TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 653 



work. When we f^et under the unconformable cover we meet the same geology 

 and the same laws of stratigraphy and structure as in more superficial deposits, hut 

 accurate induction is rendered increasingly difficult by the paucity of exposures 

 and the small number of facts available owing to the great expense of deep 

 boring. How precious, then, becomes every scrap of information obtained from 

 sinkings and borings, not only where success is met with, but where it is not ; and 

 how little short of criminal is it that there should be the probability that much of 

 this information is being and will be irretrievably lost ! 



Mr. Harmer pointed out in a paper to this Section in 1895 that under present 

 conditions there was an automatic check on all explorations of this kind. The 

 only person who can carry it out is the landowner. If he fails he loses his 

 money and does not even secure the sympathy of his neighbours. If he 

 succeeds his neighbours stand to gain as much as he does without sharing in the 

 expense. The successful explorer naturally conceals the information he has 

 acquired because he has had to pay so heavily for it that he cannot aflord to put 

 his neighbours in as good a position as himself and make them his rivals as well ; 

 while the unsuccessful man is only too glad to forget as soon as possible all about 

 his unfortunate venture. And yet in work of this kind failure is second only to 

 success in the value of the information it gives as to the underground structure 

 which it is so necessary to have if deep mining is to become a real addition to the 

 resources of the country. 



Systematic and detailed exploration, guided by scientific principles and 

 advancing from the known to the unknown, ought to be our next move forward : 

 a method of exploration which shall benefit the nation as well as the individual, 

 a careful record of everything done, a body of men who shall interpret and map 

 the facts as they are acquired and draw conclusions with regard to structure and 

 position from them — in short a Geological Survey which shall do as much for 

 Hypogean Geology as existing surveys have done i'or Epigean Geology, is now our 

 crying need. Unless something of this sort is done, and done in a systematic and 

 masterful manner, we run a great risk of frittering away the most important of 

 our national resources left to us, of destroying confidence, of wasting time and 

 money at a most precious and critical period of our history, and of slipping down- 

 hill at a time when our equipment and resources are ready to enable us to stride 

 forward. 



We do not want to be in the position of a certain town council which kept 

 a list of its old workmen and entered opposite one, formerly sewer inspector, that 

 he possessed ' an extensive memory which is at the disposal of the corporation.' 



Even supposing the scheme outlined by Mr. Harmer cannot be carried out in 

 its complete form, a great deal will be done if mining engineers can receive 

 a sufficient geological training to enable them to realise the significance of these 

 imderground problems, so that they can recognise when any exploration they are 

 carrying out inside their own area is likely to be of far-reaching geological and 

 economic significance outside the immediate district in which they are personally 

 and immediately concerned. 



Turning to our colonies it is true that in many of them much is being done by 

 competent surveys to attain a knowledge of mineral resources, but this work 

 should be pushed forward more rapidly, with greater strength and larger stafl^, 

 and above all it should not be limited to areas that happen to be of known 

 economic value just at the present moment. It is almost a truism that the 

 scientific principle of to-day is the economic instrument of to-morrow, and it will 

 be a good investment to enlarge the bounds of geological theory, trusting to tlie 

 inevitable result that every new principle and fact discovered will soon find its 

 economic application. Further, it is necessary that we should obtain as soon as 

 possible a better knowledge of the mineral resources of the smaller and thinly 

 inhabited colonies, protectorates, and spheres of influence : This is one of the 

 things which would conduce to the more rapid, effective occupation of these areas. 

 With regard to areas not at present British colonies, it seems to me that no 

 great harm would be done by obtaining, not in any obtrusive way, some general 

 knowledge of the mineral resources of likely areas. This at least seems to be what 



