226 GEOLOGY AS AN ECONOMIC SCIENCE 



grasp how intimately it is connected with the welfare 

 of our kingdom and its dependencies. 



The limitation of our imports of raw and manu- 

 factured material from foreign countries, and the 

 call for an increased output of many commodities, 

 have caused us to take a census of our own resources, 

 to manufacture articles previously imported from 

 abroad, and to modify our manufacturing processes 

 in such a manner as to render us less dependent 

 on foreign raw-material material often introduced 

 into this country to the neglect or detriment of our 

 home or colonial supplies. 



The use of imported material has, in some cases, 

 been the result of the more systematic working of 

 the foreign deposits and the utilisation of the by- 

 products; in other cases it has legitimately arisen 

 because the foreign raw-material is either more 

 abundant or of better quality than our own, but 

 the importation of raw-material from abroad is 

 often controlled by fashion, and not by the fact 

 that there is no similar and equally suitable material 

 at home; and as an instance of this we may cite 

 the extensive use of foreign sands, clays, and road- 

 metal, all articles which with equal facility could 

 be obtained from our own country. This blind 

 following of a fashion is the direct result of a lack 

 of scientific knowledge, coupled with the incapacity 

 to appreciate those scientific reasons which render 

 certain materials suitable for a special purpose. 

 Now, however, there is arising a better under- 



