XXXlll 



parts of the world. The use of broken 

 stone filling in place of cement blocks 

 would enable the work to be com- 

 pleted in less time, and. was attended with 

 less risks. The peculiarities of the tides 

 at the entrance to Macquarie Harl)Our, de- 

 scribed in such a clear and interesting 

 manner in the paper, were in some respects 

 new to him, and different to what obtained 

 in similar harbours. This was doubtless 

 due to the extensive inside area, compared 

 with the size of the entrance, and the large 

 quantity of fresh water always flowing 

 into the harbour owing to the abnormally 

 large rainfall of the West Coast. 



Hon. N. J. Brown, M.E.C. (Speaker 

 of the House of Assembly), emphasised the 

 obligation of the Society and the public to 

 Mr. Bell for his i)a))er. There were many 

 points of scientihc interest touched upon, 

 but its practical character was of great 

 importance, because it was calculated 

 to increase confidence in the scheme. He 

 could never understand the objections 

 raised to making Macquarie Harbour 

 accessible to steamers of deeper draught 

 than those now engaged in the trade 

 of the port, and sailing ships. If it was a 

 mistake to do this, then the spending of 

 so much money as has been spent in 

 dredging the Tamar and the Mersey, 

 and in improving the harbour of Burnie 

 was a mistake. (Hear, hear.) The more 

 easily communication by sea was made 

 to this colony, by so much would the 

 cost of production be decreased, and 

 that decrease meant so much addi- 

 tion to the wealth of the whole colony. 

 (Applause.) Our territory w^as small, and 

 here, more than in the larger colonies, 

 it was obvious that no portion of this 

 island could be largely benefited without 

 that benefit spreading over the whole of 



the community. He looked with con- 

 fidence to the completion of this im- 

 portant work under the direction of such 

 a skilled engineer as Mr. Napier Bell. 

 (Applause.) 



Captain Miles, M.H.A., warmly com- 

 mended Mr. Bell and his paper. He 

 claimed that the deepening of the bar 

 would be of enormous benefit to the colony, 

 because it would cheapen the carriage of 

 fuel for treating low-grade ores, and 

 so develop the West Coast mineral fields. 

 (Applause.) 



Mr. R. M. Johnston gave a geological 

 description of the rocks occupying the 

 basin of the Macquarie Harbour. He 

 stated that in early tertiary times this 

 great basin formed a fresh water lake, 

 whose wasted sediments still remain 

 forming a fringe on the northern side 

 from Strahan to Kelly's Basin, composed of 

 clays, sands, lignites, and beds of coarse 

 shingles. The old lake, like that of the Der- 

 went, was subsequently encroached upon by 

 the advancing waters of the sea, whose 

 action in again wasting the softer sedi- 

 ments of the old lake was accelerated by a 

 long-continued slow subsidence of the land. 

 This action continued until the present 

 inland sea basin was formed. Mr. John- 

 ston also drew attention to the erratic 

 tidal rise and fall, and said it bore some 

 correspondence to peculiar tidal waves 

 observed for many years by IMr. Russell, 

 Government Astronomer of New South 

 Wales, in the harbours of Sydney, New- 

 castle, and elsewhere, the causes of which, 

 for the most part, he ascribes to distant 

 storms acting in conjunction with a par- 

 ticular direction of the wind. 



After the exhibition of the views the 

 meeting terminated with the usual votes 

 of thanks. 



