June 6, 1918] 



NATURE 



269- 



can never be renewed. On all grounds the creation 

 of such a bureau as has been advocated by the 

 Committee is to be heartily welcomed by the 

 mining- community, and it ougfht to play a leading- 

 part in co-ordinating- the utilisation of our mineral 

 resources after the war to the best ad\ anlaj^c 



It is doubtful whether other recommendations 

 are likely to be quite so successful in every case, 

 and in some instances they scarcely appear to have 

 been sufficiently thought out. Thus one of the 

 suggestions is the creation of a statutory tribunal 

 to enforce the granting- of wayleaves where un- 

 reasonably withheld. There is no doubt that 

 wayleaves do in many cases press unduly and 

 unfairly upon the mineral producer, but the proper 

 remedy is a modification of the whole system 

 rather than a palliative to be applied only to 

 cases where wayleaves are refused. . At present 

 any landowner is at liberty to make whatever 

 charg-e he thinks fit for a mineral wayleave across 

 his land, and his method is to base his charges 

 upon the presumed needs of the miner. A simple 

 legislative enactment that the measure of a way- 

 leave rental should be, not the necessity of the 

 miner, but the amount of damage suffered bv the 

 landowner, is really what is required. There 

 would be no difficulty in finding a tribunal capable 

 of properly assessing- such damage, and it cannot 

 be fairly urg-ed that such a system would be in- 

 equitable. Again, whilst the Committee has de- 

 voted some attention to the question of taxation, it 

 has failed to note how unfairly the present methods 

 press upon the mineral industry, inasmuch as in 

 levying income-tax no regard is given to the fact 

 that a mine or a mineral property is -necessarily 

 a wasting asset, and that what is, in fact, to-day 

 taxed as profit derived from the working of 

 minerals is not all profit, but represents as to a 

 p>ortion of it a return of the capital invested. The 

 only recommendation made on the very important 

 matter of allowances for depreciation for income- 

 tax purposes is that it should be '.'on an adequate 

 .scale"; the Committee does not appear to recog- 

 nise that the principle of calculating depreciation 

 upon the diminishing value of machinery and plant 

 is wrong, and "that the entire subject needs revision 

 in the light of modern industrial methods. 



As regards the supplies of ores, both of the 

 ferrous and non-ferrous metals, the present report 

 does not advance in any way upon the reports of 

 the respective Departmental Committees, except 

 in so far as they would receive much valuable 

 assistance from the Imperial bureau of mineral 

 resources. It need .scarcely be said that the report 

 contains a vast amount of valuable information, 

 and will well repay attentive p>erusal ; nevertheless, 

 the special aspect of the whole subject, to which 

 attention is here devoted — namely, the future 

 development of the mineral resources of the 

 Empire — has not received the share of considera- 

 tion to which its pre-eminent importance entitles 

 it. This was, perhaps, inevitable, having regard 

 to the constitution of the Committee and the 

 wide range of its inquiries ; but it is none the less 

 to be regretted. H. I. oris. 



NO. 2536, VOL. lOl] 



NOTES. 



The long list of honours announced on Monday, 

 for war and other services, in celebration of the 

 King's birthday, includes the names of the following 

 workers in scientific fields: — G.C.X'.O.: Sir Alfred 

 Keogh. K.C.M.G.: Sir William Leishnian, F.R.S. 

 K.C.S.I.: Sir Thomas Holland, F.R.S. CLE.: Lt.- 

 Col. E. A. R. Newman, Indian Medical Service, 

 superintendent. Medical School, Dacca, Bengal ; Mr." 

 J. R. Henderson, superintendent, Government Museum ; 

 Mr. C. A. Barber, Agricultural Service, Imperial sugar- 

 cane expert, Madras. K.C.B. : Surg. -Gen. H. D. 

 RoUeston. C.B.: Sir Hugh Bell, Bart. K.C.M.G.: 

 Prof. John Cadman. C.M.G.: Prof. H. L. Ferguson, 

 professor of ophthamology, I'niversity of Otago. 

 Knights: Mr. Harry Baldwin, for services as dental 

 surgeon to his Majesty for a number of years, and 

 as head of the Kennington Facial Hospital ; Mr. C. H. 

 Burge, late departmental principal of the Government 

 Laboratory ; Mr. Mayo Robson, past vice-president of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons ; and Dr. E. D. Ross, 

 principal of the School oi Oriental Studies. 



The British Science Guild is organising a compre- 

 hensive exhibition of products and appliances of 

 scientific and industrial interest which prior to the 

 war were obtained chiefly from enemy countries but 

 are now produced in the United Kingdom. His 

 Majesty the King has graciously consented to become 

 patron of the exhibition, and the Marquess of Crewe, 

 K.G., is president. Among the vice-presidents are the 

 Prime Minister; Mr. Winston Churchill, Minister of 

 Munitions ; Sir Albert Stanley, President of the Board 

 of Trade; Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, President of the 

 Board of Education; Dr. Addison, Minister of Recon- 

 struction ; Lord Moulton ; Lord Rayleigh ; Lord 

 Sydenham; Sir J. J. Thomson, president of the 

 Royal Society ; Sir Norman Lockyer, and Sir 

 William Mather. The exhibition, which will be 

 held at King's College from about the first week 

 in August until the first week in September, will 

 show, in the first place, products chiefly imported 

 from Germany before the war, but now made in this 

 country; and it will al.so illustrate the remarkable 

 developments that have taken place general Iv in our 

 scientific industries. In many of these, as a raatter 

 of fact. Great Britain always excelled, and il is only 

 our national quality of self-depreciation which has 

 prevented the public from appreciating the fact that 

 we were able to export to Germany apparatus and 

 products embodying the highest scientific knowledge 

 and technical skill. The general scope of the exhibi- 

 tion has been set forth in a preliminary leaflet which 

 has been .issued, from which it is noted that the 

 exhibits will include chemical products, thermal, elec- 

 trical, and optical appliances, glass, quartz, and refrac- 

 tory material, photographic apparatus and material, 

 surgical and medical appliances, and papers and tex- 

 tile products. It is believed that the exhibition will 

 have a most stimulating influence upon scientific and 

 industrial research, and the exhibits, with the demon- 

 strations and lectures that will be given in order to 

 explain them, will undoubtedly bring home to manu- 

 facturers, as well as to the general public, the great 

 and growing part that science plays in industry. 

 Further particulars may be obtained from the 

 Organising Secretary, 82 Victoria Street, London, 

 S.W.I. 



The King and Queen gavr a small dinnrr-party af 

 Buckingham Palace on Tuesday night, at whirh the 

 guests included Sir Joseph Thomson, president nf ih( 

 Royal Society, and Lady Thomson, and Sir I^'ir(l(ri( 

 Kenyon, president of the British Academy, and Lad\ 

 Kenvon. 



