46 I'UKSIDEXTIAL ADDUESS SECTION U. 



returns on Irallic tlireetly or indirectly connected with the mining 

 field of the liand have furnished the largest poi-tion of the means 

 of building up our system of railways and harbours, and play a 

 still more important part in maintaining them. 



In support of these statements, and to emphasise also the 

 great importance of the part which can be played by a big min- 

 ing field in the development and general prosperity of a young 

 country, it is necessary occasionally to put the matter into defi- 

 nite figures. I recently had occasion to refer to this matter 

 in a broad way in another connection, and I will ask your 

 indulgence while I quote from the notes I then put together :^- 



" The Witwatersrarid output of gold for 1920 valued at nearly 44^ 

 million pounds, amounting to 49.9 per cent, of the world's production, and 

 with an aggregate output, up to 1920, to the value of nearly 647 millions, 

 renders the field of great importance, even from the world point of view. 

 From a South African standpoint, however, its significance is vastly 

 greater, and the maintenance of the industry at something like the present 

 level is a matter of vital importance to the whole country — a fact only now 

 becoming apparent to the community at large. This will be the better 

 understood when we consider that in 1920 the contribution to the country's 

 revenue, through direc^ taxation and Government share of profits, amounted 

 to £2,170,344, while the indirect contribution to the country's revenue, 

 through the medium of railway rates on stores, etc.. taxes on the incomes 

 of mining employees, and in a multitude of other ways, was probably much 

 greater still. In addition, the industry distributed in wages in 1920, nearly 

 £17,000,000, and spent £14,288,247 on stores. It provides the best market 

 for South African products, and proves itself in general a sort of foster 

 mother to most other branches of industry." 



Perhaps nothing in the history of the \Yitwatersrand gold 

 field has tended towards the realisation of the intimate way in 

 which its fortunes are interwoven with those of the country in 

 general, and of how far-reaching are its connections with the 

 trade and prosperity of districts so remote from it that they could 

 hardly be expected to be affected by it. more than the recent 

 upheaval on the Rand due to the strike and the other complicated 

 ^social and political movements- which followed in its train. It is 

 fortunately not in my province to go into these, but only briefly 

 to call attention to the effects on the rest of the country of the 

 temporary paralysis of what many people are inclined to regard 

 as a local mining industry. 



The manner in which the cessation of mining activity, even 

 for a comparatively short period, made itself felt in centres far 

 remote from the Hand, as recorded in the press at the time, was 

 one of the most striking consequences of recent events. 



With the Witwatersrand before us as an illustration, it is 

 unnecessary for me to labour the importance to be attaclied to a 

 big mining field in a country where industrial concerns in other 

 branches of industry are as yet in the early stages of development. 



It will be more profitable, perhaps, to review briefly the very 

 varied phases which may be passed through in the growth of a 

 mining field, and to consider in what directions those engaged in 

 scientific pursuits may be called upon to assist in its development. 



For the discovery of a possible future mine or a mining field, 

 we are accustomed to look lo thi> j)i-ospector, a class under which 



