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-- Number Io. h عشق compared to the manufacture from wood. Sir Thomas IHolderness seemed impressed and said that as soon as a chemist had been selected to go to India, he would be directed to see Mr. Wakefield first in London and then to proceed to Hyllerabad to go into the question of manufacture from Mohua flowers. In the course of his investigation into industries suitable to Hyderabad Mr. Wakefield made the acquaintance of Dr. Fowler of the Manchester University, and in the course of conversation with him learnt that a friend of his, a chemist at the Admiralty, by name Dr. Weizmann, had invented a new and simple process of extracting acetone from starch and sugar and that his process was being made use of by the Admiralty. Mr. Wakefield said at once that such a process was applicable to the flowers cf the Mohua, which are full of sugar, and he felt sure that starch and sugar, however, obtained in London, were bound to be very much more expensive than Mohua flowers. He wrote at once to Sir Thomas Holderness acquainting him with these facts and begging that the Chemist selected should be instructed to see Dr. Weizmann of the Admiralty and become acquainted with the latest discovery. A conference Was held at the India Office in the room of the Director General of Stores, at which Dr. Weizmann, Dr. Fowler and Mr. Wakefield were present. It transpired that the Admiralty were manufacturing acetone by the Weizmann process at great cost out of maize and were spending 75,000 pounds sterling in the erection of a large factory. He described his efforts and the nature of the flowers of the Mohua and stated his conviction that it would undoubtedly be both simpler and cheaper to extract acetone from Mohua flowers than from maize. Dr. Weizmann thought so also and the conference was adjourned to give Mr. Wakefield time to obtain a sample of flowers from India to enable Dr. Weizmann to test them. cabled to 124) A NEW INDUSTRY. . . 493 --_TS ۔" ܝܦ ܦܫ ܚܒܝܒܝ ܦ ܫ ܚܣܒܣܦܝܩܝܣܩܦܫܝ *r rer Tr India for a sample. It was tasted by the Admiralty Chemist in London and the results proved to satisfactory that Dr. Fowler, an eminent chemist, was sent out to India by the Secretary of State. He is to manufacture acetone from Mohua on a large scale at Nasik, which place has been chosen beause of the suitability of its climate. “The Government of India,' we read in Mr. Wakefield's Note"are going to spend some seven lacs of rupees in erecting a special factory at Nasik for the extraction of acetone from Mohua and have already purchased from us about 70,000 rupees 9 worth of Mohua.” The Mohua tree abounds in the Hyderabad forests and fields, more especially in the districts of N izamabad, Melak and Asafabad. During the hot weather the flowers drip of the tree and are gathered and dried to the consistency of raisins. Hitherto they have been utilized for liquor only. Annually about 25,000 tons are gathered, of which about 10,000 tons are used for liquor, leaving a balance of liš,000 tons which are at present a drug on the market and which it is certainly profitable to put to some use. With this it will be possible to make sugar, motor spirit, and several other valuable products. Regarding motor spirit, Mr. Wakefield says-“We have run several kinds of motor cars successfully for some time on a spirit prepared from Mohua at half the cost of petrol, and during Dr. Fowler's late visit to Hyderabad, the motor cars which conveyed him were run entirely on that spirit.” “I would draw attention” says Mr. Wakefield, “to the revolutionary nature of this achievement. A cheap motor spirit spells great reduction in the working charges of railways, waterpumps, motor cars, in fact every description of power engine. The present annual consumption of petrol in Hyderabad and Secunderabad is about 1,00,000 gallons and we require only about 1,500 tons of Mohua to make that quantity.”