48 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B. 



be located by other means, seein to justify the expectation that 

 before long prospecting for certain classes of mineral deposits 

 may be carried out on somewhat similar lines. In the case of 

 compact ore-bodies similar to those of Broken Hill and Tsumeb, 

 such a means of investigation appears to possess considerable 

 prospects of success. 



With another type of ore body, we must look for new dis- 

 coveries on quite different lines. I refer to those classes of mineral 

 deposits which accumulated experience has shown to depend upon 

 fairly definite geological conditions and analogies, established as 

 the result of evidence brought together by the systematic scientific 

 study of a large number of siinilar occurrences. Here the work 

 of an organised and systematic geological survey becomes one of 

 the greatest value from the point of view of the seeker after new 

 mineral fields, as it also does in tracing possible extensions of 

 fields already working, and the recognition of areas similar to 

 those in which the existence of mineral deposits of particular 

 types has already been proved. 



Thus, in such cases as the tracing of the extension of the 

 gold-bearing reefs of the Witwatersrand under the far Eastern 

 portion of that district, in the location and exploration of new 

 coal fields, and in the systematic boring of possible oil fields, 

 organised geological survey wox'k becomes of the gi*eatest 

 importance, and its value is thoroughly recognised, even by those 

 who view the question entirely on hard business principles. 



It is difficult to refer to this aspect of my subject without 

 calling attention, as attention has been called many times before, 

 to the very meagre isupport given by the Government of this 

 country to geological investigation, especially as compared with 

 the expenditure on other departments of scientific work — for ex- 

 ample, those connected with agriculture. It still remains a 

 striking anomaly in South Africa that the industry which suffers 

 the greatest incidence of taxation is the one which benefits so 

 little by Government aid to the sciences most nearly related to it. 



When a mineral deposit of some promise has been discovered, 

 eitlier by a lucky strike by a prospector working more or less 

 haphazard or by the more logical and systematic methods of the 

 trained engineer or geologist, in many cases aided by the accumu- 

 lated observations of an organized geological survey, its further 

 development into a paying mining proposition is often a somewhat 

 complicated process, than which there are few things less under- 

 stood by the average person unconnected with the mining 

 industry. It is often impossible, even for the expert, to foretell 

 what the calibre and possibilities of a mineral occurrence may be 

 without more or less exploratory work being carried out. This 

 requires the expenditure of money, on a very speculative basis, 

 which in many cases never yields any profitable I'esvilt. Such 

 work, therefore, usually falls to the lot of a small syndicate of 

 niore adventurous spirits who are willing to take the long odds 

 against any return from their venture. 



