel very much faster than it did at the bottom. That is to say, much of the energy of the air has been uselessly employed giving a rapid motion to the water in the upper parts of the tube. In order to get over this difficulty Mr. Price has introduced a tapering rising main, so that it is wider at the top. In this tube the air expands laterally, and the layers of water travel with about the same speed at the top as they do at the bottom of the rising main, and there is thus no waste of energy in creating momentum in the water. In the Ilford well the immersion is 1 to 1 of lift, the lift being 130 ft. The air pipe down the centre of the rising main is 14 in diameter at the top and 14 in. lower down. The air is supplied by an Alley and McLellan compressor, which on trial gave the following results-When the air pressure in the receiver was 80 lbs. the mean indicated horse power of the air in the cylinder was 18 83; when.100 lbs., 22 i.h.p.; and when 120 lbs. it was 24.3 i.h.p. On trial with one of these air compressors directly driven with a steam-engine the loss was only 6 per cent. At Ilford the compressor is driven with a motor. Mr. Price, according to comparative figures, has by his new invention raised the efficiency of air-lift pumps by about 40 per cent.

Soda Products.

The great increase in this branch noted in the census report for 1890 has continued during the past decade. The number of establishments making soda products as the main part, or as a subsidiary of their business, has increased from 32 to 50.

The following figures show the total production of soda products for the census years 1900 and 1890:

1900-Soda ash, 781,306,000 pounds, valued at 4,859,656 dols.; sal soda, 126,498,000 pounds, valued at 875,243 dols.; bicarbonate of soda, 137,712,000 pounds, valued at 1,332,765 dols. ; caustic soda, 233,566,000 pounds, valued at 3,170,280 dols.; total, 1,279,082,000 pounds, valued at 10,237,944 dols.

1890-Soda ash, 94,801,200 pounds, valued at 1,179,720 dols. ; sal soda, 144,641,705 pounds, valued at 1,581,766 dols. ; bicarbonate of soda, 60,678,750 pounds, valued at 2,009,800 dols. ; caustic soda, 32,002,720 pounds, valued at 661,144 dols. ; total, 333,124,375 pounds, valued at 5,432,400 dols.

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The decrease in the production of sal soda is noteworthy, and is due to the increasing use of soap powders and other specially prepared washing materials. Although the production has almost quadrupled during the past decade, the value per unit has fallen greatly, the percentage of decrease being as follows: Soda ash, 50 per cent.; sal soda, 29.35 per cent.; bicarbonate of soda, 70'69 per cent.; caustic soda, 32:50 per cent.

Alums.

During the census year, 1900, there were thirteen establishments engaged in the manufacture of alums, either as a principal or subordinate product, as compared with ten in 1890. The production in 1900 was 197,467,471 pounds, valued at 2,446,576 dols., as compared with 93,998,008 pounds, valued at 1,616,710 dols. in 1890, an increase of 139 per cent. in quantity and 100 per cent. in value.

The output of 1900 was divided among the following kinds of alum: Ammonia alum, 6,580,373 pounds, valued at 102,308 dols.: potash alum, 14,200,393 pounds, valued at 215,004 dols. ; burned alum, 16,028,464 pounds, valued at 403,100 dols.; concentrated alum, 103,016,815 pounds, valued at 1,062,547 dols.; alum cake, 4,048,655 pounds, valued at 34,047 dols.; other alums, 35,592,771 pounds, valued at 629,570 dols.

Bleaching Materials.

Although bleaching materials of various kinds have been long in use, and bleaching by chlorine or hypochlorite has been in vogue since the latter part of the eighteenth century, no separate returns have been secured for this industry at any previous census. Chlorine production has practically been, until recently, incidental to the manufacture of soda by the Le Blanc process, and as this process has not secured a foothold in the United States, the production of chlorine bleach has heretofore undoubtedly been insignificant in quantity and value. With the introduction of electricity as an agent in effecting chemical transformation, common salt and other chlorides are being electrolysed on a commercial scale, with the result that the production of chlorine and hypochlorites is assuming importance. The chlorine thus produced is converted into bleaching powder by means of lime, but other hypochlorites, and notably sodium hypochlorite, are made from imported bleaching powder. In addition there are produced and used in bleaching, disinfection, or as a preservative, hydrogen dioxide, sodium dioxide, sulphurous acid, sodium, calcium and potassium bisulphites, and many special compositions.

In considering this industry in its entirety there must be discussed, not only these bodies specifically reported as bleaching materials produced by the older process, but also such bleaching agents as have been produced by the aid of electricity, or sent out for use in the compound or liquified state, and also those which are the subordinate products of establishments whose principal products classify them with other industries. Combining these there were twenty-five establishments in seven States, producing 26,794,338 pounds of material having a value of 592,658, and employing a capital of 672,969 dols. and 216 wage earners. These establishments were distributed as follows: New York, 10; Pennsylvania, 6; New Jersey, 3; Illinois, 3; Missouri, Michigan and Ohio a total of four.

Among the principal products were 10,979 tons of hypochlorites of a value of 462,949 dols. 588,335 pounds of hydrogen dioxide of a value of 63,754 dols.; 350,585 pounds of sulphur dioxide of a value of 4,826 dols., and 1,461 tons of bisulphites of a value of 34,826 dols. There were consumed in this manufacture 15,000 tons of salt brine, equivalent to 1,574 tons of salt, or, together with the other salt consumed, 9,055 tons of salt of a value of 19,105 dols.; 158,561 bushels of lime of a value of 20,532 dols.; 168 tons of caustic soda of a value of 7,618 dols.; 92,600 pounds of metallic sodium: 93,000 pounds of black oxide manganese of a value of 1,325 dols. ; 227 tons of muriatic acid of a value of 4,325 dols.; 974 tons of soda ash of a value of 23,368 dols. ; 7 tons of potash of a value of 420 dols.; 171 tons of sulphur of a value of 4,000 dols.; 74 tons of barium dioxide of a value of 16,540 dols.; 74,490 pounds of phosphoric acid of a value of 14,898 dols., and 44 tons of bleaching powder of a value of 1,570 dols.