NOTES 503 



artesian water long before the bores were sunk from which flow " Queensland's 

 rivers of gold." 



The whole of Queensland is a vast cemetery of fossilised species — on the 

 surface, buried in drifts, or hidden in clays. The plains of the Flinders river 

 disclose great deposits of marine fossil shells, belemnites and ammonites, and 

 remains of extinct animals. In the Gulf of Carpentaria, 40 or 50 feet below the 

 alluvial deposits forming the banks of rivers, firmly embedded in the hard cement — 

 water-worn stones in an ironstone clay — are the bones of innumerable extinct 

 gigantic animals that, far back in some prehistoric age, roamed over the Gulf 

 country : Diprotodon, Nototherium, and Zygomaturus — grass-eaters and flesh- 

 eaters. The utter extinction of these creatures can only be explained by a great 

 change of climate and great and lengthy droughts. The fossils are from animals 

 of immense size ; the teeth found are twice the size of an ordinary bullock's. 

 Gigantic alligators and turtles and marsupials abounded in those days, suggesting 

 a luxuriant and abundant herbage. 



From an economic point of view one may say that three-fourths of the area of 

 Queensland forms good pastoral land. Of this, 60,000 square miles contain 

 valuable mines of gold, with outcrops of copper and lead ores, as well as rich 

 deposits of tin ; 24,000 square miles are capable of producing illimitable supplies 

 of iron and coal. It may be safely asserted that in Queensland is a wealth of 

 material resource comparing favourably with any other part of Australia. 



—The London Correspondent of "The 

 North Queensland Register." 

 Poland 



A series of eight pamphlets issued by the Polish Information Committee and 

 published by George Allen & Unwin place before the reader a complete picture 

 not only of Poland's past history when she was autonomous, but her condition and 

 struggles after the partition. This account arouses one's admiration for the 

 vitality and strength of purpose in the Polish people who, against almost 

 insuperable odds, have preserved their language, nationality, intellect, and desire 

 for freedom. The fifth paper of the series, by A. E. Gurney with a preface by 

 Ludwik Janvoski, gives facts to prove that the Polish population has increased 

 rather than diminished in spite of the strenuous efforts of Germany, Austria, and 

 Russia to absorb it. The eighth pamphlet, by L. Litwinski, with a preface by 

 Lord Bryce, furnishes an interesting description of Poland's intellectual activities, 

 particularly in the realm of science, carried on in the face of every difficulty with 

 which her conquerors could hamper her. Similar literature is being published 

 to-day by the Jugoslavs, also crying out for racial nationality, all of which seems to 

 point to the idea that extension of frontier by any one country is to the world a 

 loss rather than a gain. Much effort is put fruitlessly forth by the conqueror to 

 absorb the conquered, which of necessity calls forth corresponding efforts of 

 resistance— unproductive energy on both sides which could be so much more 

 profitably expended in the furtherance of science, literature, and art. 



" The Australian Manufacturer." 



The Australian Manufacturer, an excellent illustrated paper, published weekly 

 at the price of sixpence, contains interesting information for the manufacturer and 

 general reader alike. Although primarily intended for Australian consumption, 

 much of its sound advice is equally applicable to the Mother Country. This is 

 particularly true of the first article in the issue for June 17 last, "How to save 



