564 



NA TURE 



[April 12, 1906 



calculating the volume of the water that may be 

 drawn from them is not an easy one. Nor is it 

 rendered more easy by the spirit evinced by the Boer 

 farmer witnesses. 



Three of the honoured name of Erasmus (two 

 brothers and the son of one of them) refused to recog- 

 nise any difference between the ownership of water 

 flowing under his ground and of metals found there. 

 Pressed again and again to see the difference between 

 picking up a diamond found on his lands and pump- 

 ing away the water drawn in from the lands of others, 

 the reply of one of the farmers was quite clear : — " I 

 consider that it is a bad principle when a man owning 

 land under a properly registered title in any country 

 cannot take full advantage of the profit he is able to 

 make." 



Not only did these farmers claim the right to use 

 all the water they could suck into their pumps and 

 employ in irrigating their own lands, but they also 

 insisted on their right to sell to their neighbours the 

 water they did not require themselves. 



It might happen, then, that the owner of a small 

 pump large enough for his own fields might find his 

 water supply cut off by a larger pump in his neigh- 

 bour's farm, and he might have to buy from the 

 owner of this large pump the water that had hitherto 

 been his own. 



The situation is evidently a difficult one. If such 

 a case were to occur in India it would probablv be 

 ruled that a very careful scientific survey should be 

 made of all the subterranean channels with the view 

 of finding exactly how the waters flow, and that until 

 this point was cleared up farmers should have a re- 

 striction put on the ana of their lands which they 

 were allowed to irrigate. Probably no one would 

 be wronged if they were each limited to irrigating 

 two-thirds of their farms. But this would require 

 a stronger Government than is ever likely to rule in 

 the Transvaal. Probably the commissioners are right 

 in the recommendations they make, and they know- 

 that none more drastic would have a chance of being 

 adopted. 



These recommendations, alter providing for the 

 wants of towns and of mine owners, are to the effect 

 that farmers should be allowed to pump freelv for 

 their own use for watering cattle or for irrigation. 



" That traffic in underground water should be pro- 

 hibited, and that an owner should not be allowed to 

 sell or barter underground water which he does not 

 require for his own use." "That it is unnecessary 

 to prove that water in the dolomite formation flows 

 in channels . . . and that if the Judge thinks that 

 the facts establish a connection between the pumping 

 and the diminution ol the water in a stream he can 

 prevent the pumping to such an extent as he thinks 

 fit." _ 



This last recommendation is a most important one. 

 Will tin Transvaal judges have the courage to carry 

 it into effect ? 



Since the above was written, an interesting notice 

 has appeared in Nature of March i (p. 426). From 

 this it seems that the subject of underground waters 

 has been occupying attention in the United States. 

 The law there seems to favour the view of the Boer 

 farmer, viz., that the owner of the surface of the land 

 is equally owner of all that lies directly below that 

 surface, whether it be rock, stagnant water or running 

 water. This law is, however, receiving severe ^ln«k- 

 from the advance of geological knowledge, and as 

 means have now been found of measuring the flow 

 of subterranean water it is probable that the law may 

 be conformed to what is clearly onlv justice, and a 

 landowner will not be permitted to take more than his 

 due share of the water that passes under his soil. 



NO. I902, VOL. 73] 



THE FORTHCOMING MEETING OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT YORK. 

 THE fourth meeting of the British Association in 

 J- York will be held in that city on August i-S r 

 the' date being fixed earlier than usual to enable 

 members and their hosts to combine attendance at 

 the meeting with a subsequent tour abroad or a visit 

 to the northern moors for the shooting season. The 

 association was founded in York in 1831, and had tot- 

 its first president the Earl Fitzwilliam, F.R.S. It 

 celebrated its jubilee there in 1SS1, under the presi- 

 dency of Lord Avebury, then Sir John Lubbock, and 

 it now meets again, after three-quarters of a century, 

 in the city of its birth. 



At the inaugural meeting on Wednesday, August 1. 

 Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. , president-elect, will' 

 assume the presidency and deliver an address. On 

 Thursday, August 2, there w-ill be a soiree; on Friday. 

 August 3, a discourse on "Volcanoes" will be de- 

 livered by Dr. Tempest Anderson; on Monday, 

 August (1, a discourse on " The Electrical Signs of 

 Life, and their Abolition by Chloroform," will be 

 delivered by Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S.; on Tuesday, 

 Aup-ust 7, there will be a soiree ; and on Wednesday, 

 August S, the concluding meeting will be held. 



The sections and their presidents are as follows: — 

 (A) Mathematical and Physical Science, Principal 

 E. H. Griffiths, F.R.S.; (B) Chemistry, Prof. Wynd- 

 ham Dunstan, F.R.S.; (Cj Geology, Mr. <;. ' \Y. 

 Lamplugh, F.R.S.; (D) Zoology, Mr. J. J. Lister, 

 F.R.S. ; (E) Geography, Sir G. D. Taubman Goldie, 

 K.C.M.G., F.R.S. ; (F) Economic Science and 

 Statistics, Mr. A. L. Bowlev ; (G) Engineering, Dr. 

 J. A. Ewing, F.R.S.; (H) Anthropology, Mr. E. 

 Sidney Hartland; (1) Pliysiolos;v, Prof. Francis Gotch, 

 F.R.S.; (K) Botany, Prof. F. W. Oliver, F.R.S.; 

 (I.) Educational Science, Prof. M. E. Sadler. 



To the antiquarian York has preeminent attrac- 

 tions, its Roman remains, its mediaeval bars and 

 walls, which still encircle the greater part of the city, 

 its Norman castle and noble minster, being eat li 

 objects of special interest. The city also contains 

 several manufactories interesting to scientific men; 

 opportunities will be given for visiting these under 

 skilled guidance in the afternoons, after the meetings 

 ol tin sections. Excursions will be organised to 

 several places of interest. 



Tin- neighbourhood of York, though flat, presents 

 many objects of geological and archaeological interest, 

 main of which are reached by good level roads; 

 ( vi lists are therefore recommended to bring their 

 machines with them to the meeting. 



It is hoped that it may be possible to arrange for 

 an exhibition of photographs taken by the members 

 in South Africa, for which the reception room affords 

 ample accommodation. 



York enjoys exceptional railway facilities, being 

 under four hours from London, five hours from Edin- 

 burgh. The various railway companies will issue re- 

 turn tickets, at a single fare and a quarter, from 

 the principal stations in the L T nited Kingdom to York, 

 rhese tickets, which will be available from July 31 

 to August 14, may be obtained by members and 

 associates attending the meeting on presentation of a 

 certificate signed by one of the local secretaries. The 

 North-Eastern Railway Company will also issue 

 periodical tickets to members and associates, at cheap 

 rates, for going and returning as often as desired 

 during the time of the meeting between York and the 

 chief places in the district. 



An attempt may be made, provided sufficient support 

 is forthcoming, to arrange at the end of the meeting 

 a vachting excursion, lasting two or three weeks, to 



