3 6o SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Mines and Minerals of the British Empire : Being a Description of the His- 

 torical, Physical, and Industrial Features of the Principal Centres of Mineral 

 Production in the British Dominions beyond the Seas, [Pp. xx + 403.] 

 Price 15s. net. (London: Edward Arnold, 1908.) 



This is an eminently readable account of the mineral industry of the Empire 

 outside these islands. The author, who is a resident in Johannesburg, has visited 

 most of the localities which are dealt with at any length, and has made the most 

 of his opportunities. The geological relations of the deposits are usually well 

 described, and where there are rival theories as to their origin he gives a fair state- 

 ment of both sides of the controversy. Interesting information is furnished with 

 regard to mining methods and the economic conditions under which the work is 

 carried on, and the varying character of the labour employed in different cases is 

 well brought out. It is a pity that he was unable to see the Mysore Gold Mines, 

 for it would have been interesting to have had his views on the work of the Indian 

 and Italian miners, who were suggested as possible alternatives to Chinese labour 

 in South Africa — the former being rejected on account of the conditions laid 

 down by the Government of India, and the latter because it was not considered 

 seemly that the Kaffirs should see white men engaged in manual labour. While 

 not disguising his disapproval of the democratic principles that govern the New 

 Zealand mining policy, he recognises, with the fairness that is characteristic of 

 the whole book, the success with which it has been attended. 



The great subject of Australian Mining is somewhat unequally and inadequately 

 treated. Tasmanian fields, however, obtain full recognition, though there is a 

 curious slip in the statement on page 107, that the conglomerate series belongs 

 to "an earlier geologic period than the unconformable underlying schists." In 

 Western Australia the information given is almost confined to Coolgardie and 

 Kalgoorlie. Other mining centres are almost ignored, and the tin and tantalite of 

 Wodgina and Greenbushes are not mentioned. Other omissions include the coal, 

 lignite, tin, antimony, copper, and tungsten of Victoria ; the opals, sapphires 

 molybdenum, tungsten, and monazite of Queensland ; the Burmese jadestone, 

 the salt mines of the Punjab, the graphite of Travancore, and the manjak of 

 Trinidad. The thorianite of Ceylon is not, as stated, of merely scientific interest, 

 but a mineral of considerable commercial value. 



The subject of geological survey administration is dealt with in an appendix, 

 but no adequate reference is made to the important mineral surveys carried out 

 by well-known geologists and mineral experts, officers of the Imperial Institute, 

 in Ceylon, Northern Nigeria, Southern Nigeria, Nyasaland, and Uganda. Not 

 only is a careful examination of the mining resources of the Colony ma-ae on the 

 spot, but typical specimens are forwarded to the Scientific and Technical Depart- 

 ment of the Imperial Institute, examined and reported on, and finally added to the 

 great public collections of colonial products. While the commercial aspects are 

 necessarily mainly regarded, scientific questions that arise in the course of the work 

 are by no means neglected. 



J. W. Evans. 



