PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 381 



During tlie last few months a series of much more important publications by 

 the Geological Survey has appeared. I refer to the Special Reports on the 

 ^Mineral Resources of Great Britain, of which some six volumes are completed. 

 The Survey is to lie congratulated upon starting a line of investigation and 

 report which is a return to some of its oldest and best traditions. Tlic 

 I'reface, by the ]3ircctor, to the fir.st volume of the series, tliat on the ' Tung.sten 

 and Manganese Ores,' is illuminating and symptomatic, for it reveals a con- 

 sciou.sness of our shortcomings in the past and points tlie way to reform in 

 the future. 



He says: 'The effects of t!ie war, in increasing the demand for certain 

 minerals of economic value, liave led to many inquiries as to the resources in 

 Britain of some materials for the supply of which dependence has been placed 

 upon imports, and have raised the question whether further exploitation and 

 improvements in niethod of preparation of those minerals would now be justified.' 



Valuable mineral deposits in old vvorkings, the delimitation of still unworked 

 ground, old waste-products now of great value under changed conditions of 

 tiemand, are vital matters dealt with in these volumes. In a pregnant passage 

 the Director says : ' It ha.s become apparent also that some of our home products 

 would be at least equal to material we have been importing, provided that they 

 could receive equally careful preparation for the market, and that with 

 improved treatment and greater facilities for transport, they would be fit to 

 compete with some of the foreign materials.' 



In the volume on ' Barytes and Witherite ' it is stated that ' apart from the 

 very highest qualities, there is no scarcity of barytes in Great Britain, but that 

 notwithstanding that fact more than half the amount used in this country has 

 been imported, and that 34 per cent, of the amount used came from Germany.' 

 Owing to fineness of grinding and low freights, the imports of this mineral 

 from Germany have increased at a bigger rate than our own output, a .state of 

 things that surely will never recur. 



At a meeting of the Organising Committee of this Section in February last, 

 the following recommendation was sent to the Council of the British Associa- 

 tion : — 



' In view of the numerous important instances which have been brought to 

 its notice of the exploitation in alien interests of minerals in the British Empire, 

 the Council of the British As.sociation for the Advancement of Science realises 

 the national importance of preparing for publication special reports on the 

 mineral resources of Great Britain, and recommends the extension of the inquiry 

 to tlie whole of the Brit'sh Empire. The Council expresses a hope that it may 

 be possible to expedite this work by utilising the services of persons with 

 expert or special local knowledge. For this pui-pose an addition to the annual 

 vote for the Geological Survey would be required.' 



It is gratifying to learn that the Council has forwarded this Recommenda- 

 tion, with others, to the proper Government authorities, and we may hope that 

 adequate facilities will be given to continue and extend this most valuable work. 



TJie Geological Survey and the Impericil Institute. 



The terms of the Recommendation I have just read remind us that an 

 institution under St.ite control, and supported by Government funds, has 

 already attempted some such work as is here contemplated. I refer to the 

 Imperial Institute at South Kensington. From the Scientific and Technical 

 Research Department reports and papers appear from time to time on the 

 mineral resources of Britain and the Colonies. Thus, ' The Occurrence 

 and Utilisation of Tunosten Ores ' appeared in 1009, and similar reix>rts on 

 the ores of chromium, titanium, zinc, &c., and on the coal and iron resources 

 of the British Crown Colonies and Protectorates have been published. These 

 reports are all unsigned, although presumably written by competent persons. 

 Such investigations, althoug'n primarily dealing with the Colonies, necessarily 

 overlap to some extent similar work undertaken by the Geological Survey in 

 this country. The point, however, I wish to make is that the work, both for 

 Britain and the Cfown Colonies and Protectorates in so far as it relates to 

 prospecting, mapping, and reporting on mineral resources, could be done more 



