464 KEPOET— 1893. 



more appropriate place of meeting than Nottingham, supplied as it is by 

 a magnificent volume of underground water of absolute purity, and it is 

 of interest to note that the Chairman of the Committee, Professor Hull, 

 was consulted when these works were first initiated by the late Mr. M. D. 

 Tarbotton, C.B. 



It was last year resolved by the General Committee that your reporter 

 * be requested to draw up a final report embodying the whole of the facts 

 obtained in counties,' and ' that it is advisable that the report in question 

 should be issued as a separate publication.' 



In compliance with this resolution your reporter has commenced the 

 work of combining and systematising the previous eighteen reports, but 

 he regrets that through pressure of ofiicial and other duties it has been 

 impossible for him to complete the same, but he trusts to do so before 

 the meeting at Oxford in 1894, when your committee will complete the 

 twentieth year of their existence. The counties will be divided into five 

 groups, and the report into as many separate sections, which your Com- 

 mittee recommend be sold separately. 



Your reporter would in any case have ventured to suggest the con- 

 tinuance of the Committee for another year, in consequence of the excep- 

 tional season experienced, which has rendered it highly important to 

 endeavour to trace the effect of the drought on underground water 

 supply, and to institute a special inquiry as to the downward movement 

 of the vinderground water line throughout the porous rocks of the 

 country, and also as the rate of replacement of water by subsequent rains. 



From observations made by Mr. E. J. Lowe, F.R.S., at Shirenewton 

 Hall, Worcestershire, it appears that the entire rainfall of March and 

 April was only 0'6 in., that from March to August 17 only 9'7 in., that 

 48 rainy days occurred, and 122 days without any rain : this, combined 

 with an almost continuous high temperature, caused excessive evapora- 

 tion of such rainfall as took place, the shade temperature being above 

 eighty degrees seven days in April, one in May, six in June, five in 

 July, and eight in August up to the 17th. Before the thunderstorm 

 of June 15, on which I'Ol inch fell, the ground was dry to a depth of 

 fifteen inches, but the rain only penetrated two inches from the surface. 



The drought has made clearly apparent the weakness of gravitation 

 supplies, the qnality of the water in the best reservoirs steadily deterio- 

 rating as the quantity stored is reduced. The great value of underground 

 supplies is as strongly brought out by the present yield of the Gains- 

 borough Local Board well. It was sunk by Messrs. Timmins, Runcorn, 

 at the recommendation of your reporter. The boring is now 1,351 feet in 

 depth, and gives, in spite of the drought, the magnificent yield of 20,000 

 gallons per hour. The boring is artesian, the water rising from beneath 

 725 feet of Keuper Marls, being derived from the New Red Sandstone 

 several miles distant. 



Your Committee seek re-election, and reserve details received this 

 year for incorporation in their final report next year. The Committee 

 regret to have to note the death of their able Leicestershire member, 

 Mr. James Plant, F.G.S., whose work has been of great value to the 

 Committee and to the inquiry generally. 



